Daily Fantasy Baseball News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 4/9

Welcome to the daily MLB updates and news article. We'll try and update it right up to line-up locks with as much information as comes across our desks. Let's get to it!

Last night's picks can be found here, so you can wrap your mind around what you need to be looking at before lineups lock today.

By the way - we keep our projection system updated with all of the batting lineup changes as they occur throughout the day right up until lineup lock. Every day. If you want access to that system so you can cut out a lot of the research element, click the button below!

What We Know

Bryce Harper has destroyed Tom Koehler

While BvP is not something I rely on, it is certainly something to note. In only 26 plate appearances, Harper has 5 HR, 9 RBI and 2 BB. Those are some gaudy numbers and it is pretty tough to say there is no validity there.However, BvP and our system doesn't directly account for it.  But it's not the only thing in his favor. Koehler gives up a .332 wOBA to lefties and gave up 16 home runs to southpaws in 2015.

Few troublesome weather spots

We are looking at a few spots that are going to need some attention, but most of them are towards the end of that. That makes it extremely hard to make a prediction at this point so make sure to keep an eye out and make changes according. Right now there are 3 games that look extremely dangerous and those are LOS @ SFG, MIA @ WAS and PHI @ NYM. The other games that are of concern are NYY @ DET, TAM @ BAL and TEX @ LAA. These games are not looking as bad, but certainly still need to be paid attention to. If this is your first year playing MLB DFS, you will learn fast how quickly weather can change in both ways. UPDATE: After seeing some industry analysis on the weather (Specifically from Kevin Roth at Rotogrinders who's great at this kind of thing) I'd be worried about playing the pitchers in SF. Kershaw and Bumgarner could get pulled early if weather is an issue. 

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Nationals - Marlins game has been postponed. 

THIRD UPDATE: I'd have serious concerns over playing the early slate of games. It's very cold in Chicago and Detroit. Plus there's rain expected for the two best pitchers on the slate. Nothing feels safe here. 

Tournament Stacks

The game in Coors does not need to be mentioned. Everyone is in play.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers are in a fantastic spot today with a right handed heavy lineup against a pitcher who can't seem to get anyone from the right side of the plate out. The Tigers have been hot to begin the year with run totals of 8,7 and 4. C.C. Sabathia is going to do his best to keep the Tigers under 10 runs and I can easily see him failing to do so. Sabathia has sported a .370 wOBA and gave up 25 homers to righties, 2nd worst of any pitcher. Comerica is a pretty neutral park and has plenty of upside if you can get the ball in the air. My ideal Tigers stack would be the 1-6 hitters. If I was trying to be different in a tournament, I would fade Kinsler and Martinez and move onto James McCann and Jose Iglesias.

Houston Astros

Wily Peralta and the Astros are going to face off in a game that is going to have some runs. The number one hole in Peralta's game is his inability to keep the ball in the park. As we all know, the Astros are a team that can light up the scoreboard with homers. This is a recipe for success for the Astros and this is how you win a tournament. If 3 or 4 of these guys can hit one out while your other guys are on base, that's 30 fantasy points. Wily Peralta has exhibited a .376 wOBA vs lefties and .349 vs righties. I do not mind stacking this team with both the lefties and righties.

Sneaky Pitcher

Bartolo Colon

I know, I know. Bartolo Colon? that's right, good ol' Bartolo Colon. While I am not recommending this in cash games, tournaments are a different story. Colon was not horrible last year and ended up with a .317 wOBA over 194 innings. The Philadelphia Phillies trot out an atrocious lineup that consists of guys like Cedric Hunter, Peter Bourjos and Ryan Howard. Colon could rack up some cheap strikeouts and pick up a win as the Mets should be able to score some runs off of Vince Velasquez. Colon lets you spend up at other positions and will give you a unique lineup structure in tournaments.

The "Every Lineup" Guys

Derek Norris FD 3000 DK 4000
Opponent - COL (De La Rosa) Park - @COL
FD - 10.99 DK - 8.72

Norris is in a great spot against a lefty in Coors Field. This is an ideal spot and his price is plenty fair. Jorge De La Rosa struggles against righties, especially at home in Colorado. I look for Norris to hit around 5th in the lineup and will have plenty of RBI and run opportunities. Norris and De La Rosa have a combines wOBA of .313, which sets up extremely well for Norris when you consider they are in a game with a 10.5 over/under. Plug Norris into your lineups and move on.

Corey Dickerson FD 3200 DK 3900
Opponent - BAL (Wright) Park - @BAL
FD - 14.43 DK - 11.47

Dickerson has transitioned to the Rays extremely well with 2 home runs already. The Rays are in Baltimore which means they will be playing in an extremely good hitters ballpark, Camden Yards. Dickerson sported a .315 wOBA vs righties last year with 21 of his 24 home runs coming against them in 2014(injured most of 2015). Mike Wright will do his best to limit Dickerson but will not have much success evidenced by his pitiful .392 wOBA to lefties in 2015.

One other note: There are big differences between DraftKings and FanDuel pricing so the optimal lineups are looking quite different.

These are players that show up in each of the top 10 lineups as produced by our lineup optimizer. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're "safe," it just means that their projected weighted-mean point total is a solid building block for a great lineup foundation today.

Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below of our lineup optimizer, on us!