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
Miles Mikolas - St. Louis Cardinals
DK: $7,200 - FD: $6,800
This is more of a DK value SP2 play for tournaments, because we know the big upside arms are Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, and Mike Soroka. Miles Mikolas has been a better arm at home, allowing a .274 wOBA and 2.43 ERA. He also gets a Rockies team that struggles on the road, and their strikeout rate goes up. Mikolas is a cheap option who might have lower ownership due to the recent outings.
Tournament Bats
Eloy Jimenez - Chicago White Sox - OF
DK: $4,300 - FD: $3,400
Ariel Jurado has allowed a .390 wOBA and .233 ISO to right-handers this season. Great spot for Eloy Jimenez, who has all .233 ISO off right-handed pitching. Jurado is also a low strikeout arm. US Cellular is a plus park for right-handed power. The White Sox bats are intriguing here, but can come across as expensive depending on the site. Tim Anderson and Jose Abreu are the other two names to consider.
Didi Gregorius - New York Yankees - SS
DK: $4,000 - FD: $3,300
The Yankees need a win tonight, and have a matchup against Tanner Roark. He has actually been solid in Oakland and handles right-handed bats very well. However, he does not handle lefties well. He has allowed a .397 wOBA and .204 ISO to left-handed hitters this season. Didi Gregorius is a fairly cheap shortstop option with a .344 wOBA and .201 ISO off righties this season.
Cavan Biggio - Toronto Blue Jays - 2B
DK: $3,800 - FD: $3,100
Kenta Maeda will likely handle the Toronto lineup tonight, but does have a history of struggling against left-handed hitters. He has allowed a .341 wOBA and .181 ISO to them this year, and the strikeout rate drops about 11%. Cavan Biggio has a .214 ISO, and his .227 BABIP kills the average. His contact rate is at 78% and his hard-contact rate is over 40%. The dude mashes, but results have varied so far.
Tournament Stacks
Chicago White Sox - Ariel Jurado has a 7.71 ERA in the second half, and has allowed a .395 wOBA. He has also allowed a 1.93 HR/9 in that span. Jurado has allowed a 50% hard-contact rate away from Texas this season, and he has not pitched longer than four innings in three of his last four starts. Allowing a .335 wOBA and .174 ISO to lefties puts some bats in play. But, the right-handers is where I want to target. Jurado has allowed a .390 wOBA and .233 ISO to right-handers. I talked Jimenez already, but Tim Anderson has a .198 ISO and 377 wOBA. Jose Abreu has a .212 ISO off right-handers. Yoan Moncada is back and has a .403 wOBA and .252 ISO off righties.
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