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Weekly fantasy baseball is here! JB highlights his top OwnersBox MLB lineup picks for the week of 8/20 - 8/26, and some value sleepers for your rosters.
Welcome back RotoBallers! We're almost to September already, and we're back at it this week with another juicy contest on OwnersBox!
This week's free RotoBaller contest has a $1,000 cash prize pool - for new users it's completely free to enter with code MLB10! All new OwnersBox users also get a free year of RotoBaller Premium access - just email us and let us know one you're registered.
In case you're not yet familiar, OwnersBox, is a fantastic new weekly fantasy sports platform that offers plenty of game setups to fulfill your desire to draft throughout the season. Over at OwnersBox, you can participate in snake drafts - and for the first time ever you can also select tournament-style salary cap contests. The contests are at least one week long, and some even longer.
In this article, I will be providing you with my weekly fantasy baseball lineup picks on OwnersBox for this contest which runs for one week (Friday August 20th through Thursday August 26th). Read my picks below, and then join us in this tournament as we battle it out for the cash prizes!
RotoBaller Weekly Contest!
OwnersBox is hooking up RotoBaller readers to celebrate the launch of their new salary-cap style contests, so be sure to take advantage of these promo offers!
- Join this week's freeroll on OwnersBox - the contest is completely free to enter for new users with code MLB10, and there's a $1,000 cash guaranteed prize pool
- The winner also gets a free year of RotoBaller's Premium Pass ($350 value)
- All new users who make a deposit get up to a $500 deposit match bonus and a free RotoBaller premium pass. Whoa!
You can enter up until Friday, August 20th at 7 pm ET, and the week-long contest runs through August 26th.
OwnersBox Pitcher Picks
On OwnersBox, you select two Pitchers, and need three games from these two pitchers. Any game you go over after the third, best ball mode is activated - meaning the lowest score is dropped. So a good approach is obviously looking for affordable two-start pitchers for the week with at least three solid matchups in mind.
Chris Sale, BOS ($37,800) - v TEX, v MIN
I will admit, I do not like paying this much money for a guy who just came back from TJS. But man did Chris Sale look good, and MAN are the Rangers awful right now. Over the L14 Texas sits at the very bottom of the league in BA versus LHP... and lowest OBP. Only three hitters on this young team have even ever faced Sale, and you can tell that man is on a mission meaning even if he goes just six innings, they will be six magnificent innings. I honestly feel bad for the Rangers - they don't deserve this. Sale's second start of the week (both at home) is slightly tougher with the Twins in the middle of the pack in wRC+ versus LHP L14, but they do own the ninth highest K%.
Adam Wainwright, STL ($14,600) - v PIT + Jack Flaherty, STL ($16,000) - v DET
Alright, its time to get strategic. I personally don't love any of the other two-start match-ups versus their price for the week, so let's make one of our own by hand picking what I believe could be the two most valuable one-start match-ups. Let's start with Adam Wainwright facing the Pirates on Wednesday for just $14.6k. Waino has owned the Bucs this season, only allowing one run through 15 innings with 15 strikeouts, plus his ERA at home is more than a full run lower than on the road in 2021.
So once Thursday morning rolls around you will have C Sale v TEX and A Wainwright v PIT under you belt. If either of those somehow go wrong... you have an option to replace the low score by replacing Adam Wainwright for Jack Flaherty's Thursday match-up against Detroit. If you think Texas has been bad against LHP, make it twice as worse and you'll be in the Detroit vs RHP range. Over the L14 they are rocking a miserable 47 wRC+ and 28.7 K% against righties.
So to recap... you are going to need to leave $16,000 on the table when you make your lineups for the week. That way you know for a fact you will be able to get Flaherty in there if you think you will need the 4th start to drop a low score from Sale or Waino. If both of those starts crush like we expect them to, then you have $16,000 to upgrade your offense for the rest of the week.
OwnersBox Infielder Picks
The Infield is my favorite position on Ownersbox. You only need 28 games from the five players. Simple math tells you if you average six games per infielder, you are already at the two lowest scores dropped from the lot. That way you can utilize five-game studs as long as you pair them eventually with a seven-game player also to maintain that 30 total games. The Outfield is much more difficult to take advantage this way, so don't waste the opportunity with your infielders!
Now don't forget if you are following my Wainwright/Flaherty play... we need $16,000 left on the table this week. So let's go dumpster diving for some value.
Josh Rojas, Daulton Varsho, Josh VanMeter ARI ($50,400) - 21 Games
The Diamondbacks are all priced low for having a seven-game schedule this week - but of course that's because their offense has been horrendous this season. But I have some good news - first, they are trending in the right direction as they have been just the ninth worst offense L14...baby steps. But secondly, and most importantly they get Coors and the Pirates pitching staff this week. Sounds like just what the doctor ordered for an offensive breakout. Josh Rojas has feasted on Colorado pitching this season (50 PA, 1.102 OPS, .318 ISO), and has been the Snakes best hitter over the last month while Varsho and VanMeter follow closely behind. The Coors Hangover is real, but I think PNC Park against the Pirates is about as soft as a landing place as you can hope for after a Coors series.
Austin Riley, ATL ($17,500) - 5 Games
I didn't want all my value coming from scrubs. Austin Riley is a STUD and I will gladly take five games from him thanks to the Diamondbacks and their cheap seven-game schedules. Over the last month, Riley ranks in the top 10 in BA, OBP, SLG, ISO, and wRC+ among all hitters with at least 100 PA. Playing him in weekly and daily fantasy lately has become routine for me. You know what's also routine? Playing anybody against the Baltimore Orioles. Do this for the rest of the season and you will profit. Over the last month the O's pitching staff owns a 5.32 xFIP. The next closest is 4.95. They are just terrible and Riley gets to tee off on them at Camden Yards, which is tied for the second-best park factor for RHB this season according to BaseballSavant.
OwnersBox Outfielder Picks
As I mentioned previously, filling the three Outfield slots is more difficult than the five Infielders on OwnersBox. You need 17 games from the three hitters, so that means you mostly want to stay away from five-game hitters. I try to get at least one seven-gamer if possible and aim for at least 19 total games for two lowest score drops.
Now don't forget if you are following my Wainwright/Flaherty play... we need $16,000 left on the table this week. So let's go dumpster diving for some value.
Charlie Blackmon, Connor Joe, COL ($33,000) - 12 Games
The first three games of the week are at Coors against the Diamondbacks. I mean, do we need to go any deeper than that? Over the last 30 days Connor Joe is hitting .329 with a 1.026 OPS and .316 ISO and has even spent time at the leadoff spot. Blackmon has undoubtedly been a colossal disappointment in 2021, but he showed some great signs of life in the last series versus the Padres and has hit very well against Arizona this year. Once again, the Coors Hangover effect is real. So if we do not end up needing to pay for Flaherty's start on Thursday and have that $16,000+ to play with - these are two great upgrade options once they leave Colorado. But if we do end up needing to buy Jack Flaherty's start Thursday and we can't replace our Rox after the Coors Series, don't fret too much because like the Diamondbacks, the Rockies also get a great landing spot to help overcome the Coors Hangover in Wrigley Field against the Cubs.
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, PIT ($11,900) - 7 Games
The ultimate value punt play. Do I have any great things to say or stats to show for Yoshi, no. But since he was signed by Pittsburgh Monday he has started in both games, he has shown great plate discipline with TB in the past, and he gives you seven games this week at just $1,700 per game. He doesn't have to do much to return value here.
Sample Lineup
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