Fantasy Feud's $5,000 Friday Night Baseball Contest: The Optimal Lineup
If you haven't been over to FantasyFeud.com, you're missing out on daily fantasy cash games and prizes. And during baseball season, the site is running a $5,000 fantasy baseball contest each Friday, giving you a chance to win your share of $5,000 in prizes. There's no better time to join than today, too. numberFire readers will get a 100% deposit bonus when signing up, and if you make at least a $200 deposit, you'll get a free entry into the $109 Friday 5K Contest. That's a 150% deposit bonus and a 1 in 50 chance to win the $1,000 first place prize!
So before you read on and snag the numberFire optimal lineup for this week, go make a deposit on Fantasy Feud. These kind of offers don't last forever.
MLB Optimal Lineup for April 18th, 2014
| Player | Position | Projected FP | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Jones | CF | 2.38 | $77,000 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | LF | 4.06 | $95,300 |
| DJ LeMahieu | 2B | 1.81 | $63,400 |
| Jayson Werth | RF | 2.42 | $84,900 |
| Kyle Seager | 3B | 1.68 | $51,000 |
| Miguel Cabrera | 1B | 2.61 | $82,000 |
| Shin-Soo Choo | LF | 2.42 | $74,500 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | SS | 2.24 | $87,800 |
| Tyson Ross | SP | 6.53 | $78,400 |
| Bryce Harper | LF | 2.38 | $71,600 |
| Drew Smyly | SP | 6.81 | $69,900 |
| Sonny Gray | SP | 8.24 | $102,100 |
| Josmil Pinto | C | 2.15 | $59,100 |
Lineup updated at 5:17 PM EST
Before digging into the lineup, there are a couple of things to note. First, this particular lineup is subject to change, and we'll be updating it throughout the day as lineups are revealed. Second, if you want to differentiate the roster a bit, check out our optimal lineup tool, where you can swap out player - or even full teams - to get the perfect lineup. That will certainly help differentiate yourself from your competition.
This week's lineup consists of ridiculous hitters with questionable pitching. That's not a bad thing though, because our algorithms value some of the pitchers much more highly than where they're priced at. Take Tyson Ross, for example. Ross will be in a pitcher-friendly park, facing a Giants lineup that's solid, but not spectacular. While we're not prepared for Ross to pitch a complete game shutout, we are ready to say that he's a good value play - he's 16th in cost among all start pitchers on Fantasy Feud, and we like him as the fifth-best pitching option tonight given the site's scoring. There's some serious equity there. Ross is strikeout-capable given his 8.31 K/9 this year and 8.57 rate last season, and pitched to a 2.03 ERA and .258 wOBA against at home a season ago.
The same could be said for Drew Smyly, who's one of the cheapest pitchers on the site tonight. I suppose it makes sense considering it's Smyly's first start of the season and just the 19th of his career, but if we play the equity game again, Smyly looks like a steal. Our algorithms have him listed as scoring the third-most points at pitcher tonight on Fantasy Feud, making him a ridiculous value considering his cost. In limited time, he has a near 9.00 K/9, and a FIP of 3.12 - he's not a bad arm. Though he's pitching against some powerful Angels bats, his cost makes him a must play.
Sonny Gray is the final pitcher, and the safest option within the lineup. So far on the year, Gray's 2-0 in three starts with a sub-1.00 ERA while striking out a batter every inning. And while he's bound to regress a bit, his FIP and xFIP scores still show an ERA that's below 3.00. Against an Astros lineup that's striking out at a higher rate than any team in the bigs, Gray is one of the best options of the night.
Within the lineup, we have both Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout, thanks to spending such little money on the number two and three pitchers. While I could talk about how good both of those hitters are, it's pretty obvious why they'd be in any lineup. So instead of listing outrageous numbers, I simply wanted to point out what cheap and cost-effective pitching options can do to the rest of your roster.
It's not just those two superstars who made the cut though. We've got David Ortiz in a nice righty matchup, Shin-Soo Choo coming off a big game for Texas, and Troy Tulowitzki against a dude with 19 career starts. Any of those bats are capable of going nuts in a given night.
On the cheap side, our algorithms picked out Josmil Pinto and Kyle Seager. Pinto hasn't gotten much love on daily sites, despite having a hit in five of his last six games. Over that time, he's hit two home runs and driven in five runs, too. And he's just only 63% of the cost of top catcher Yadier Molina. Obviously make sure he's playing before plugging him in, but if he does, our numbers like him to score more fantasy points than the majority of catching options.
Kyle Seager is projected to score the fifth-most fantasy points at third base tonight, as he faces right-hander Nathan Eovaldi. Though Seager's been mediocre this year, the matchup is a favorable one - Seager hits righties far better than lefties, and naturally, Eovaldi has struggled much more against left-handed batters.
