Welcome to the MLB DFS Divisional Round rundown & cheat sheet column for Wednesday, October 7, 2020.
Looking for help with building line-ups on DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo for the 2020 MLB DFS Playoffs? We’ll be here each day covering our thoughts on the Main Slate of action covering our thoughts on the best plays and picks for the day’s MLB Playoff DFS contests!
With 4 games on the slate, we’re nice and full ahead of the day’s action. Here’s how we’re breaking things down:
- As far as pitching goes, it’s got to be all about Ian Anderson and Clayton Kershaw on this slate. Especially for FanDuel, where both are fairly priced and it’s pretty easy to find 3 and 4 man stacks to complement them in the hitting department.
- To close out his 2020 season, Anderson had an impressive 12.0 K/9, 3.79 SIERA and 12% whiff% in his last 5 starts. He does walk too many guys for my liking (4.1 per 9 in that span), but has the swing and miss stuff that you love for DFS GPPs. He also limits hard contact (23.5%) and keeps the ball on the ground well (52%).
- Kershaw was amazing last time out, and could continue to roll over San Diego in this one. He threw well against them in September when he faced them, going 6.1 IP with 9 Ks and 3 ER allowed. That kind of line is actually approx the baseline floor I’d expect. Five or six innings, with just better than a strikeout per inning. He’s perfectly affordable on both major sites, and on DK even though there are sub-$7K names that you may want to roster, he’s not going to hold you back from having quality hitters.
- If you want to get a little cheeky on DK, you can try some Masahiro Tanaka or even Pablo Lopez, if you’re fading Anderson. Lopez had a mixed year vs ATL, but was actually very effective at times. For a low own% angle, he could be interesting for a bit of exposure in case he has a QS with 5-6 Ks.
- On the hitting side of things, I really like the Yankees yet again. Charlie Morton is not his 2018 or 2019 self right now, and TB will want to get back into the W column again here – so they likely won’t go more than 4-5 IP out of him. Giancarlo Stanton is red hot at the moment and very reasonably priced across the league. I have a ton of confidence in starting him, though that’ll be uber chalky.
- On the flip side, Tanaka hasn’t been great in 2020, and struggled in his first playoff start (6 ER over 4 IP). A pivotal game 3 likely won’t keep him out for long especially if he struggles, and there’s a ton of value across all DFS sites for the likes of Austin Meadows, Brandon Lowe, Randy Arozarena, Manuel Margot and even Ji-Man Choi to do some damage here. They’re my favorite group to stack here thanks to a strong “balls in play” approach and ability to stack the left hand side against the righty.
- Atlanta will be chalky as they lead the slate in team total, with the likes of Ronald Acuna, Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna being popular. Don’t be shy to get Travis d’Arnaud active, too. But they’re expensive.
- OAK has some solid values (see cheat sheets below), with Mark Canha and Khris Davis standing out to me in particular.
- We also don’t have a LAD opposing pitcher yet, but I’m expecting it to be rough(er) going for SD in this one, especially with a taxed bullpen. That brings Justin Turner, Mookie Betts, Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger to the forefront if you can afford them, too.
DraftKings Cheat Sheet
$ Tier P C 1B 2B 3B SS OF High Clayton Kershaw (9.6k / 22.89) Will Smith (4.5k / 9.71) Freddie Freeman (5k / 13.41) Jose Altuve (4.2k / 9.66) Justin Turner (4.5k / 11.08) Corey Seager (5.2k / 13.55) Ronald Acuna (5.4k / 14.43) Travis d'Arnaud (4.2k / 10.49) Cody Bellinger (5.1k / 10.71) DJ LeMahieu (5k / 12.06) Mookie Betts (5.7k / 14.57) Luke Voit (5.2k / 12.20) George Springer (4.8k / 11.20) Marcell Ozuna (4.7k / 12.68) Medium Ian Anderson (8.2k / 21.76) Matt Olson (4.6k / 9.30) Joe Wendle (3.5k / 6.30) Alex Bregman (4.1k / 10.17) Fernando Tatis Jr. (4.7k / 9.22) Mark Canha (4k / 7.41) Giancarlo Stanton (4.4k / 10.37) Low Pablo Lopez (6.9k / 9.95) Sean Murphy (3.7k / 3.51) Ji-Man Choi (3.1k / 7.21) Jon Berti (2.4k / 5.22) Brian Anderson (3.6k / 6.66) Marcus Semien (4.1k / 9.38) Corey Dickerson (2.9k / 5.73) Masahiro Tanaka (6.8k / 12.85) Mike Zunino (3.1k / 0.29) Carlos Correa (4k / 8.46) Michael Brantley (3.5k / 8.50) Dansby Swanson (3.8k / 8.41) Aaron Hicks (3.5k / 8.68) Randy Arozarena (3.6k / 8.75) Khris Davis (3.4k / 8.16) Manuel Margot (3.4k / 0.68) Robbie Grossman (3.3k / 0.58)
FanDuel Cheat Sheet
$ Tier P C1B 2B 3B SS OF High Ian Anderson (9.5k / 38.76) Freddie Freeman (4.2k / 17.48) DJ LeMahieu (3.9k / 15.73) Alex Bregman (3.8k / 13.26) Corey Seager (4.1k / 17.67) Mookie Betts (4.3k / 19.00) Clayton Kershaw (10.3k / 40.78) Luke Voit (3.8k / 15.91) Brandon Lowe (3.5k / 14.43) Fernando Tatis Jr. (4.3k / 12.02) George Springer (3.9k / 14.61) Marcell Ozuna (4k / 16.53) Giancarlo Stanton (4.1k / 13.52) Aaron Judge (4.4k / 16.97) Cody Bellinger (4.2k / 13.96) Ronald Acuna (4.5k / 18.81) Medium Travis d'Arnaud (3k / 13.68) Jose Altuve (3.3k / 12.59) Justin Turner (3.1k / 14.44) Carlos Correa (3.3k / 11.03) Michael Brantley (3.1k / 11.08) Matt Olson (3k / 12.13) Gio Urshela (3.3k / 10.61) Robbie Grossman (3.2k / 0.76) Randy Arozarena (3.2k / 11.41) Low Ji-Man Choi (2.5k / 9.40) Jon Berti (2.7k / 6.81) Joe Wendle (2.7k / 8.22) Marcus Semien (2.8k / 12.24) Mark Canha (2.9k / 9.67) Brian Anderson (2.9k / 8.68) Aaron Hicks (2.9k / 11.31) Manuel Margot (2.5k / 0.89) Ramon Laureano (2.8k / 7.01)
Yahoo! Cheat Sheet
$ Tier P C 1B 2B 3B SS OF High Ian Anderson (45 / 21.76) Travis d'Arnaud (17 / 8.68) Freddie Freeman (27 / 11.09) DJ LeMahieu (23 / 9.98) Justin Turner (18 / 9.16) Corey Seager (20 / 11.21) George Springer (23 / 9.26) Clayton Kershaw (52 / 22.89) Will Smith (19 / 8.03) Alex Bregman (17 / 8.41) Fernando Tatis Jr. (21 / 7.62) Marcell Ozuna (27 / 10.48) Gio Urshela (16 / 6.73) Ronald Acuna (25 / 11.93) Medium Luke Voit (18 / 10.09) Brandon Lowe (15 / 9.15) Mookie Betts (20 / 12.05) Mark Canha (14 / 6.13) Giancarlo Stanton (18 / 8.57) Aaron Judge (19 / 10.76) Low Masahiro Tanaka (36 / 12.85) Gary Sanchez (10 / 0.33) Max Muncy (12 / 10.24) Jose Altuve (12 / 7.99) Carlos Correa (14 / 7.00) Robbie Grossman (9 / 0.48) Charlie Morton (32 / 8.69) Yulieski Gurriel (7 / 4.01) Khris Davis (10 / 6.75) Jesus Luzardo (35 / 10.08) Manuel Margot (11 / 0.56) Pablo Lopez (30 / 9.95) Ramon Laureano (9 / 4.45) Jose Urquidy (30 / 10.91)