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Weekly fantasy baseball is here! JB highlights his top OwnersBox MLB lineup picks for the week of 8/13 - 8/19, and some value sleepers for your rosters.
Welcome back RotoBallers! We've made it to August, 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 6th through Thursday August 12th). 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 13th at 7 pm ET, and the week-long contest runs from August 13th through August 19th.
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.
Tyler Mahle, CIN ($26,400) - at PHI, v CHC
Mahle can be quite the fantasy roller coaster, like all Reds pitching, but I like the how this week lines up for the righty. His first matchup is on the road against Philly. Do I like picking on Bryce Harper and gang, no, but Mahle has been superb on the road this season. Through 65.2 IP away from GABP he boasts a 2.06 ERA and 1.05 WHIP compared to 5.74 ERA/1.44 WHIP at home. Unfortunately his second start is at GABP, but against the Cubs who Mahle has handled very well in 2021. He's thrown 21 innings against Chicago already, and carries a 25 K% and 3.68 xFIP against them. Over the L14 the Cubs offense has just an 89 wRC+ and 26.8 K% against RHP. In his last start, at home versus the Pirates, Mahle scored 78 FP after allowing two runs through seven innings with 10 punch-outs.
Charlie Morton, ATL ($30,000) - at WAS, at MIA
Like Mahle, Morton has also fared better on the road this season - but unlike Mahle he gets two road starts this week. The paper matchups for Miami and Washington aren't fantastic, but Morton has faced both division rivals and has had success in the strikeout department. Across 33.1 innings against the Nats and Marlins, Morton boasts a 27.7 K% and 3.64 xFIP. Morton just faced the Nats last week and held them scoreless over six innings while striking out seven.
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!
Brandon Lowe, TBR ($24,500) - 7 Games
The worst pitching staff in baseball right now is easily the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays get a four game series at home versus the O's this week, and no Rays hitter is hotter than Brandon Lowe. Over the last week, Lowe has hit two bombs with a .364 BA and a 1.213 OPS. Like the rest of the team, and league, he has hit very well against Baltimore this year.
Eric Hosmer, SDP ($16,200) - 6 Games
The Rays certainly have a great match-up this week, but I think the Padres have the best offensive week ahead of them. They start with a three game series at Chase Field versus Arizona, and then wrap it up with a three game series at Coors. Hosmer is obviously not my first choice of Padres bats, but this price tag is hard to pass up on. The cherry on top is Hosmer's splits against Arizona this year - three HR and a .268 ISO through 11 games.
*7 Game Filler - Nicky Lopez, KCR
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.
Cody Bellinger, LAD ($20,300) - 7 Games
Seven games from Cody Bellinger for less than $3k a game? Yes he hit a measly .118 in July, but we are finally seeing signs of life from the stud. Through his last six games he is rocking a .400 ISO and 181 wRC+. Small sample, yes, but baby steps. The Dodgers have four games against the Mets this week, with three home games versus the awful Pirates pitching sandwiched somewhat in-between. The Mets aren't quite an attackable pitching staff but considering Belly will be facing off against Tylor Megill and Taijuan Walker twice in addition to those Pittsburgh match-ups makes me extremely confident he is going to carry this momentum through the week.
Seth Brown, OAK ($15,400) - 7 Games
This dude is en fuego! Seth Brown has looked very good since being called up to replace Ramon Laureano. Over the last month, Brown has the fourth highest wRC+ among hitters with at least 20 PA. He's even added three SB since the start of July. Based on historical stats, we can't expect this streak to continue much longer but might as well ride it out while we can, especially at $2.2k a game. He might be a decent Lineup Swap candidate for the second half of the week, but I will gladly use him for this weekend's series at Texas. The ballpark sucks for hitting, but the pitching staff is great for hitting. Over the L14 the Rangers own the third-worst xFIP.
*7 Game Filler - Lewis Brinson, MIA
Sample Lineup
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