Pitching is the lifeblood of a DFS lineup, and an important part of keeping those tabs open deep into the night. For those new with us, the Pitching Pulse is focused on providing information on four to five pitchers that are viable in various formats. This is a premium article that will give away one free preview pitcher, while the rest will be for premium members. We take a deep dive into pitchers across all salaries, looking for exploitable matchups, game theory plays, and identify the nightly chalk. Our information comes from our optimizer, FanGraphs, and other various MLB sites listed below. Feel free to comment below, or find us on Twitter at @BrentHeiden1, @JGuilbault11, and @dfcafe. We focus on Main Slates across all content, but will feature blurbs about other slates at times, and can be reached via Twitter or comments.
Clayton Kershaw (L) Vs. Washington Nationals | ||||||
Splits (2017-2018) | wOBA Allowed | K% | BB% | GB% | Hard% Allowed | FIP |
Vs. LHB | .331 | 25% | 3.1% | 40.9% | 31.4% | 4.71 |
| Vs. RHB | .240 | 31.2% | 4.6% | 49.4% | 26.1% | 2.66 |
Opposing Team Splits Vs. Pitcher Handedness | ||||||
wOBA | ISO | wRC+ | K% | BB% | Hard% | Implied Run Total |
| .285 | .094 | 85 | 28.4% | 15.5% | 30.2% | 2.8 |
We have a fantastic 15-game slate on our hands, and it features a little bit of everything. We have Coors on the slate, and an abundance of good offenses in good spots. We also have quite a few aces taking the mound tonight, and a battle of two of the elite arms out in L.A. Max Scherzer squares off against Clayton Kershaw, and both are firmly in play as top options. Both offenses have sort of scuffled out of the gates by their standards, and it will not get easier tonight. Scherzer is an excellent play if you don't want to go Kershaw in this spot, as he has three double-digit strikeout games in four starts this season, and has not allowed over two earned runs. Scherzer has a 36.4% strikeout rate against lefties so far this season, and the only problem I could see is if he potentially allows those one or two long balls to left-handed bats. That was the case last season with a 1.44 HR/9, and he has already allowed two homers this season. Nothing to really worry about. Scherzer is an elite option, the only thing that hurts both of these guys is the potential of not getting a win.
Kershaw on the other hand gets a Nationals lineup, that has been god awful against left-handed pitching. Washington has two bats to really worry about on the right side, Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon, and Rendon might not be in the lineup again. Of Bryce Harper can hurt you, and it is not like Kershaw has been automatic against lefties of late. Regardless, Kershaw gets a slight edge due to the matchup and being at home. Washington currently ranks 4th in strikeout rate against southpaws, and 25th in wRC+.
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