Fantasy Baseball: Top Five Daily Fantasy Baseball Pitchers

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Jun 7, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke (21) in the second inning of the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The first day of summer has come and gone, and July is just around the corner.

Through the first three months of the season, MCB has released a fantasy baseball article each weekend to help out the season-long owners, but it is now time to analyze fantasy more from a daily perspective.

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Of course, there is a lot of overlap between the successful players in daily leagues and the successful ones in season-long leagues. In general, daily owners want consistency, especially from their starting pitchers. Season-long owners can live with a bad start every few turns in the rotation because the final stats are what matter. Daily owners, however, want insurance that the pitcher they choose on their roster each night is going to perform well.

The best way to find these consistent daily fantasy baseball pitchers is by using the MLB Optimizer from Daily Fantasy Cafe. It’s a great tool to use for building the entire daily lineup for DraftKings and/or FanDuel.

Without further ado, here are MCB’s top five daily fantasy pitchers this season:

Jun 20, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the eighth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals

There isn’t a hotter pitcher in the league right now than Scherzer. The right-hander has come very close to some historic milestones over his last two starts.

He allowed just one hit in his start two weeks ago to Milwaukee and no-hit Pittsburgh last weekend, so he nearly tied Johnny Vander Meer’s record of back-to-back no-hitters. Scherzer also fell one out short of a perfect game versus the Pirates. In those two starts, he had 26 strikeouts.

For the season, Scherzer has struck out at least 10 batters in six of his 13 starts. He has struck out at least eight hitters in nine of his 13 starts. Scherzer has also allowed more than two runs in just three of his outings.

His 0.80 WHIP leads the league and on five occasions, the Nationals right-hander has not allowed an earned run at all.

Jun 23, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke (21) pitches during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers

Greinke hasn’t won a game since May 5, but don’t blame that on him. The Dodgers offense has supplied him with 23 runs over his last nine starts and nine of those runs came in one game.

The right-hander has been tremendous this season as he leads the league with a 1.70 ERA. Greinke has allowed zero or one run in 11 of his 14 starts this year. Furthermore, in half his starts, Greinke has at least seven strikeouts.

If he can continue to pitch like this in the second half, the victories will start piling up.

Jun 23, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer (22) smiles in the dugout during the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Archer, Tampa Bay Rays

Despite losing their ace, David Price, and their manager, Joe Maddon, the Rays are somehow in first place. The biggest reason is Chris Archer.

Archer is 9-4 with a 2.01 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 123 strikeouts, which is tied with Max Scherzer for third-most in the league. Archer went four straight starts in April without allowing a run and then he went three consecutive outings at the end of May and beginning of June with at least 11 strikeouts.

And this success is coming at a cheaper price in daily fantasy leagues than most dominant pitcher. That shouldn’t last much longer.

Jun 14, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher David Price (14) in the dugout against the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

David Price, Detroit Tigers

Speaking of Price, he has been more than solid this season in daily fantasy baseball. If owners take away the eight runs he allowed to the Yankees in the snow back in April, Price has a 1.77 ERA.

He has yielded three earned runs or fewer in 13 of his 15 starts this season, and he hasn’t allowed at least three earned runs since May 16.

In June, Price is 3-0 with a 1.21 ERA, 32 strikeouts and just three walks. Price also has at least seven strikeouts in seven of his 15 outings this season.

Jun 24, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) delvers a pitch against the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Gerrit Cole, Pittsburgh Pirates

In terms of piling up victories, no one has been better than Cole this year. He has won 11 of his 15 outings this season and has a 2.16 ERA.

Cole allowed five runs on Wednesday to the Cincinnati Reds, but prior to that start, he had yielded more than two runs just twice the rest of the year. Interestingly, those two outings where Cole allowed three runs were also against the Reds. Versus every other team in the league besides the Reds, Cole is 11-1 with a 1.33 ERA.

The Pirates ace is a stud, just don’t draft him in daily leagues on nights he faces the Reds.

Next: Detroit Tigers Drop Third Straight in V-Mart Return

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