Category: Data

A new four-week period begins tonight in Tout Daily by RTSports.com. Four one night contests on June 3, 10, 17, and 24. Top three cumulative scores for the four nights win golden tickets to the 15 entry finals on August 26. The winner that night is Tout Daily 2016 champion!

Who are the touts picking tonight?

Jeff Boggis:

My top pitcher is Noah Syndergaard ($9,300 @ Miami) “Thor” was ejected from his last start on Saturday, with only 2.1 innings pitched, but he will redeem his DFS owners tonight. Syndergaard has only allowed more than three runs 1 time in 10 starts this season.

My top hitter is Starling Marte ($5,800 vs LA Angels) Marte is batting .338/.377/.490 with 3 home runs and 18 RBIs against right-handed pitching this season. He faces right handed pitcher Jered “Subway” Weaver, who sports a 5.40 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.

Charlie Wiegert:

Adam Wainwright ($7,400 vs San Francisco).  Probably not the best reason, but I’m going to the game and it gives me something to root for.  And nothing else has worked yet this year, so why not!?!  Chris Tillman ($6,200 vs NY Yankees) has been hot, and the Orioles bats, going for the win and some K’d vs Yankees.

Matt Carpenter ($5,600 vs San Francisco) and Aledmys Diaz ($3,900 vs San Francisco) see above!  Hot bats in Betts and Ortiz, Long shots Tucker Barnhart (hoping he goes deep vs Gonzalez), JD Martinez (is one of those 2 HR games coming tonight?, and Robbie Grossman (at $2k, only needs a couple points to be worthwhile!)

Phil Hertz picks Noah Syndergaard ($9,300 @ Miami) and Kevin Plawecki ($1,900 vs Miami). 

Ray Murphy:

Drew Pomeranz ($5600 vs Colorado) at Petco, against the Rockies, for a minimum price…. too good to pass up. He’ll be one of my pitchers tonight.

Meanwhile, Jered Weaver has lost the ability to get anyone out, but especially lefty hitters. So I’ll be running Gregory Polanco ($5300 vs LA Angels) tonight.

Brian Walton:

While many load up on either Thor ($9300) at the Marlins or Johnny Cueto ($9200) at St. Louis or even both, I like a pair of bargain picks even better. Kenta Maeda ($7,500 vs Atlanta) of the Dodgers, faces the woeful Braves offense at home, and he of the rebuilt elbow, Yu Darvish ($7,900 vs Seattle), is also at home against Seattle. A bonus is that neither Dallas nor LA are rain-threatened areas Friday night.

I watched Jonathan Lucroy ($5,100 @ Philadelphia) in Milwaukee’s just-completed series against St. Louis and he looks confident at the plate. It is for good reason as the catcher is 11-for-21 over his last six games, including three home runs and 11 RBI. Lucroy draws Vince Velazquez in Philly Friday evening.

Howard Bender:

Chris Tillman ($6,200 vs NY Yankees) He’s taken a major step forward this season and he’s handling right-handed hitting much better than he has in years past. He already held these Yankees to one run over seven innings earlier this season and in the nine starts prior to that, he’s maintained a solid 3.34 ERA, and that’s when righties used to tee off on him.

Jose Bautista ($6,200 @ Boston) I never rely too heavily on BvP numbers, but Joey Bats always seems to go off on David Price. We’re talking about a 1.167 OPS with six home runs, 14 RBI and seven walks over 64 plate appearances. That’s a pretty good sample size to convince you he’s worth the investment.

Tim Heaney:

SP Drew Pomeranz ($5,600 vs. Colorado) 1.02 home ERA so far, plus Rockies are smoother matchup as a visitor. The lefty’s price somehow remains a huge bargain.

3B Eugenio Suarez ($4,700 vs Washington) A trip to Coors Field woke him up from his brief nap. Vs. LHP this year: .306-4-11 in only 49 AB. And 7 of his 12 HR have come at home.

Scott Swanay:

Gio Gonzalez ($7,100 at Cincinnati) – striking out almost a batter an inning and facing a Reds team that possesses some power, but also has a low OBP and strikes out a lot.

Brad Miller ($3,800 @ Minnesota) – we may not get many more opportunities to stream against Ricky Nolasco, so I’ll take advantage of them while we still can.

Jeff Erickson:

One of the challenges of playing the Friday game is that there are so many choices to select your pitchers from, that it frequently is an overload situation. That’s the case tonight – I see 7-to-8 worthy options. As a result, with one of my two pitcher slots in this contest, I’m going to pay up for Noah Syndergaard ($9,300 @ Miami), thinking that maybe he might be lesser owned than usual, hoping my competitors are looking to save a little off the top. I’m using Vincent Velasquez with my other spot, though I’m keeping open the option to pay down for Drew Pomeranz instead if I want to make a last minute hitter upgrade somewhere.

Paying up for (Miguel Cabrera ($6,500 vs White Sox), who seems locked in yet under the radar because the Red Sox are so darn hot, and George Springer against Jesse Hahn, then filling in for bargains elsewhere.

Mike Gianella picks Noah Syndergaard ($9,300 @ Miami) and Mookie Betts (6,500 vs Toronto).

It was the late games that brought the noise for Michael Beller last night, who made a late surge with a Melvin Upton walk off homer, to jump past Tom Kessenich and take the Week 3 Period Tout Daily by RTSports.com game.

Both Beller and Kessenich had rostered Jake Arrieta, whose late win in San Francisco supported the top four finishers last night. But only one of those teams had Melvin Upton, taken by two percent of RTSports.com teams last night, whose final swing in the game’s final game was good for seven points and a slim victory on the night.

Upton didn’t do it alone for Beller. Big nights from Kris Bryant and Marcell Ozuna, both on two percent of squads, and Francisco Lindor, on 11 percent, carried him up the standings before the final blow.

Beller won despite rostering Matt Andriese, who won his game versus Detroit last night, but was the only starter on a Top 10 team not to score double-digit points.

Late in the evening Kessenich had to be feeling good. He had a three point lead on the second place team and both had Jake Arrieta, up 9-1 in the eighth inning, on his team. Alas.

The strength of TK’s team was Steven Matz, whose $7,300 price tag reflected concerns about his arm, which he promptly dispelled, pleasing the 39 percent of owners who’d taken a chance on him.

Kessenich’s team was rounded out by popular picks Chris Herrmann (ultra cheap at $1,900) and Aledmys Diaz (who leads the major leagues in OPS this year), and the rarer selection, Carlos Santana.

Top 10 pitchers for the week were Matt Andriese (improbably), Jake Arrieta, Steven Matz, Aaron Nola (picked by 51 percent of teams), Aaron Sanchez (why was he only $6,100?), Tanner Roark (another cheapie), and Gerrit Cole (who scored 10 points despite striking out zero hitters on the night).

All the action jumbled the Period 2 standings heading into the final week.

Patrick Davitt and Adam Ronis are tied for first, with Steve Gardner just five points behind. Other teams in the hunt are Michael Beller, Ron Shandler and Mike Gianella, with a bunch of teams right behind them. You can see the whole leaderboard right here.

The top three finishers after next week’s game will receive golden tickets to the finals, to be played August 26th to crown this year’s Tout Daily champion.

To learn more about RTSports.com’s daily fantasy games, and to play for free or for dough, visit RTSports.com.

Who are the Touts picking tonight? (You can follow tonight’s action, or make some of your own at RTSports.com.)

Jeff Boggis is going to try to use Chris Sale ($9,700 @ Yankees) (The obvious choice is Chris Sale, but you have to pay a hefty premium ($500 higher than the second highest pitcher). I am willing to roster Chris Sale at $9,700 and look for hitter bargains to justify the high price tag on Chris Sale tonight. Sale faces the New York Yankees tonight against Luis Severino who currently owns a 6.12 ERA. Sale should get plenty of run support tonight, but I don’t think he will need it. Sale has now won 7 straight games and sports a 1.79 ERA, a 0.77 WHIP, and a 10/47 walk to strikeout ratio. Matt Harvey is an intriguing option at $9,200, but this is his first time ever pitching at Coors Field in Colorado.) and Jackie Bradley Jr. ($4,100 vs. Houston) (A bargain price for the hottest hitter over the past two weeks. In this two week span, Bradley has 5 home runs, 21 RBIs, 1 stolen base, and batting .468. Bradley is $2,600 less than the highest salaried outfielder (Mike Trout at $6,700) tonight. Bradley is scheduled to face Houston starting pitcher, Lance McCullers of Houston, who is coming off the disabled list.) tonight. Note, however, that there is a significant chance of rain tonight in Boston, so make sure the game is going to be played before rostering Bradley.

Phil Hertz will go with Rich Hill ($6,700 @ Tampa Bay) and Kevin Plawecki ($2,200 @ Colorado) for cheap at Coors.

Law Michaels is looking at Gio Gonzalez ($7,100 vs. Miami) to tame the Marlins, and ideally bag some whiffs, while thinking at Coors, Yoenis Cespedes ($5,400 @ Colorado) drives the Mets and the ball into the Rockies.

Tim Heaney picks SS Jonathan Villar ($3,800 vs. SD) because hosting Christian Friedrich at Miller Park smells like a profitable day for one of fantasy’s most surprising hot starters, and SP Nathan Karns ($6,200 vs. LAA), because Safeco Field will help even more against one of the league’s coldest offenses.

Charlie Wiegert is paying the price and taking Chris Sale ($9,700 @ Yankees) against a beat up Yankee team that is struggling to score runs.  He should rack up 8-10 k’s, and be in line for a win. He’s also going to ride the hot hand of Daniel Murphy ($4,700 vs. Miami) against Tom Koehler, and stack a few players in the Mets @ Colorado game.

Ray Murphy takes Nathe Karns ($6,200 vs. LAA), who is taking a step up this year and draws the struggling Angels at Safeco, with a very reasonable price point, and notes that Jeremy Hellickson has had problems with the long ball and with LH hitters, so when he ventures into Cincy tonight I will very likely be using both Joey Votto ($6,300 vs. Philadelphia) and Jay Bruce ($4,900 vs. Philadelphia).

Gene McCaffrey goes with Steven Wright ($4,200 vs. Houston), assuming the weather holds up, you can’t beat the bang for the buck, and Michael Conforto ($4,900 @ Colorado) is too good to stay quiet in Coors Field.

Scott Swanay selects Chris Tillman ($6,000 vs. Detroit) tonight and hope that he continues his early-season success against a Tiger team that strikes out a lot and has been only middling in the power and on-base percentage departments so far this year. He’ll also pick against Minnesota’s Ricky Nolasco for the second Friday night in a row, this time hoping that Jason Kipnis ($5,100 vs. Minnesota) will be the beneficiary of Nolasco’s largesse.

Jeff Erickson has two wishes: Kevin Plawecki ($2,200 @ Colorado), please be in the lineup tonight! Cheap catcher, in Coors, homered earlier this week. Captain Obvious pick. And Rich Hill ($6,700 @ Tampa Bay), I’m a little worried about the platoon factor, but he has high strikeout upside against the team with highest strikeout percentage in baseball, at an affordable price.

Brian Walton finds it interesting that six of the top seven starters are on the road Friday. He’s going with the best of the best, Chris Sale ($9,700 @ Yankees) at Yankee Stadium. The Indians’ ace has a sub-2.00 ERA this season and a career 2.14 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 21 innings in the Big Apple. And when is Bryce Harper ($6700 vs. Miami) a bad pick? Well, he has been especially good against Marlins starter Tom Koehler. In fact, six of Harper’s nine hits (in 28 at-bats) against Koehler left the park. He drove in 11 while at it.

Eno Sarris points out that Christian Friedrich wasn’t particularly good in Triple-A for the Padres, so he’s stacking Brewers righties — Ryan Braun ($5,900 vs. San Diego) and Chris Carter ($4,900 vs. San Diego) — in particular. Home cooking bratwursts in Milwaukee. As for pitching, nobody can figure out when to swing at Rich Hill’s ($6,700 @ Tampa Bay) curveball, and as long as his arm stays on tonight, he should be fine in Tampa. And cheap!

Mike Gianella goes with Ryan Braun ($5,900 vs. San Diego). He says: I just can’t quit Braun, and the matchup at home against a marginal left-handed pitcher is way too much to pass up, even at this price. He also likes Edinson Volquez ($6,900 vs. Atlanta) and says, rather than go with a big time arm, I decided to go mid-level and play what I hope is a great matchup against Atlanta. Volquez has a 3.02 ERA at home dating back to 2015 (compared to a 4.20 ERA on the road). Volquez isn’t someone I’d normally play in DFS, but picking him allowed me to take advantage of some stronger hitters on a slate that looks very soft on the whole on the pitching side.

Steve Moyer says that recommending Chris Sale ($9,700 @ Yankees) tonight is like telling a friend to buy a Ferrari when he tells you he needs a car. Maybe it’s not all that much less obvious, but I’ll say Josh Tomlin ($5,900 vs. Minnesota) takes advantage of the hapless Twins. As for hitter, look for Xander Bogaerts ($5,100 vs. Houston) to give Lance McCullers a rude welcome back.