Plenty of great choices today for your daily fantasy baseball salary cap teams. Whether you’re looking for some marquee names to adorn your roster or if you want to go cheap and find a group of worthwhile sleepers, today’s match-ups have it all. Here’s a look at some of the games that should pique your interest as you go through your decision-making process.
Los Angeles Angels at Baltimore Orioles (7:05pm ET)
Between a pair of starts and a handful of relief appearances, C.J. Wilson has managed a 2.65 ERA against the Orioles with 19 strikeouts over 17 innings of work. He’ll see a familiar face in veteran Brian Roberts who is finally off the DL, but is hoping to fare better than the .313 average with a home run and a double he affords the second baseman. Wilson Betemit should get the start and is a solid sleeper candidate. He’s 2-for-6 with a double against Wilson, but is also batting .462 with a home run over his last 13 trips to the plate. For the O’s, young left-hander Brian Matusz is on the mound. The Angels have plenty of firepower though ready to torment him. Aside form the likes of rookie Mike Trout who is batting .440 with a home run and two doubles over his last 25 at-bats, both Erick Aybar (5-for-11, .455) and Howie Kendrick (6-for-12, .500) hit him pretty hard.
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Pittsburgh Pirates at Philadelphia Phillies (7:05pm ET)
Due to a little rotation shuffling, Erik Bedard’s start was pushed back to today, but hopefully the extra day will help and not mess with his routine. He actually does a good job containing several of these Phillies, including Jimmy Rollins who is batting just .214 with no extra-base hits over 14 at-bats. He also does well containing Ty Wigginton who is batting just .267 with one-extra base hit in 30 at-bats. On the mound for the Phillies is young right-hander Vance Worley who owns a 2.78 ERA over 11 starts this season. Worley is holding right-handed batters to a .224 average this year, so a match-up with Andrew McCutchen, who is batting .500 with two home runs, two doubles and a triple over his last 22 at-bats, should be interesting. Also keep an eye on lefty power-hitter Pedro Alvarez who is batting .389 with a home run over his last 18 at-bats.
Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees (7:05pm ET)
Veteran right-hander Justin Masterson takes the mound for the Indians here, and while he does a good job containing lefties such as Curtis Granderson (.091), right-handed Yankees have been going off on him. Derek Jeter is batting .400 over 15 at-bats and Alex Rodriguez is hitting a smooth .300 over his last 11 plate appearances. For New York, Phil Hughes is looking to rebound from his last start in which he gave up six earned runs in 4.1 innings and got killed by the long ball. He matches up pretty well against the Tribe, but he’ll need to watch out for Shin-Soo Choo who is batting .360 with a home run, a triple and five doubles over his last 25 at-bats.
St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins (7:10pm ET)
Cardinals right-hander Kyle Lohse continues to impress and is sporting a 1.63 ERA over his last four starts. He also does a pretty good job of handling these Marlins who continuously find themselves struggling to put runs up on the board. Jose Reyes is batting just .250 with a home run and a double over 24 at-bats and Omar Infante is struggling with a .207 average over 29 at-bats against him. On the hill for the Marlins will be Carlos Zambrano who is in need dire need of a rebound after giving up 14 runs over his last three starts that totaled to just 9.1 innings. A match-up with the Cards could, believe it or not, put him back on the right path as he is holding the likes of Carlos Beltran to a .143 average over 21 at-bats and Yadier Molina who is hitting just .195 over 41 at-bats against Zambrano.
Arizona Diamondbacks at Atlanta Braves (7:10pm ET)
Daniel Hudson has struggled to regain his dominant 2011 form still and has an 11.37 ERA over his last three starts. It’s probably not going to get much easier for him as Michael Bourn is 5-for-9 (.556) with a home run and a double against him. Also, Jason Heyward is white-hot right now, batting .436 with three home runs, six doubles, five RBI and nine runs scored amidst a 10-game hit streak. On the hill for the Braves is veteran Tim Hudson who has allowed just one run over his last two starts against the Diamondbacks, a span of 15 innings. He’ll need to be on the top of his game though, as Aaron Hill is batting .462 with three home runs, three doubles and a triple over his last 26 at-bats and Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .421 with three home runs, two doubles and a triple over his last 19 at-bats.
Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins (8:10pm ET)
Will the change of scenery be all that it takes to get Kevin Youkilis back on track this season? Starting against Minnesota sure can’t hurt as Youk is batting .271 with two home runs and five doubles over his last 59 at-bats against the Twins. You’ve also got rookie punching bag Liam Hendriks on the mound for Minnesota, so look for Gordon Beckham to continue his hot streak. He’s now hitting .409 with a home run and a double over his last 22 at-bats. Gavin Floyd takes the hill for the South Siders and is looking to continue with the momentum form his last start which involved 6.1 shutout innings. It could be tough for him though as Denard Span is a ridiculous 15-for-29 (.517) against him and Joe Mauer is batting .436 with three home runs, four doubles and a triple over 39 at-bats against Floyd.
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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a variety of web sites, including his own, The Fantasy Baseball Buzz. You can follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or for direct questions or comments you can email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.
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