This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Welcome back to real season DFS for baseball. Early Wednesday morning the season begins in Japan with the A's taking on the Mariners and Mike Fiers facing Marco Gonzales. Vegas has this game with an over/under of 8.5 with the Mariners (-123) being a slight favorite.
PLAYERS TO CONSIDER FOR CAPTAIN
Matt Chapman, OAK ($12,000): Chapman has looked great this spring with a .958 OPS and just went 3-for-3 while reaching base five times on St. Patrick's Day against the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Chapman was excellent against left-handed pitching last season with a .352 wOBA and is slotted in two hole in the lineup.
Mike Fiers, OAK ($14,400); Marco Gonzales, SEA ($13,800): Both pitchers are in play as well with Fiers being the slightly better target. Seattle struck out at a 20 percent rate against right-handed pitching last season and its team .312 wOBA was well below league-average last season. While the A's struck out at a 22.8 percent rate against southpaws, their .322 team wOBA against that handedness with the sixth highest in baseball. However, with both pitchers making their first starts of the season it's unlikely either makes it past the fifth or sixth inning.
OTHER PLAYERS TO CONSIDER
Khris Davis, OAK ($9,000): Davis will occupy his usual cleanup spot and is coming off a season with a league-high 48 home runs. He should have good RBI opportunities with the players in front of him, and his career .345 wOBA against lefties is solid.
Edwin Encarnacion, SEA ($8,600): This offseason the Mariners basically switched Nelson Cruz for E5, who will now hit cleanup for Seattle. Encarnacion has had reverse splits the last two seasons, putting up wOBAs of .352 and .376 and making this a good matchup against Fiers.
Ramon Laureano, OAK ($6,000): Laureano will lead off for the A's and in a limited sample (54 plate appearances) had a .351 wOBA against lefties last season. He's also a threat to swipe a base or two, going 18-for-21 on the base paths between Triple-A and Oakland last season.
Chad Pinder, OAK ($5,000): Pinder is a good spot against Gonzales after sporting a .361 wOBA last season against left-handed pitching. He'll be in a good RBI spot hitting fifth in the batting order has some versatility on DraftKings this season, qualifying at both second base and the outfield.
Omar Narvaez, SEA ($4,000): Narvaez moved to Seattle in the offseason and will get the chance to be the Mariners' every day catcher. He hit well last season against right-handed pitching with a .363 wOBA and has the lowest price of any player in the starting lineup. He should be a staple of cash games and is an excellent play in the Captain spot for GPPs. It doesn't hurt that Narvaez went 2-for-4 against Fiers last season with a double and a home run.
