Daily Fantasy Baseball News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 8/5/16

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

A weekend series at Coors Field is going to force us to start our decision making process around those players. It will be extremely tough to fade the game with the highest total(11.5) of the slate. Good luck!

Personnel

• Mike Trout sat out Thursday's game with a head cold and while he isn't expected to miss another game, it will be something to monitor throughout the day
• Something to monitor going into tomorrow's slate is the possibility of Jose De Leon making a start for the Dodgers in place of Bud Norris who could be headed to the disabled list
• Zack Cozart(finger) is expected to return to the Reds lineup on Friday night
• David Ortiz is expected to serve as the pinch hitter during all three games in Los Angeles vs. the Dodgers. This will open up the 1B position in a big way over the weekend
• Carlos Gonzalez is day to day with a sprained ankle and will most likely miss another start on Friday night. David Dahl replaced him Thursday and would be the replacement once again should Cargo miss another game
• In case you have been living under a rock, Trevor Story will get season ending surgery on his torn UCL. Christian Adames will make most of the starts moving forward
• Yoenis Cespedes has been placed on the 15 day disabled list with a quad injury

The "Every Lineup" Guys

Giancarlo Stanton FD 4800 DK 5200
Opponent - COL (De La Rosa) Park - @COL
FD - 15.31 DK - 11.55

Stanton shows up on all 25 optimized lineups for both sites right now. That doesn't happen very often where a player is that highly rated on both sites. It starts with the fact that he crushes left handed pitching and gets an elite matchup in the best hitters park in baseball. Easy play here. All the Stanton please! If you want further analysis check out the podcast and the main article where he was discussed in length.

Manny Machado FD 3800 DK 4400
Opponent - CHW (Gonzalez) Park - @CHW
FD - 11.87 DK - 9.32

With his position eligibility (3B/SS) and affordable price tag below $4K, Machado is a must play on DraftKings today. He shows up in all 25 optimized lineups and gets a premium matchup vs. the White Sox. He will face Miguel Gonzalez who has been mediocre at best this season with an average K rate(7.08 K/9), high walk rate(3.12 BB/9) and an awful 4.48 xFIP. Machado eats average pitching for breakfast and despite only three stolen base attempts(no steals) Machado is hitting with a career high .301 average and 135 wRC+. Whether you need a spot filled at SS or 3B, Machado is your man today on DraftKings.

Javier Baez FD 2700 DK 4700
Opponent - OAK (Overton) Park - @OAK
FD - 10.86 DK - 8.72

If it's FanDuel you are playing today, you better give some strong consideration to Javier Baez at the shortstop position. He shows up on all 25 optimized lineups  as the Cubs travel to Oakland and get to face one of the worst pitchers on the slate. For more on how terrible he is please go back to the main article and read my write up on Baez. He comes with a bargain price and has power and speed upside despite the downgrade in park. He is worth the risk today and gives you a ton of flexibility when filling out the rest of your lineup.
 

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!