Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for ScoreStreak 8/26/14

DFSR has partnered with ScoreStreak: a new, innovative style of DFS play. Gone is the salary finagling, mixing and matching, and hair-pulling that goes into setting lineups. ScoreStreak simplifies the process in an easy-to-use interface. Employing a prop-pick style, ScoresStreak leagues are specific outcome dependent with three categories: Total Bases, Hits, and for pitchers, Strikeouts.

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Total Bases

Jose Abreu
He's been destroying lefty pitching this season to the tune of a .995 OPS on that side of the split. This is thanks in large part to a crazy 43% Hr/FB ratio over his first season. The second number is clearly not sustainable over the long term so expect a dip in OPS. That being said, bad hitters wouldn't rack up an OPS this high without an inordinate amount of skill (luck or no luck). He faces T.J. House today, a lefty much worse against righty bats. Great ballpark and great matchup.

Melky Cabrera
Going a little off board from our system in this Melky pick. Not a ton of other players were standing out to me near the top of our board. And though Melky is a hits machine, I think you can put him in the total bases category against Rubby de la Rosa who struggles mightily against lefty bats. This is the better side of the split for Melky and he's a real tough out for righty pitching. He strikes out only 11% of the time and walks 7%. That leaves a lot of percentage points for contact.

Hits

Robinson Cano
Kyle Seager
Nick Martinez has been a better pitcher of late, particularly in the strikeout area. But I'm considering him over his season-long numbers. And when you look at those, you want to target hitters against him. Martinez has only struck out 5.13 batters per nine and has an xFIP over five. Both Cano and Seager are near the top of the league in OPS against righties this season, and both their historical numbers back up this success. Cano is particularly difficult for righties to put down and both are in a solid spot today against Martinez. In six man Scorestreak leagues I sometimes prefer to do a mini-stack because if the Mariners tee off against him I'll sweep a whole category. This is one of those moments.

Strikeouts

Johnny Cueto
On salary sites Cueto is a smidge over-priced because of a run hot ERA on this season. But we don't need to worry about that on ScoreStreak. We are only worried about his K's and today's matchup is choice. The Cubs are about as bad as it gets this season against righty pitching, ranking only above the Padres (who are catching up). They strike out almost 23% of the time in that platoon and just generally stink. Cueto will have to go deep to get to 9K's (though it's possible), but I feel at least confident throwing him in the 7K category.

Alex Wood
He and Cueto are remarkably similar in terms of their peripherals this season, striking out about 8.5/9 and keeping the walks in check. He's a good pitcher that's often overlooked in a number of different formats. Don't pass on him today. He faces the Mets who strike out more than 24% of the time against lefties and just basically suck. They rank 28th in the league in team wOBA against lefties and have no real power in that split. Wood could go deep in the game and should be especially effective against the bottom third of the order.