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Welcome to today's daily fantasy post! Remember that you can find our posts on the brand-spanking new DFS home page, as well as the fantasy page. Bookmark those sites now!
Also, please scroll to the bottom of this article to see the latest tweets from Ryan Fowler (@FOXSportsFowler), D.J. Foster (@FOXSportsFoster), Adam Meyer (@FOXSportsMeyer) and me (@jhalpin37). That way, if information surfaces for any last minute changes, you can see our thoughts instantly.
Let's get to today's interesting facts, using DraftKings prices. We'll cover the night slate of games, leaving out only Marlins-Mets (1:10 p.m. ET), Angels-A's (3:35) and Rangers-Mariners (3:40) from today's schedule.
Five Things to Watch:
1. Remember the preseason chatter about how new first base coach Davey Lopes would help the Nationals' base-stealing fortunes? It's happening, as the Nats are far ahead of last year's pace on the basepaths. Bryce Harper leads the way with three steals.
2. Yo, BvPers: Braves 1B Freddie Freeman ($4,100) is 12-for-31 with three home runs versus Stephen Strasburg ... Brewers C Jonathan Lucroy ($3,600) is 12-for-29 against Mike Leake ... Dodgers 2B Howie Kendrick ($3,700) is 10-for-18 against Rubby De La Rosa ... Pablo Sandoval ($3,700) is 14-for-39 with a couple of homers against Ubaldo Jimenez, so he might get a start.
3. Aside from Freeman, the Braves' lineup is terrible. Strasburg ($11,300) and the Nats are the night's biggest favorite at -230, with the Cubs and John Lackey ($8,300) not far behind at -210 in their home matchup with the Reds.
4. Indians OF Rajai Davis ($3,100) has a .347 career wOBA vs. LHP, and he's been leading off when he starts against them.
5. If you want to pay up for a hitter that's not playing at Coors Field, it's D-backs 1B Paul Goldschmidt ($5,300), who batted .364 with eight home runs, a 1.081 OPS and a .455 wOBA in 144 plate appearances vs. LHP last season. Good luck against him, Alex Wood.
D.J. Foster will post his Must-Start of the Day, Deal of the Day, Avoid of the Day, Stack of the Day and more later today!
Yesterday's Recap: Adam Meyer had some great suggestions, including Noah Syndergaard (12 K's) as the must-start of the day and the Giants (7 runs) as the stack of the night.
Must-Start of the Day: Paul Goldschmidt, ARI - As John Halpin metions above, Goldy against a lefty is almost an automatic start every time. Don't forget that Goldschmidt stole 21 bases last year, either.
Deal of the Day: Yunel Escobar, LAA - Hitting leadoff in a game with a high projected run total (8.5), cheap at $3400 and is a lifetime .287 hitter against southpaws.
Stack of the Day: Pittsburgh Pirates - Outside of Coors Field, the Pirates have a great chance to put a hurting on Shane Greene, who was truly awful last year.
Avoid of the Day: David Ortiz, BOS - He's just 1-for-19 lifetime against Ubaldo Jimenez.
Starting Pitcher
Stephen Strasburg, WAS: There aren't a lot of great pitching matchups to exploit, which puts us in the position to trust Strasburg. Atlanta is bad enough offensively and Stras strikes out enough bats to make him the premier play on Tuesday.
Carlos Carrasco, CLE: He's always a better tournament play than he is in cash games, but Carrasco can get you double-digit strikeouts and should limit the damage against the Rays.
John Lackey, CHC: I'm not excited about it either, but he's the second biggest favorite on the board against Simon and the Reds.
Catcher
Jonathan Lucroy, MIL: See Halpin's BVP notes above.
Miguel Montero, CHC: Gets the lefty-righty advantage against Simon, who got torched by left-handed power bats last year.
First Base
Paul Goldschmidt, ARI: "Must-Start of the Day"
Anthony Rizzo, CHC: .905 OPS against RHP last year and Alfredo Simon allowed an .862 OPS to lefties last season. If you don't go with Goldy, play Rizzo.
Second Base
Robinson Cano, SEA: He's mashing so far this year, and the lefty-righty matchup with A.J. Griffin is a good one.
Scooter Gennett, MIL: Lifetime .309 career average against right-handed pitching and is still affordable despite a hot start.
Third Base
Yunel Escobar, LAA: "Deal of the day"
David Wright, NYM: .351 average against lefties over the last three seasons.
Shortstop
Brandon Crawford, SFG: With an 11.5 over/under, it's probably wise to get a piece of the action in Coors tonight. Crawford has the pop (21 HR last year) to go yard in a lefty-righty matchup.
Trevor Story, COL: You don't necessarily have to be a believer in a game with this run total and a matchup against a washed up Jake Peavy.
Outfield
Rajai Davis, CLE: Can tear up the basepaths and always performs well against southpaws.
Mike Trout, LAA: Crazy .421 OBP against southpaws over the last three years.
Charlie Blackmon, COL: Off to a slow start, but a mini Rockies stack makes a lot of sense tonight. The speed is an added bonus.
Pirates OF: McCutchen, Marte and Polanco are all in play against Shane Greene, who had an ugly 6.88 ERA and 1.55 WHIP last year.
