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Daily Fantasy MLB Pitcher Breakdown FanDuel and DraftKings- 5/7/16

Welcome to our new daily article breaking down some of the other pitching targets on this slate. We covered our system's top value plays in our daily picks article and our updates articles but here we will look at other dudes to consider.

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Stacking in DFS MLB is such an important concept if you’re looking to take down a big tournament on FanDuel or DraftKings. It’s also a good way to diversify cash games because the variance in baseball can mean wild swings (ahem) in the scoring on a particular slate. The concept is easy. You want to pile players from one or two teams into your lineups because those guys compound scores by helping each other score runs when the going is good.

Pitching Targets

Note - David Price, Johnny Cueto, Bartolo Colon and Julio Teheran have already been touched on in our MLB picks article.

Gio Gonzalez FD 8800 DK 9100
Opponent - CHC (Hammel) Park - @CHC
FD - 33.23 DK - 17.71

Yes, the Cubs offense is electric and are quite possibly the best offense in baseball. However, we are looking at 18 MPH winds blowing in from center field. While that is not a huge deal in most parks, Wrigley Field is affected by wind to a crazy degree. This is why we are seeing this game at a 7 over/under and not 8. Gio Gonzalez has been fantastic to start the year with only 4 earned runs given up in 5 starts that accounted for 31 innings. While that may not be sustainable, I look for Gio to have a great year. Gonzalez has lowered his velocity in attempt to improve his control and it has worked. He has sported his lowest BB/9 of his career and will only improve on that as he gets used to pitching this way. The Cubs lineup is not at full strength with Tim Federowicz behind the plate and hitting 8th. Gonzalez has sported a 46% groundball rate paired with a 27% hard contact rate which tells me he is getting a ton of soft contact. I prefer Gonzalez in tournaments due to his high volatility matches with the Cubs premier offense.

Chris Sale FD 12000 DK 12900
Opponent - MIN (Santana) Park - @CHW
FD - 40.59 DK - 22.8

Chris Sale has started this season on fire with a combined Woba under .200! In 5 of his 6 starts, he has recorded 6 strikeouts and 7 innings. However, this Minnesota Twins team does scare me and that is why Sale is a tournament option only. With guys like Sano, Plouffe, Dozier and Park, the Twins can turn a great outing into a bad one with one swing. On the other hand, strikeouts come with power. The Twins have the 8th highest strikeout rate in the league and that will likely climb with Plouffe coming off the DL. Sale has exhibited insane strikeout numbers over his career as evidenced by his 2015 league leading K/9 of 11.82. There are certainly a few factors working against Sale here and a few more working towards him. I am looking at Sale in large field tournaments as he should be under owned and provides you with a huge ceiling.

Jonathan Gray FD 6500 DK 0
Opponent - SF (Cueto) Park - @SF
FD - 25.47 DK - 12.18

are you looking for a super cheap low owned tournament flier? Jon Gray is your guy. While his numbers have not been great, he has recorded 2 of his 3 starts in Coors Field. Gray is one of the league's most talented young pitchers as he was a top 10 prospect throughout his short minor league career. Gray has exhibited some very nice strikeout numbers with 10 or more in 2 of his 3 starts. While this Giants team does have a great lineup, they have a tendency to go cold at times and strikeout a bunch. This ballpark is a top 10 pitchers park and is especially good for righties. Gray has a ton of upside in this game if he can get his slider and fastball to work. However, Gray is a GPP play only with all of the other options on the docket.

Consider - James Shields, Jake Odorizzi

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