This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Behold -- it's a 16-game Friday slate.
An afternoon game gets underway in Detroit as the Tigers and Royals play a day-night doubleheader, and then we're treated to a lot of good pitching on a full 15-game evening schedule.
The Rockies are back home at Coors.
The Dodgers and Nationals open up a series in Los Angeles, with Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer taking the mound.
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Pitcher
Justin Verlander, HOU at CWS ($12,000) -- With Scherzer and Kershaw squaring off against each other at Chavez Ravine on Friday night, Verlander against the White Sox on the road, and Noah Syndergaard on the road against the Braves will likely be the first considerations for most lineups. Syndergaard is $600 cheaper on DraftKings, and we might end up with a path that allows both to be used in the same lineup, but having to choose one, and thinking about the potential bump in ownership rate for Syndergaard with the slightly lower price, Verlander gets the edge as my top pitching play Friday.
Also in play among the pricey starters: Noah Syndergaard, NYM at ATL ($11,400), Max Scherzer, WAS at LAD ($12,500), Clayton Kershaw, LAD vs. WAS ($12,200), Chris Archer, TB vs. MIN ($8,800).
GPP Fade: None today, as the ownership distribution of the starting pitchers should be spread out enough to make fading any one particular starter unnecessary.
Cheap GPP Consideration: Michael Wacha, STL vs. CIN ($7,200) -- Wacha's early indicators are scary. His swinging-strike rate is down (7.6 percent), his walk rate has nearly doubled (from 7.9 percent to 14.7 percent), his home-run rate has ticked up to a career-high (1.23 HR/9), and his average fastball velocity has dipped (career-low 92.9 mph) to begin 2018. A postponement earlier in the week allowed the Cards to shuffle their rotation and give Wacha a few extra days between starts to try and right the ship, so consider this recommendation a blind faith buy of sorts against a slumping Reds offense, whose team wRC+ against righties (68) ranks 29th in MLB this season.
Catcher
Alex Avila, ARI vs. SD ($2,800) -- Tyson Ross is looking more like the pitcher he was before thoracic outlet syndrome derailed him in 2016, but if Avila is in the lineup Friday for Arizona, his low price and reasonable lineup position (he might hit as high as sixth) in one of the night's higher over/under total games (9.0) is enough to make him one of the cheap pivots away from Chris Iannetta ($3,500) in Coors, for those who can't pay the premium for Gary Sanchez ($4,700) or Willson Contreras ($4,500).
First Base
Justin Bour, MIA at MIL ($3,000) -- I don't think an algorithm can actually hate a player, but if it is in fact possible, the DraftKings pricing algorithm hates Justin Bour. Bour is getting a huge park boost during the series against the Brewers at Miller Park, and it's pretty amazing that the red-hot first baseman on the other side of his matchup -- Eric Thames -- is commanding $4,900 on Friday. Milwaukee starter Jhoulys Chacin has a sub-15K percentage against left-handed hitters since the start of 2016 (14.4 percent), and his home-run lean is more favorable to lefties (1.22 HR/9) than righties (0.70) during that time. Bour and Jose Martinez (against Cincinnati lefty Brandon Finnegan) should once again be among the most highly owned players on the board at first base Friday night.
Second Base
Wilmer Flores, NYM at ATL ($3,200) -- The keystone has become a bit of a trouble spot recently, so I'll take the center-square platoon chalk with Flores drawing lefty Sean Newcomb in Atlanta. It's somewhat surprising that he's $800 cheaper than teammate Asdrubal Cabrera, who is also appealing in this spot, but Flores yields much needed salary-relief at a thin position where the premium bats are mostly priced at $4,500 and up. If your lineup comes together in a way where you can spend up in GPPs, this is the position I would be most willing to pay the premium, and it's almost certainly going to be for Jose Altuve against the White Sox for $4,900.
Third Base
Adrian Beltre, TEX vs. SEA ($3,300) -- A post-30 renaissance doesn't appear to be on the horizon for Felix Hernandez, and he'll be a regular target, at least for one-off plays, but likely for mini-stacks and full stacks at times this season. Beltre's extremely low price should peak some interest, but it's a righty-righty matchup, so it's possible that his .296/.361/.491 against righties since the start of last season will get somewhat overlooked. There are a few other options under $4,000 worth thinking about: Jedd Gyorko ($3,100 vs. Reds lefty Brandon Finnegan), Travis Shaw ($3,800 vs. Marlins righty Trevor Richards), and Miguel Andujar ($2,800 vs. Jays righty Marco Estrada).
Shortstop
Jean Segura, SEA at TEX ($3,400) -- Segura's numbers against lefties are seemingly overlooked, and with the top three hitters at the position commanding $5,000 or more, it's Segura vs. Paul DeJong ($4,100) among second-tier considerations. Segura has considerably less swing-and-miss in his approach, which makes him more cash-friendly than DeJong, and yet I don't expect his ownership rate to get crazy-high in GPPs. Mike Minor is an interesting enough arm for me to avoid stacking Mariners, especially since his splits as a reliever were outstanding against lefties, but Segura's place in the Seattle lineup, and a hitter-friendly tilt again in Arlington (over/under 9.0) is enough to pull me in for some exposure to the matchup.
Outfield
Andrew McCutchen, SFG at LAA ($3,400) -- Cutch is rarely a player I'm targeting, and his .211/.282/.338 line through 18 games as a Giant is underwhelming, but with a .304/.404/.615 line against lefties since the start of 2017 (1.019 OPS), a matchup with Angels southpaw Andrew Heaney is simply too good to pass up. Heaney had an extreme case of gopheritis in a limited sample following his return from Tommy John surgery last season, and I'm interested in seeing how he settles in after a mixed bag in his season debut against the Royals last week (seven strikeouts, but four runs -- three earned -- allowed on seven hits in five innings).
Aaron Hicks, NYY vs. TOR ($3,400) -- Full disclosure: I'm usually wrong about Marco Estrada. He throws gems when I stack against him, and he gets rocked when I try to leverage a favorable matchup from him to my benefit. He may get a slight bump up in the batting order depending on the adjustments made by manager Aaron Boone with the slumping Giancarlo Stanton, but even if he's hitting sixth again Friday, Hicks is worth considering as a member of a loaded lineup, in one of the higher over/under totals on the board (9.0) on the slate. The switch-hitting Hicks is moving closer to becoming a split-neutral player, and his ability to hit from both sides keeps him from getting yanked for a late-game replacement when an opposing team brings in a dominant reliever.
Odubel Herrera, PHI vs. PIT ($3,900) -- Pirates starter Ivan Nova has a 12.5 K percentage against lefties since the start of 2016, which has, not surprisingly, made him extremely vulnerable to the long ball (1.53 HR/9) in those matchups. Herrera doesn't offer an overwhelming amount of pop, but he's shown enough against righties (career .298/.353/.453) to take advantage of his particular spot since he's at home in hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park, a park that has boosted left-handed home runs by 20 percent over the last three seasons. Keep an eye on the Phillies' lineup Friday, as Nick Williams and Aaron Altherr remain extremely cheap ($2,900 and $3,100, respectively).
