MLB Mobile Sports Betting Toolkit
The purpose of this column is to highlight some players with upside and well-suited for tournaments. While the majority of the hitter picks will likely have power upside, that's not necessarily the case for all the listed options. Other contextual factors such as batting order, ballpark, opposing pitcher, price, speed, etc also come into play, and you'll see these items sprinkled into the write-ups below. Along with that, we'll be gauging the ownership levels, giving you some plausible pivots from the popular choices in a given game slate. We also include an area to find the top stacks of the night for upside but also some lower owned that give you an edge.
Starting Pitcher
Yu Darvish - Chicago Cubs
DK: $10,000 - FD: $9,700
On a top heavy pitching slate, I expect Yu Darvish to be the lowest owned stud. Justin Verlander and Walker Buehler will take a lot of ownership, and even Patrick Corbin will garnish some. The Cubs are -234 favorites, and the Giants have a 3.5 implied total. Darvish's strikeout totals has been crazy of late. He has posted 10, 9, 8, and 9 over his last for starts. His last Giants start didn't go well, and that recency bias will also knock down ownership. Darvish has a 2.36 ERA in the second half, and has allowed a .241 wOBA.
Tournament Bats
Matt Chapman - Oakland Athletics - 3B
DK: $4,700 - FD: $3,900
Matt Chapman has allowed a .398 wOBA and .339 ISO off southpaws this season. The Athletics have been rolling of late, and the west coast guys never quite garnish the same attention in tournaments. J.A. Happ has struggled this season, allowing a .359 wOBA and .236 ISO to right-handed hitters. Chapman has been a beast and will be a single digit owned third baseman.
Rhys Hoskins - Philadelphia Phillies - 1B
DK: $4,300 - FD: $3,900
I could name quite a few names from this game, but I love the DK price tag on Rhys Hoskins. Rick Porcello has allowed a .338 wOBA and .208 ISO to right-handed hitters this season. Porcello isn't missing bats, and his sinker and fastball are being crushed. Hoskins crushes the straight stuff, and overall has a .352 wOBA and .228 ISO off right-handed pitching this season.
Ozzie Albies - Atlanta Braves - 2B
DK: $4,500 - FD: $3,400
The Braves are high risk high reward type bats because Caleb Smith isn't a bad arm. The .222 ISO allowed to right-handers is where I want to target. He is a boom or bust arm, and has struggled against Atlanta a bit this season. Ozzie Albies has a .472 wOBA and .300 ISO off southpaws this season. He has been tremendous against lefties, and the hard-contact and contact rates have been sky high.
Tournament Stacks
Oakland Athletics - The Oakland stadium isn't a typical place to stack, but in a contrarian sense it is worth a look. J.A. Happ has a 4.89 xFIP this season, and a sub 20% strikeout rate. He is allowing a .347 wOBA and .176 ISO to lefties. Right-handers have a .359 wOBA and .236 ISO. Happ is also allowing a lot of hard-contact and a fairly low groundball rate. Marcus Semien has a .185 ISO and .351 wOBA off southpaws. Both Matt Olson and Matt Chapman have over a .300 ISO off lefties. You have the right-handed outfield bats like Stephen Piscotty, Chad Pinder, Khris Davis, and Mark Canha all with over a .200 ISO off lefties.
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