Happy Friday #Family! As we head into the second to last weekend of the regular season, we still have lots of good DFS contests to enter and win! We have a full 15 game slate for your Friday, which means we have lots of choices! We will target hot hitters, ice cold pitchers, and guy who are in good situations to succeed. Let’s head into this weekend right by cashing some lineups and here are some batters for you to consider when building those rosters! 

Top Tier

Juan Soto, OF, WSH – How can you get hotter than Soto right now? In the last week he is hitting a ridiculous .545 with four home runs and seven RBI. In fact, he has three home runs and five RBI in the last two games and had three hits in each. He also has been great in Cincinnati hitting .467 with three home runs in four starts there. The Reds are pitching Sonny Gray who has allowed four home runs in his last four starts. Soto has been great against him with four hits in eight at-bats including a home run. In general, he has hit .347 against right-handed pitchers with a 1.105 OPS this season. 

Salvador Perez, C, KC – I mean how much do I have to sell this guy? Since September 14th he has four multi-hit games with four home runs and 10 RBI. His season hard-hit rate is an impressive 42.8 percent, his barrels per plate appearance is at a great 11.8%. He has 28 of his 46 home runs against right-handed pitching and the Tigers starter Casey Mize has allowed 23 home runs in 28 starts this season. Perez has seven hits in 14 career at-bats against Mize including a double and a home run. 

Aaron Judge, OF, NYY – The big showdown of the weekend is in Boston where the Yankees and Red Sox are fighting for the wild card. Judge has three multi-hit games in the last seven including two home runs and five RBI. He isn’t going to win a batting title, but his near 47% hard-hit rate and .393 wOBA tells you he makes noise when he makes contact. The Red Sox will throw Nate Eovaldi who he has hit .368 against in his career with a double and a home run. Judge has hit .314 on the road this year with 21 of his 36 home runs and he also has 24 of his 36 against right-handed pitching. 

Mid-Tier

Kyle Seager, 3B, SEA – He is hitting just .215 on the season, but his 35 home runs and 100 RBI are impressive totals. He has hit .360 with a home run and four RBI in the last seven days and has three multi-hit games in the last four. The Angels are starting José Suarez who has been pretty good of late but still has a 4.34 ERA at home and his K/9 is nearly a full strikeout lower at home. Seager has three hits in seven at-bats against Suarez and all are for extra base hits. He hits 20 points higher against lefties and nearly 100 points higher on the road than at home. 

Mike Yastrzemski, OF, SF - Give me a taste of Coors Field. Give me a taste of Coors Field when they are pitching a guy who is making his first start after Tommy John. Peter Lambert last pitched in 2019 and in 19 starts he had an ERA of 7.25 and a WHIP of 1.74. Also, in 2019 he had a .339 batting average against left-handed hitters. Yastrzemski does have a hit and an RBI in three straight games and has a double and home run in four at-bats against Lambert. 

Value Tier

C.J. Cron, 1B, COL – We are going to stay in Coors Field for a while since this game has the highest run total on the board. He is on a crazy tear right now with nine hits in his last three games and hitting .440 in the last seven days. He doesn’t have a home run, but he does have five doubles and has driven in four runs. Not a surprise, but Cron has been great at home, hitting .335 with a 1.105 OPS at Coors as opposed to .226 and .716 on the road. He also has hit 18 of his 27 home runs in Colorado. The Giants are pitching Alex Wood who has a 9.00 ERA in eight career starts at Coors Field. Cron has also hit .315 against lefties with a .990 OPS. 

Brendan Rodgers, 2B, COL – His eight-game hit streak came to a close last night, but he is still hitting .321 in the last week with a double and three home runs. Like Cron, he also has been money against left-handed pitching as he is hitting .326 with a 1.024 OPS against lefties. Eight of his 15 home runs have come against southpaws despite 184 fewer at-bats against them. Rodgers has hit .287 at home and I expect the Rockies to put up a good number of runs today and for him to be right in the middle of it. 

Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, SS, TEX – He does hit righties better than lefties, but Kiner-Falefa still is hitting .407 in the last week with three RBI and three stolen bases. His batting average is also 22 points higher on the road than it is at home. The Orioles send Alex Wells to the mound and cross their fingers. Wells has an ERA just under 8.00 and a WHIP of 1.83. He has allowed ten earned runs including four home runs in his last two starts alone. He also has a terrible .354 batting average against right-handed batters.