UPDATE: The lineup has been changed to reflect a new starting catcher following the posting of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup.
The month of June is upon us, and the Atlanta Braves are still in reasonable shape with regard to the NL East. In this space, though, we will be focused on a different animal entirely, as we take a glance at the rest of the league and a little bit of fun in the fantasy world.
SB Nation and FanDuel continue to partner on daily fantasy baseball, and we regularly bring you "recommended" lineups. Friday evening's slate of games is quite intriguing, and there is an opportunity to find value if you look closely at the match-ups.
As usual, fading my picks may be your best option, so if you do that, I won't be offended in the slightest.
Note: This lineup would be used in a 7:05 pm ET contest.
P - Alex Wood ($7,700)
C - Jonathan Lucroy ($2,900)
1B - Adrian Gonzalez ($3,800)
2B - Howie Kendrick ($2,800)
3B - Kris Bryant ($4,600)
SS - Jung-ho Kang ($3,400)
OF - Mike Trout ($5,000)
OF - Andre Ethier ($2,600)
OF - Delmon Young ($2,200)
You can probably tell by the names, but I'm all in on the Dodgers against Kyle Kendrick. This is a good, old-fashioned stack of the highest order, with three left-handers (Gonzalez, Grandal, Ethier) against Kyle Kendrick in Coors Field and the super-cheap Howie Kendrick as the fourth and final member of the squad. It seems simple (and it is), but Kyle Kendrick isn't very good and the Dodgers should maul him.
Elsewhere, I've gone relatively inexpensive with a "homer" pick in Alex Wood, but the young left-hander was crisp in his last outing and Arizona doesn't scare me, even in their own ballpark. That allows me to spend some money elsewhere, and with Bryant and Trout, I'm going with two studs in reasonably favorable match-ups. Fill in the roster with Kang (who is raking right now) and Delmon Young (in an awesome platoon match-up), and I feel good about this group.
The slogan, as always, is to simply make money, and this lineup can (hopefully) help you get there. Let's do this together.