Fantasy MLB: August 17, 2020 Yankees vs Red Sox CheatSheet

Boston Red Sox, Jordan Montgomery, Martin Perez

YANKS GO FOR THE SWEEP AS TAMPA SERIES LOOMS

Jordan Montgomery vs Baltimore September 2017 — Tonight’s starter for New York, **Jordan Montgomery**. Photo credit: Keith Allison

While Boston lefty Martin Perez is arguably their best starter at the moment, and the 15-6 Yankees have a record of knocking him around pretty good — this has all the makings of a ‘trap’ game. The Bronx Bombers have rolled Boston the first three of this wrap-around weekend four-game series, but they can’t look past the imploding Red Sox and think about the coming battle with the 14-9 Tampa Rays tomorrow night, who are 2 games behind New York in the standings.

If Jordan Montgomery can build on the success of his last start, and Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez continue to shake off the early rust and pick up the offense while Judge, Stanton and LeMachine are on the IL, New York should take care of business. Having Clint Frazier back in the fold is great — this is why the team shouldn’t trade him or Miggy for pitching help. Having those two back is like a trade in itself.

Anyway, here’s a little research that will hopefully be of help filling out your daily fantasy baseball lineups. Good luck, and let’s go Yankees!

DRAFTKINGS CONTEST : Lineup tips and player salaries are for the MLB $15K mini-MAX, an 11-game ‘Classic’ rules contest starting at 7:05pm EST, 4:05am PT.

TV / RADIO : 7:05pm EST/4:05PM PT • TV: YES; Radio: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280; BOSTON: WEEI 93.7, WCCM 1490AM;

THE WISE GUYS : The sportsbooks say this should be Boston’s best chance of pulling out a win in this four game set. The consensus moneyline is New York -155 and Boston +140 — which means when betting the Yankees to win, you wager $155 to win $100. The opposite is true going with the Red Sox, where you’ll win $140 on a $100 bet. With a perceived upgrade in starting pitching, tonight’s game offers the highest Over/Under of the series at 10.5.

BALLPARK CONDITIONS : It looks like another wet evening in The Boogie Down with scattered thundershowers starting around 5:00pm and continuing until the 11:00pm hour. Southerly winds will average about 10mph, and the chance of rain will be 55-60% throughout the night. Double check prior to game-time that this contest is not postponed!

FAST FACTS :

The Red Sox are now 0-10 in their last 10 games at Yankee Stadium.
The Red Sox are 0-7 straight up in their last 7 games.
Boston is now a full 10 games back in the loss column, 9.5 games out overall.

MARTIN PEREZ vs YANKEES : Martín Pérez (2-2, 3.38 ERA, WHIP 1.22, 16 Ks, $5,800) was signed by the Texas Rangers in 2007 as an undrafted free agent. The left-hander pitched for Texas until 2018, inked a one-year free agent deal with the Minnesota Twins in 2019, and opted for free agency once again, signing with the Red Sox last December.

The cutter is Perez’s primary pitch, clocked at 89mph, mixing in a circle change (83mph), a sinker and four-seam fastball, both in the low 90s, and a 77mph curveball.

LINEUP NOTES : Super small sample sizes for the current Yankee lineup against Pérez, but he’s had 5 career starts versus New York spread evenly with one each season from 2015 on. The Yanks see him pretty well: 39 hits in 98 ABs for a .398 BA, .684 slugging and 1.137 OPS, including 7 home runs. The five starts result in a 2-2 mark with a 9.97 ERA over 21.2 innings. Only one of those starts came in Yankee Stadium on April 12, 2018, were he lasted 5 innings but allowed 7 earned runs on 11 hits including 2 long balls. Here’s some highlights of that game:

1B Luke Voit ($5,400) and 3B Gio Urshela ($4,800) have taken Perez deep once apiece, the only Yanks in tonight’s lineup to do so.
OF Clint Frazier ($4,400) is yet to face Perez, but is locked in at the plate and a big night is not out of the question.

JORDAN MONTGOMERY vs RED SOX : Lefty Jordan Montgomery (2-1, 5.17 ERA, WHIP 1.15, 10 Ks, (7,800) will toe the slab for the Bombers tonight, coming off a solid effort against the Braves last Tuesday.

This will be Montgomery’s second start against Boston this season, his first coming on July 31st in a 5-1 New York victory. He has three previous career starts against the Red Sox, all coming in 2017. In the four starts total he has kept the Red Sox to a .230 BA over 84 plate appearance, while striking out 14 but walking 9, with most of this data coming from his rookie season.

LINEUP NOTES :

CF Alex Verdugo ($3,400) is swing the bat well and is handling lefty pitchers to a tune .300 over 30 ABs. At this salary, that’s a value pick!
Gumby has to pitch carefully to C Christian Vazquez ($4,500), who is 3-4 with a home run off him.
SS Xander Bogaerts ($4,700) is 4-9 (.444 BA) with a double against Montgomery.

INJURED LIST : Yankees on the IL include DJ LeMahieu (thumb sprain, day-to-day), Aaron Judge (mild right calf strain, 10-day), Luis Severino (elbow, out for the season), C Kyle Higashioka (right oblique strain, 10-day), Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring, 10-day) and Tommy Kahnle (forearm, out for the season, Tommy John).

BOSTON INJURED LIST : OF Andrew Benintendi (Rib, 10-Day), 3B Rafael Devers (Ankle, day-to-day), P Eduardo Rodriguez (heart condition, out for season), P Chris Sale (elbow, 60-day), 2B Dustin Pedroia (knee, 60-day).

IMPORTANT : Check back after the official lineups have been announced (usually by 2pm EST), and definitely double-check your DraftKings MLB fantasy line at least 15-20 minutes prior to gametime (7:05pm EST/4:05pm PT) to make sure all of your picks are starting. Good luck, and Let’s Go Yankees!

FANTASY BASEBALL STRATEGY TIPS If you’re new to daily fantasy baseball or need a quick refresher course in putting an effective lineup together, don’t miss our “How to get your DraftKings MLB groove back in 2020” article. A short but sweet tutorial on proven strategies to help position you to win some dineros!