MLB DFS picks and pivots September 17: Aces and Snakes!

3 of 3

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – SEPTEMBER 16: Jake Lamb #22 of the Arizona Diamondbacks (R) gets a pie in his face from teammate Adam Jones following a 7-5 victory against the Miami Marlins during the MLB game at Chase Field on September 16, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. Lamb had a 3-RBI double in the seventh in the Diamondbacks win. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images) /

MLB DFS – Building Our Bats:

If you want to go with a Verlander/Darvish build, especially if the Reds are forced to be right-handed heavy, then it means finding a value stack and with this being such a large slate, there are going to be many viable paths but the one I like the most at first glance is the Arizona Diamondbacks at home against LHP Caleb Smith.

More from DFS

Arizona has a 5.3 IRT, a mark that is only exceeded by the Red Sox, A’s and Braves for the teams outside of Coors Field tonight, and the best part is – the pricing! Well, that and the fact the roof at Chase Field is scheduled to be open which is always fascinating considering it will be in the high 90’s. One note – the roof was initially scheduled to be open Monday as well and Arizona changed course before the game started so just keep an eye on this as we approach lock this evening.

Picking on Caleb Smith is not something earlier in the season that I would have gone out of my way to do, but despite his talent level, he has been arguably one of the worst pitcher’s in baseball down the stretch.

Since the beginning of August, Smith has a 6.11 xFIP, a 5.74 ERA and a 2.55 HR/9 – some of the worst marks in baseball. In fact, the only pitchers with higher xFIP’s during that time are Glenn Sparkman, Peter Lambert and the honorable Chi Chi Gonzalez.

The icing on the cake, Smith’s 27% ground ball rate is the second-lowest mark of any qualifying pitcher in that time so you have a pitcher giving up a 53% fly-ball rate the last month and a half, struggling with HR’s and as to pitch in Chase Field with the roof open and 90+ degrees? This is going to be ugly.

The Arizona projected lineup has a massive .245 ISO against LHP this season with 5 of their 8 projected hitters sporting .200+ ISO marks on their own. Ketel Marte ($9.7K) is the lone real expensive piece here as the rest of the stack is all priced fairly with guys like Eduardo Escobar ($8.3K), Christian Walker ($7.3K), Wilmer Flores ($7.2K) and Adam Jones ($7.3K) all reasonably priced.

You can lock in Verlander, Darvish and a $4K #FreeSquare like Ryan McBroom and then stack up Arizona without much of an issue. Who needs Coors, when we got Chase?

Next. Fantasy Football Injury Impact - Big Ben and Brees. dark

Stay tuned to FanSided Fantasy for all the latest DFS and fantasy analysis every day!