RotoBaller has been providing our daily league fans with lineup advice every day. But today is a special event: the second of many fantasy baseball expert challenges RotoBaller will engage in with other fantasy baseball sites. Today's foe represents TheFakeBaseball. TheFakeBaseball is a popular fantasy baseball website, but for tonight, we hope to make them look like daily fantasy noobs ;-).
Here is the today's lineup for TheFakeBaseball, along with the quick-hit analysis of the lineup they've put together, written by Mike T, their daily league expert (@Joe12Three):
P-Phil Hughes- So far so good for Phil Hughes this year. Its still early in the season but the peripherals so far are good with an xFIP of 3.8 and a FIP of 3.5. The 8.74 K/9% is not bad either. A matchup against the Royals at 5800 is an easy play for me
C-Jarrod Saltalamacchia- Already mentioned this on Twitter but Ramon Ortiz gets the start for the Jays. Yes, the soon to be 40 year old one is still somehow in the Majors.
1B-David Ortiz- Big Papi is an easy play as he has been en fuego since returning off the DL. Ortiz should get smacked around
2B- Dustin Pedroia- You catching onto the trend, yet? Don't worry I am not going all in on Red Sox hitters as this is my last one
3B-Alberto Callaspo- He can hit and Axelrod is a soft tosser that should give up his share of hits
SS-Jimmy Rollins- No real particular reason I am playing him other than he is a value play at 2800
OF-Carlos Beltran- 12-39 with 2 homers off Garland. Garland is a sinker baller and Beltran loves the ball down
OF-Scott Hairston- A lefty killer in his career and he gets to face Detwiler who he is 5-9 with a homer
OF-Justin Upton- 13-47 with 5 doubles off Cain
SP: Alexi Ogando ($5,500): Nice and cheap with a great matchup-- just what I'm looking for in a starting pitcher. He'll rack up the strikeouts against HOU.
C: Matt Wieters ($3,600): Solid switch-hitting catcher going up against the very hittable Mike Pelfrey. 6-for-16 over his last 4 games. I'm going big on this lefty-swinging Baltimore stack.
1B: Chris Davis ($4,100): He's been a little cold of late, but he went yard last night, so I'm hoping he's broken out of the mini-funk. Mediocre pitching tonight should help that, too.
2B: Ian Kinsler ($4,200): I'm working a solid righty-swinging Texas stack against Keuchel in the hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park, and Kinsler is coming off a 3-for-5 performance on Wednesday in Milwaukee.
3B: Adrian Beltre ($3,800): I'm betting on Beltre to come up big against the lefty in Houston.
SS: J.J. Hardy ($2,600): Still very cheap despite the fact that he's hit safely in six straight games, with 2 HR and 6 RBI in that span. That's the definition of "hot streak" right there.
OF: Nate McLouth ($4,000): A little pricey for what he is, but I could afford to splurge. He has the lefty-righty matchup with Pelfrey, and is riding with 5 hits and 3 SB in his last 6 games.
OF: Nelson Cruz ($4,000): He's been really good to start the season, hitting 7 bombs to date. He gets Keuchel in Houston, and that's a matchup over which I'm salivating.
OF: Ichiro Suzuki ($3,200): 8-for-16 with 3 RBI and 1 SB against Wade Davis. It was either Ichiro or Brett Gardner at the same price (5-for-10 off of Davis). Take your pick.
Last, but certainly not least, make sure you check today’s lineups before setting your team!
If you like how the idea of Daily Fantasy Baseball sounds, try it out on Fanduel, and be sure to watch out for free RotoBaller_Official Fanduel tournaments and weekly Beat the Experts challenges!
We'll recap today's challenge in Monday's Daily Lineup Card. Stay tuned!