MLB DFS: Yahoo MLB Picks, Strategy, Lineups, Sleepers: July 12 (FREE)

MLB DFS: Welcome to the Friday Yahoo MLB DFS Picks and Strategy guide. As we head into the holiday weekend, do not forget all the fantastic Awesemo content, so before you lock in your baseball lineups, make sure to check out Awesemo’s MLB rankings and projections. Not a member? Sign up HERE.

For Friday’s free Spotlight Hitters and Stacks article click here 

For Friday’s free Spotlight Pitchers article click here 


Greetings Gamers! Let’s see what sort of fun we have on tap today!

Act fast as Yahoo is running a $12,000 prize pool contest with $3,000 added for just $3 per lineup with a maximum of ten that is rapidly filling up – they also have their marquee $20,000 with $5,000 top prize for Friday as well!

Click this link and use the promo code Awesemo when making your first deposit and you will be eligible for $30 of “free play” which Yahoo matches the first $30 of your deposit (Yahoo Sports Rewards Points, aka YSRP which can be used to enter any paid contest immediately).

We will utilize this series to point out the different nuances, tips and tricks to building a solid Yahoo! tournament lineup.

Salary Cap

Yahoo! has a similar roster setup as most of the two-pitcher formats, but their salary cap is quite a unique puzzle to tackle each day.  It’s worthwhile to spend some time trying out different roster combinations – playing with how much of the salary cap you are allocating to pitching and hitting. The savvy gamer will be able to find some gems among the hitters in the $7-10 range which is crucial to working in some top-shelf talent.

Scoring System

For those of you new to the site, please note that the scoring has been tweaked since last season. When compared to the other popular scoring formats it’s more punitive for pitchers allowing base runners and is less rewarding for “team stacking” (i.e. taking three or more hitters from the same team in adjacent or nearly adjacent spots in the batting order). Yahoo offers discounts for runs and RBI, compared to individual batter scoring of slightly more points proportionally for extra base hits, walks and hit by pitch categories.

Basic Strategy

In the past, I’ve found that even though the Yahoo! format allows us to roster as many as six players from the same team, their unique pricing and two-pitcher format have somewhat muted the need for team stacking and as detailed above, the slight changes to their scoring system will continue to encourage that trend.

Target Pitchers

For those of you new to Yahoo!, learning how to read into the pitcher pricing is key to building competitive lineups. The minimum price for pitchers is $25 while we can see some of the top-shelf aces like Chris Sale, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander crest just over $60 depending on their recent performance and matchup.

RHP Gerrit Cole at Texas Rangers ($62) – 4.1 implied run total

It is going to be h-o-t HOT in Arlington today with the mercury in the low-90s after touching a high in the 93-95 range during the afternoon and this will be the fourth time that RHP Gerrit Cole has faced the Rangers.  Neither of these are things in Cole’s favor as he has rolled up 16.1 innings against Texas this season with an unsightly 6.61 ERA, 1.41 WHIP with a WHOPPING 29 strikeouts and just two home runs allowed – it would seem he has been a victim of hit sequencing with runners on base.

We are definitely paying top dollar for the services of Cole tonight, however, there are more than enough discounted options to afford us this opportunity along with hitters in the Coors Field Extravaganza and Yankee Stadium.

LHP Robbie Ray at St Louis Cardinals ($34) – 4.4 implied run total

As a nugget for those of you without Awesemo+ and access to the popularity %s, LHP Robbie Ray and RHP Dinelson Lamet vs Atlanta Braves ($30) – 4.6 implied run total are coming in as the two most popular pitching options with around a third of the field landing on each hurler with their appealing price tags.

Fortunately, we will be able to leverage against them both with a discounted Redbirds team and a fairly priced Atlanta squad that goes overlooked at home and most certainly will on the road in a late-night contest.

Strikeouts are the currency of the realm in MLB DFS and that is the calling card for Robbie Ray and St Louis has been perfectly average at best since the beginning of June against southpaws.

Mike Clevinger vs Minnesota Twins ($51) – 4.2 implied run total

This is not going to be for the faint of heart, but it does look like RHP Mike Clevinger is fully healthy… finally, and while this is a difficult matchup against the Twinkies, this will also be the first time they are seeing Clevinger this season.

Minnesota has a 117 wRC+ (weighted runs created plus is an advanced metric that neutralizes park factors creating a league-wide scoring efficiency baseline of 100) which means they are scoring 17% more runs against right-handed pitching than the average team in the league.  There are strikeouts available depending on who is in the lineup (Nelson Cruz, Jonathan Schoop, Jason Castro, Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton) which make Clevinger very appealing in tournaments.

Discount Dandies

As mentioned above, it is important to know how to find discounted hitters in solid situations and also understand what the “opportunity” cost may be by giving up a key power hitting position like 1B/3B for a discounted option who may not have a lot of power.  For this purpose we will target the $7-$11 salary range.

C – Mike Zunino at RHP Dylan Bundy ($7)

Just in case you have forgotten… we are playing Zunino for his home run upside and RHP Dylan Bundy has allowed 61 since the beginning of last season which is the most in the league.  It just takes one swing and for the minimum price, I am fine with Zunino being at the bottom of the order.

1B – Ji-Man Choi at RHP Dylan Bundy ($9)

We can fashion a nice “wrap-around” stack if we are looking for some synergy against RHP Dylan Bundy with Zunino, Ji-Man Choi who should be back from the injured list and then Austin Meadows – $9 along with Tommy Pham – $17 who is outstanding against same-handed pitching and even Yandy Diaz – $16 if a “full” stack is the desired outcome.

1B – Paul Goldschmidt vs LHP Robbie Ray ($13)

Goldy will be wildly popular at this price point against his former squad and it helps he is going against a lefty and finally looks to be out of his early season slump.

2B – Scooter Gennett at RHP Jon Gray ($11)

Scoots McGoots (h/t to Loughy for that nickname) will be wildly popular on Yahoo with his discounted price tag and matchup in Coors Field.  He has been dealing with a groin injury, but with the break concluding, he should be good to go on Friday.

3B – Jake Lamb at RHP Adam Wainwright ($9)

This has been somewhat of a lost season for Jake Lamb who has been plagued by a quad injury most of the season, but he gets a matchup in a hitting friendly venue with the heat and humidity in St Louis and a matchup against 37-year old RHP Adam Wainwright who has been struggling against lefties.

SS – Didi Gregorius vs RHP Aaron Sanchez ($13)

This price point is a STEAL for a lefty, in Yankee Stadium against the woeful RHP Aaron Sanchez who has produced NEGATIVE fantasy points in four of his last five starts and a grand total of 0.8 fantasy points COMBINED over his last eight starts.

OF – Austin Meadows at RHP Dylan Bundy ($9)

As mentioned above, Meadows is fine as part of a synergy strategy or as a solo option.

OF – A.J. Pollock at LHP Eduardo Rodriguez ($13)

This is another guy who has been dealing with injuries this season, but we could see a strong second half from A.J. Pollock who is returning from complications (aka infection) after an elbow procedure.  He has gone through a couple of rehab games and should be in the lineup on Friday.  With this game being in an American League park, there is a chance we see the lefty-masher getting the nod as the designated hitter to ease him back into action.

OF – Derek Dietrich at RHP Jon Gray ($11)

There are a lot of cheap hitters in the Coors Field Extravaganza so if you are rolling with several, be sure to differentiate your lineup elsewhere so you can see your name in lights alone at the top of the leaderboard tonight.

As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.
Good Luck Gamers! ~ EMac


Of course, please do stop by our Awesemo YouTube channel for loads of FREE MLB DFS content, including fantasy MLB lineup advice on The Strategy Show with Josh Engleman and Loughy, as well as MLB picks on Four Corners with Chris Spags, and the MLB Deep Dive with Awesemo, Loughy and ShipMyMoney, where they’ll discuss Awesemo’s MLB rankings.

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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