There are a handful of pitching options tonight that make sense for tournaments, but here are 3 that I (Tommienation1) am most interested in tonight for tournaments. If you’re looking for more analysis on each game tonight, check out the MLB Strategy Video from this morning. Awesemo will update this article with his take later today, so make sure to check back before lock!
Mashiro Tanaka ($8,800 DK/$9,100 FD)
Tanaka is too cheap for me not to consider here even in a below-average matchup. He’s got some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in all of the MLB, posting a 10.8% Swinging-Strike rate or higher in all 4 of his starts this season, and there are some guys that wave and miss a lot in this Twins lineup, namely Miguel Sano, Jason Castro, and Logan Morrison. There may not be huge K-upside tonight, but at $8,800, Tanaka makes for my favorite point-per-dollar play of the night on DraftKings with a good chance to boost your tournament lineup with a win.
Carlos Carrasco ($11,700 DK/$9,600 FD)
Playing pitchers against the Orioles has been a fairly profitable strategy this season, and it’s hard not to go right back to the well with Carrasco tonight. As a team, Baltimore has the highest Swinging-Strike%, highest O-Swing%, and 3rd-highest Swing% in all of baseball in 2018, and a guy like Carrasco should have the opportunity for a ton of strikeouts tonight. He should face hitters like Tim Beckham, Chris Davis and Chance Sisco, who all strikeout over 30% of the time against righties in addition to a bunch of hitters that strikeout over 20% of the time. Carrasco’s 11.4% Swinging-Strike% and 20.8% soft-contact rate this year make him a pretty awesome option tonight in tournaments even if he’s a bit overpriced on DK.
Trevor Cahill ($7,000 DK/$6,600 FD)
While rookie Walker Buehler should be popular on DraftKings, Cahill makes for a nice pivot in tournaments on the road against the Rangers. He’s coming off a great performance against the White Sox in which he posted a 15.2% Swinging-Strike rate and was able to get up to 92 pitches. If he’s having a solid outing against the Rangers, who have the 4th-highest K% in the MLB over the last two weeks, Cahill should be able to get near 100 pitches tonight, which is more than we can say about Buehler. There’s no doubt this is a dangerous spot for Cahill, as he struggles with command and stolen bases regularly, but we expect the A’s to help him out with some runs support, and his stuff is good enough to rack up a bunch of strikeouts even if he allows a couple runs.
