We're just about to go over the finish line for the final qualifying round of the six-round RotoWire/Fanduel Baseball Championship.
The contest includes the six qualifying rounds, and only you're best three scores count for the final leaderboard. The top 25 scores on the overall leaderboard will compete for $2,000 and RotoWire subscriptions in the Championship Round on June 27.
Meanwhile, the experts here at RotoWire are competing in our own parallel contest. Isaac Buttke (ibuttke) won the contest two weeks ago with a score of 169.70, led by the Cy Young favorite in the NL in Max Scherzer who gave him a whopping 70 points. Despite registering goose eggs with Colorado's Geraldo Parra and Seattle's Ryon Healy, Isaac had consistent bats with the lowest ebb of Mets' Jay Bruce with 12.2 points to Miami's Starlin Castro's 22.2 points.
In the overall standings Erik Halterman (ehalt) has taken over the top spot with 1238 points, but there are five other players who are less than 40 points behind Erik so anything can happen this week where one of them can move up to first place. Brian Pelowski (brianp) and James Anderson (realjranderson) are the closest to first place with 1,219.70 and 1,218.10 respectively for the season. Adam Wolf (rotosomething) who was in first place overall a couple weeks ago has dropped to fourth (1,200), but still can take over the top spot with a good week.
The full leaderboard for the experts' contest can be found here, but here is the top 10 so far:
1. Erik Halterman (ehalt) 1238.00
2. Brian Pelowski (brianp) 1219.70
3 James Anderson (realjranderson) 1218.10
4. AdamWolf (rotosomething) 1200.00
5. Isaac Buttke (ibuttke) 1198.10
6. Clay Link (linkdaddydollaz) 1198.10
7. Jake Letarski (rotojakeski) 1175.10
8. Kevin Payne (kevinccp) 1172.90
9. Shawn Cwalinski (cwalinski) 1172.40
10. Joel Bartilotta (joelbartilotta) 1168.10
When it comes to DFS strategy, why not take advantage of some of RotoWire's gifts this season? Use tools like the lineup optimizer in conjunction with our daily lineups and weather reportsin order to take home the gold.
With the Colorado Rockies not at home tonight, the top projected scoring games are in New York and Kansas City. Both the Nationals-Yankees and Reds-Royals games have an over/under of 9 1/2. With the Nats going with Erik Fedde to replace an injured Steven Strasburg on the mound along with a disrespected Yanks' hurler Sonny Gray, the balls might fly out of Yankee Stadium. Also with high ERA pitchers, Reds Tyler Mahle and Jason Hammel, you could go with stacks of any of the four teams.
Value Plays
P Caleb Smith, Miami Marlins versus San Francisco Giants
FanDuel Price:$7,800
If you want to save $4K without taking Houston hurler Gerrit Cole, Smith is one of the options where you can spend more money on bats. Smith is a much better pitcher at home this season with a 2-2 record and a 2.90 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP and a .214 batting average.
PSonny Gray, New York Yankees versus Washington Nationals
FanDuel Price: $7,800
Gray has definitely deserved the term bust this season, but he has started to turn it around. In the last two weeks Gray has pitched 14 innings while striking out 14 with a 0.64 ERA and a 0.57 WHIP. And even going back 30 days, Gray has averaged a strikeout per inning with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. Despite going against a quality team in the Nationals, Gray has a very good chance of picking up the victory.
SSScott Kingery, Philadelphia Phillies versus Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Price:$2,400
The hope is that Tuesday games will be of good things to come. After a blazing start of talks about Rookie of the Year, Kingery has started to show life in the past week. He smacked a three-run home run against Colorado on Tuesday night so he will be looking to add to that against Rockies' hurler Tyler Anderson who has a 4.81 ERA this season.
2BLogan Forsythe, Los Angeles Dodgers versus Texas Rangers
FanDuel Price:$2,500
If you are looking for a cheap option at second base, Forsythe might be your man. While overall he is having a disappointing season, Forsythe has a history of hitting lefties like Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels. Forsythe has a career batting average of .275 and an OPS of .814 against southpaws.
3B Max Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers versus Texas Rangers
FanDuel Price:$3,800
Jumping on bats going against Rangers' Cole Hamels, Muncy continues to be hot and you want to roll on the bandwagon. While his price continues to get higher, there are still six higher options at the hot corner. In the last seven days Muncy has hit .450 with four home runs and seven RBI.
OFNicholas Castellanos, Detroit Tigers versus Minnesota Twins
FanDuel Price:$2,900
Castellanos has quietly had a good year and quiet in terms of one of the worst teams in baseball. Castellanos has had very good success against Twins' starter with a .500 batting average although only 10 at bats with a home run and four RBI.
1B/CJose Abreu, Chicago White Sox versus Cleveland Indians
FanDuel Price:$3,300
Like Castellanos, Abreu has not received the publicity that he normally should and has been short sided considering that the team is tanking this season. Quietly, Abreu is hitting .290 with 10 home runs and 38 RBI this season.
C/1BJames McCann, Detroit Tigers versus Minnesota Twins
FanDuel Price:$2,000
If you are going to take Gerrit Cole, you are going to have to take some scrubs and McCann is dirt cheap. McCann has a good history against Twins' starting pitcher Jose Berrios with a .455 batting average and two home runs in only 11 at-bats and seven RBI. You need to check the status of McCann since he has missed the last couple of days with the flu.
Worth the Price
PGerrit Cole, Houston Astros at Oakland A's
FanDuel Price:$11,800
Cole continues to go through his revival in Houston. He averages almost 51 FanDuel points this season, but he does face a better than expected offensive team in the A's that is middle of the pack in MLB team stats overall and against right-handers. Overall, Cole has a good record against the A's in not allowing a home run and only hitting .242 against the Astros right-hander with only a .281 OBP and .316 slugging percentage.
PTrevor Bauer, Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox
FanDuel Price:$10,200
If you want to save almost a couple of thousand dollars for bats, Bauer is your guy. Bauer has been pretty much locking down against the White Sox. Pale Hose batters only have hit .209 batting average with a .247 OBP and .291 slugging percentage against Bauer.
1B/CJose Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals versus San Diego Padres
FanDuel Price:$4,400
Martinez on fire lately even after going 0-for-4 last night against the Padres. Outside of last night, Martinez has been crushing the ball against the Padres. In the last seven days Martinez is hitting .542 with five home runs and 11 RBI.
Player to Avoid
2BBrian Dozier, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
FanDuel Price: $4,100
Dozier has had a good history against Tigers' starting pitcher Matt Boyd (three home runs and a .406 batting average), but the Twins second baseman is stuck in a funk. He was 0-for-4 last night against the Tigers and he was hitting only .217 for the last two weeks as well as a .150 batting average for the last week.