DraftKings MLB Picks June 18: Teheranimo!

DraftKings MLB Picks June 18: The resurgence of Teheranimo

We have a full 15 game slate for our DraftKings MLB tournaments. Will we have all 15 games, or with Mother Nature interfere again. Last night was an adventure leading up to lock. Will tonight be? That seems like a good place to start.

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Rain is likely in several spots again tonight. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Atlanta should be able to get the games in, but a delay, particularly near the beginning, is very possible. The real problem areas appear to be DC (again) and New York.

It will be raining in the NYC area pretty much all day. This game should start on time, but there is a pretty high risk of in game delay(s). Washington is even worse. The prognosis there is about the same as it was last night. There are going to be storms all over the area, and one or two will hit the stadium sooner or later. Arms aren’t going to be safe in this one, so I’m not even considering them. I think I’m crossing off Yankees-Rays for arms too.

Once again, it is a calm night as far as winds go. Humidity is fairly high in Cincinnati, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, and San Diego, so we could see some carry in those locales.

I didn’t use Tanaka or Lucchesi even though I had them both on my radar. However, a full Angels stack and an Angels/best of the west hitters stack put two of my three lineups over the money line. I can’t argue with a solid night!

These tips are based mostly on past performance. This is a nice tool for building a lineup, but should not be the only pieces of information you use. We have plenty of writers on here who give you relevant information no matter which site you play on, and we all attack the slate from different angles.

DraftKings MLB Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Justin Verlander ($11,900): Verlander has pretty much dominated any place that has a mound this season. The current Reds are 1-11 against him lifetime, but I don’t really care about their past stats anyway. The Reds strike out a lot and most of their power is from the right side. Verlander’s price is jacked up thanks to his 15 K outing last week. I wouldn’t rule out another outing like that, but I don’t know that it’s worth it to pay the price hoping for it either. At any rate, this should still be a strong outing for Verlander.

Cole Hamels ($10,500): The White Sox are hitting .250 with a homer and five runs in 44 at bats against Hamels, but they have racked up 11 strikeouts. The strikeout potential is what is keeping me on Hamels here. The White Sox have some good right handed bats, and may get a few runs against Hamels. However, the White Sox may strike out more than any other team tonight.

Middle Tier:

Julio Teheran ($9,500): The Mets are only hitting .208 with two homers and 12 runs in 178 at bats against Teheran. The 42 strikeouts do leave something to be desired, but it is worth mentioning that Teheran is having his best season in quite some time, perhaps even the best of his career. On top of that, Teheran has a 1.85 ERA in six home starts this year. Teheran picked up 22.7 DraftKings points against the Mets earlier this year. I’ll take that for the price.

Jack Flaherty ($8,700): Use hitters against Flaherty at home at your own risk. Flaherty has a 2.25 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in seven Busch Stadium starts this year. He shut down the Marlins in his only outing against them last year, allowing two runs in six innings. Expect something similar to that here with a solid strikeout total.

Jordan Yamamoto ($8,300): Yamamoto dazzled in his debut against this same Cardinals team at home last week. That could end up being a bad thing. I don’t expect the Cardinals to be a lot better than they were against Yamamoto there, but the lack of strikeouts (four in seven innings) makes Yamamoto a bit of a risk here. Yamamoto only allowed five base runners. That kept his point total up. Say he allowed more like eight baserunners and two runs here. That’s still a quality start, but his DraftKings net would be about ten points less. There is some risk here.

Bargain Pitchers:

Merrill Kelly ($8,000): This looks like a good place to jump in on Kelly. He has allowed just two runs over his last three starts spanning 22.1 innings. Kelly also held his own against the Rockies in Coors. The Rockies are notoriously much worse offensively on the road. I actually think Kelly is way underpriced tonight. This is a game he could dominate.

Zach Plesac ($7,900): It isn’t necessarily the upside of Plesac that has me considering him here. It’s the floor. Plesac hasn’t been under double figures in any of his four major league starts, and that was facing the Yankees and the Red Sox in Boston. This is a tough environment and Texas is tougher on righties, but this offense is still much less potent without Gallo. I see a quality start for Plesac, which should make him worth his price.

Brett Anderson ($6,200): The Orioles are only hitting .188 with four runs in 48 at bats against Anderson. The Issue here is that Anderson really doesn’t strike anyone out. His 12 against the Orioles does highlight the upside to using him though. This team strikes out a lot, and even a guy like Anderson could notch half a dozen K’s tonight. Anderson only struck out four Orioles earlier this year, but he still notched 18.2 DraftKings points. That’s a hell of a ROI for the price!

My picks: Flaherty, Kelly; Verlander, Kelly; Kelly, Anderson

DraftKings MLB Stack Options:

Los Angeles Angels vs. Marcus Stroman:

Yes, Stroman has had a really good year. He also had his worst start of the season against the Angels, and his problems against the Halos aren’t limited to this year. The Angels are hitting a whopping .439 against Stroman in 57 at bats with two homers and a staggering 16 runs! Kevan Smith and Calhoun have the homers, but both Trout and Lucroy have driven in four each. In fact, he has only retired Lucroy once in five tries. Pujols and Upton have knocked Stroman around as well, and he hasn’t even faced Ohtani yet. This could be another bad outing for Stroman.

Chicago Cubs vs. Ivan Nova:

The Cubs hit Nova pretty well in the National League when he was with the Pirates. The past numbers alone don’t scream “STACK,” but his 8.79 ERA in eight home starts certainly does. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Cubs are hitting .308 off of him in 133 at bats. Javy Baez has two homers against Nova, so start there. Addison Russell, Schwarber, and Jason Heyward have the others. I certainly wouldn’t ignore Rizzo or CarGo either. Kris Bryant is just 2-12 lifetime against Nova. He’s about the only Cub I would leave out.

Oakland Athletics vs. Gabriel Ynoa:

Ynoa hasn’t been horrible of late, but he still hasn’t been good either. Some may want to take a shot with Ynoa since he is the cheapest pitcher on the slate, and I can see the merits to that. After all, he has not allowed more than three earned runs since May 16th. That could end here. Oakland is patient and powerful. Matt Olson and Robbie Grossman stand out a little more tonight, but also keep this in mind: Ynoa hasn’t gone more than five innings all season and this is the worst bullpen ever seen pitching behind him. Line up Davis, Chapman, and Semien too.

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Logan Allen:

The 22 year old lefty with an ERA over 5 at AAA El Paso makes his major league debut against one of the National League’s best offenses. What could possibly go wrong? Ryan Braun and Lorenzo Cain stand out here. Moose and Christian Yelich hit lefties well enough to throw out there as well. If I have extra money for a catcher tonight, I’ll likely use it on Yasmani Grandal. I also like Orlando Arcia as a solid option on the cheap.

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

The Nationals have slugged six homers against Jake Arrieta so far. Juan Soto is 3-6 with two of those homers and five RBI, so start there. Brian Dozier, Trea Turner, and Matt Adams have the others.

Patrick Corbin has failed to last more than five innings in any of his last three starts. His home numbers are good enough that I’m not for a stack here, but Scott Kingery, Hoskins, and Realmuto all look good. Righties have punished Corbin lately.

Avi Garcia has homered twice against J.A. Happ in nine at bats. Willy Adames and Tommy Pham look like nice plays here too. Right handed power has been tough on Happ, especially at home. You could even go for a reasonably priced Zunino or d’Arnaud, whoever starts at catcher.

Daniel Norris has good numbers against the Pirates, but bad numbers this year. Josh Bell and Starling Marte both look like good plays to me. Elias Diaz is a solid play too.

Mitch Keller has been downright awful in his first two major league starts. This is a cheap stack if you decide to throw Tigers at him, but I honestly can’t find five that I like. Dawel Lugo, Christin Stewart, and Niko Goodrum are worth throwing out there though. Maybe JaCoby Jones leading off.

Anthony DeScalfani has been better at home, and the Astros really aren’t that dangerous outside of Brantley, Josh Reddick, and Bregman right now. Actually, all three of them make for a nice mini stack. You can include Robinson Chirinos is you have money to burn at catcher.

deGrom’s numbers in SunTrust Field actually aren’t bad. However, his numbers are down across the board but his price really isn’t. This feels like a place to take a shot or two with Braves. Freeman and Markakis have both slugged two homers against deGrom. Donaldson and Johan Camargo each have one. I wouldn’t leave myself too exposed here though.

The Twins really could do a number on David Price, but Porcello shut them down last night so I’m not stacking. Nelson Cruz has homered twice against Price and is hitting .290 in 31 at bats. Rosario is 5-9 against Price so far. Kepler and C.J. Cron have the other homers. I will have some exposure here, but not as much as I would have had the Twins’ offense shown up last night.

Michael Pineda hasn’t had a truly awful outing as a Twin, so I don’t think a stack is in order. That said, Mookie has homered off of him twice already. Bogaerts has the other. Both of them are strong plays, and Jackie Bradley Jr. is still a strong play for his price. I want some exposure here.

Antonio Senzatela held the Diamondbacks to just two runs in six innings in Coors a couple of weeks ago, but he was more lucky than good. The Diamondbacks had nine hits and two walks. If they bring even half of those home, this is a disaster for Senzatela. Eduardo Escobar and David Peralta have both homered against Senzatela. Nick Ahmed is 6-13 with four RBI and a cheap option at SS. Don’t count out Adam Jones either.

All of Shaun Anderson’s numbers are decent. He has really only had one bad outing, and two of the six runs he gave up were unearned in that one. I don’t want to stack Dodgers here, but it’s hard to ignore Bellinger and Max Muncy right now, especially with the way they hit righties anyway. I also like the price on Alex Verdugo here.

Homer Bailey dazzled in Omaha last week, but was battered by Seattle earlier in the year. What do we trust? How about his 5.37 ERA on the season. I’m still taking a shot at Bailey with Vogelbach, Dee Gordon, Kyle Seager, and J.P. Crawford.

Everything about Yusei Kikuchi has been average for the most part. The Royals are a lot of things, but they are not average against lefties. Jorge Soler, Merrifield, and Mondesi all hit lefties well. Soler homered against Kikuchi earlier in the year, so I definitely want him.

DraftKings MLB one-off plays:

Ryan Yarbrough hasn’t been that good in Yankee Stadium so far, but his overall numbers against the current healthy Yankees are decent enough. Gary Sanchez is about the only Yankee bat I would roll out there, and even then, the price is a major deterrent.

Tyler Skaggs has really pitched poorly on the road this year, but I still find myself looking at just Vlad Jr. and Grichuk from the Toronto side. Not much else on that offense looks good.

J.D. Davis homered against Teheran earlier this year. That was the only Mets run in that game. You can try going back to this well again, but I honestly don’t like any Mets from this game.

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Jose Abreu is really the only White Sox player I want against Hamels. Abreu is 4-9 with the homer and four of the five RBI that the Sox have against Hamels.

How much Rangers exposure do you want to Plesac? I’m not sure I want a lot. Choo is a good pick and so is a cheap Rougned Odor, but I don’t know if I want anything beyond that, and definitely not more than one in a lineup.

The two teams that Adrian Sampson dominated were the Royals and A’s, so excuse me if I’m not willing to get on the train against Cleveland. That said, I do recognize that Sampson could lock up the Indians like Sampson did last night. My only Cleveland exposure will likely be to the really cheap options: Jose Ramirez and Jason Kipnis.

Guessing which Cardinal could get to Jordan Yamamoto seems futile, so I would only use guys like Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt, who are far too cheap for what they are capable of.

I really don’t like any Marlins here. Starlin Castro is the cheapest cleanup hitter you’ll ever see, but he still doesn’t provide much production for your punt.

I don’t expect Anderson to have a bad night tonight, so if I use Orioles, it’s just a punt against a lefty. Hanser Alberto and Keon Broxton will be the ones I have limited exposure to.

To me, Brandon Woodruff looks a little overpriced. He has given up at least three runs in each of his last three starts. Can he have a good game against the Padres? Sure, it’s possible. I’d say it’s far more likely that either Renfroe, Machado, or Wil Myers take him deep though.

I love Kershaw, I just hate the price. He only netted 15.6 DraftKings points against the Giants 11 days ago. Kershaw hasn’t topped 30 DraftKings points, which is what I would want from his price, since April 27th. Instead, take a shot with Buster Posey. Posey has three homers and 10 RBI in his career against Kershaw.

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