We have fourteen games tonight with the first pitch at 7:05 PM EST. Today’s slate of games is highlighted by Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres, taking on Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals in Washington. The highest implied run totals tonight sit with the Los Angeles Dodgers (6.8), Toronto Blue Jays (5.9), the Kansas City Royals (5.6).
There is a risk of the game in Cincinnati between the Reds and the Brewers being postponed or delayed with a 24 percent chance of rain at game time but going up to 50 percent after an hour.
Here is a selection of today’s Core Players 50-50 MLB DFS lineup for 7/16/21 (using DraftKings Values)
| Pitcher | Robbie Ray | $9,300 | ||
| Pitcher | ||||
| Catcher | Christian Vasquez | $3,000 | ||
| First Base | ||||
| Second Base | Jake Cronenworth | $4,700 | ||
| Third Base | ||||
| Short Stop | Gavin Lux | $3,200 | ||
| Outfield | George Springer | $5,000 | ||
| Outfield | ||||
| Outfield |
Robbie Ray – P ($8,300)
This year Ray has managed to keep his strikeout numbers high while drastically reducing his walk rate. As you would expect this has led to much better results for him. He hasn’t given up more than three runs in his last eight starts and he has struck out more than ten batters in two of his last three.
Christian Vásquez – C ($3,000) – I may never understand why DK is often pricing Vásquez so low, given that he is one of the more consistent hitting catchers who provide steals at a good rate. We will take his value early and often.
Jake Cronenworth – 2B ($4,700)
Cronenworth headed into the All-Star break with hits in three straight games, with a double and a triple in those games. The Padres will be facing a starter from Washington tonight who is giving up nearly five runs per game and has gone stretches where more than 20 percent of his fly balls leave the ballpark.
Gavin Lux – SS ($3,200)
You’re going to be getting a piece of the Dodgers lineup, in Colorado, and it’s only going to cost $3,200…sign me up. Lux is typically hitting closer to the bottom of the order, but with the Dodgers having a really high implied run total, he should still get lots of at-bats.
George Springer – OF ($5,000)
Springer has had the break to get his feet beneath him after only playing 20 games in the first half. When Springer is going well he can affect the game with both his power and his speed, so don’t hesitate to get him into your lineup tonight if you can find the budget space.
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The Pitchers
Andrew Heaney ($7,400 DK) While Heaney is known to have some blow-ups, his strikeout potential is hard to pass up. There aren’t a lot of pitchers in his price range who can hit 10 strikeouts, and if you add in that this game against Seattle at home, then he has a good chance of getting you the win as well.
Kyle Hendricks ($7,500) – In a battle between two teams that struggle to score, I think there is room here for Hendricks to exceed his value. Arizona is among the worst teams in the league at hitting right-handed pitching, while the Cubs are average against lefties, and that is what we are expecting Arizona to use today so there is win potential here if we can get a good performance out of Hendricks against a bad offence.
Marcus Stroman ($7,900) – Stroman is rarely going to strike out a lot of batters, but he doesn’t give up a lot of runs either. Add to that he has good win potential today going up against a weak Pirates team.
The Value Players
Eric Hosmer – 1B ($3,500)
Hosmer certainly isn’t sexy at this stage of his career, as his limited power continues to diminish. That said he is a player that will still hit doubles and makes good contact with the ball, so multi-hit games going up against a bad pitcher aren’t as hard to come by.
AJ Pollock – OF ($3,800) – Pollock went into the break as one of the hottest hitters in baseball, so it’s hard to imagine that the Dodgers don’t plan to use him as much as possible while he is healthy. When you add that this game is on Colorado, this becomes a player to target at his price in your lineups.
Josh Donaldson – 3B ($3,900) – When healthy, Donaldson is still one of the better hitters in baseball, and he should be healthy right now after having the week off. He will face a Tigers team that wasn’t good in the first half and likely won’t be much better in the second half.
The Stacks
Los Angeles Dodgers – You take one of the best hitting teams in baseball, and you bring them to Colorado, and you expect to see runs. The Dodgers have some spots where you can get value tonight too in Lux, and Pollock, to help you get Betts, Turner, or Muncy into your lineup to make a nice stack on the team with the highest implied run total tonight.
San Diego Padres – One of the nice things about stacking the Padres, is that outside of Tatis and Machado, you can get many of the other players in which makes them an easy team to stack, as you can take Wil Myers, and add in another mid-tier player like Grisham or Pham, and still be able to get Tatis or Machado if you wish.
Toronto Blue Jays – The Blue Jays are nearly the opposite of the Padres. If you want to stack the Blue Jays you will need to plan on it with Guerrero, Bichette, Semien, and Springer all 5k or more. You can still get Grichuk and Hernandez at a reasonable price, but you’re going to have to pick one of the four expensive players and that is tough on a night like tonight when Colorado is in play.
Go win your lineup and tell us how you did. Twitter (@FantasyDFSX) is a good place for that.
