Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to All Star Edition of Aces and Bases. Today I’ll walk you through some plays for tonight’s Draftkings All Star Game Showdown.
For those that are new to showdown slates, we’ll need to navigate through picking a Captain and then 5 utility spots. It’s crucial that we get the Captain correct as their points will be worth 1.5 times what they are normally worth.
We want a takedown tonight. And because of that, I’m going to get a little crazy with my Captain’s pick as the guy I’m going to pick will surely be low owned. That Captain’s pick is going to lay the ground work for us to be able to stock our lineup with some of the biggest stars in the game.
Let’s dig in to tonight’s slate!
MLB DFS: The Captain
Cedric Mullins ($7.8k) – What if I told you that putting in Cedric Mullins as your Captain tonight could essentially give you enough salary to play just about anyone you want? Playing him gives you nearly $8.5k per spot for the rest of your lineup.
Mullins has quietly put together an outstanding first half of the year with 16 homers and 49 runs scored. While he won’t be hitting lead-off tonight, an argument could be made that he’s been one of the top lead-off hitters in the game this year. Living in Baltimore I’ve gotten to watch him play a ton this year. He is becoming one of my favorite players to watch outside of my Mets.
Look for him to hit a 2 run bomb in the second inning of tonight’s game. While there are much bigger household names that could be used here, I’m locking in Mullins with my Captain spot. Mullins should be an extremely low owned Captain tonight and if he goes off like I think he does it would really work to our advantage.
Editors Note: Jason likes Rafael Devers and Salvador Perez as low owned captains off a homer happy Mad Max. Remember he just gave up a granny to a relief pitcher. He likes to throw in a not so popular starting player as his captain or possibly taking a shot at a pitcher late in the game that has the potential to fall into the Win and some K’s.
MLB DFS: The Utility Spots
Vlad Guerrero Jr. ($9.2) – What a first half for Jr.! 28 homers, 73 RBI’s, and a .453 wOBA. He’s done a heck of a job following in his father’s footsteps. Guerrero was made for this moment. He’s been raised in a baseball environment his whole life. Look for Guerrero to shine tonight.
Shohei Ohtani ($10k) – With Ohtani we are witnessing history. Never before has a player made the All Star game as both a hitter and a pitcher. He has excelled this year on both the mound and at the plate. Draftkings has made it so we can only use him as a hitter tonight and I am thankfull for that.
53 and 44. Those are the numbers for 1 and 2 in the league in barrels this year. Acuna is second at 44 and Ohtani is number 1 with 53. Yes, he has 9 more barrels than anyone else in the game this year.
Stars shine when all the lights are on them. Look for Ohtani to shine tonight with him in your lineup.
Nolan Arenado ($6.6k) – Here’s one of my value plays. Arenado gets to go back to the place where it all started. For the first 8 years of his career Arenado got to call Coors home. What a story it would be if Arenado goes back to Coors tonight and has himself a solid All Star game.
In a game where we need to make a lot of guesses as to who’s going to do well I’m going to make an educated guess here and say Narrative SZN wins out tonight with Arenado.
Max Muncy ($5.8k) – My final value play. Munch is making his second All Star appearance. After being a reserve in 2019, this year he gets to start after being voted into the game by his peers. Muncy is pacing to have his best year yet.
His K rate is the lowest he’s had in his career and his wOBA is at the highest point. He’s also pacing to have the most homers and RBI’s of his career. The match-up vs. Ohtani is going to be tough, but on the year we’ve seen Ohtani have less success vs. lefties. Love the match-up here for Muncy.
Zach Wheeler ($4.8k) – We need to have some pitchers in the mix too right? Wheeler is one of my favorites of the non starting pitchers. Outside of a couple of starts this year, he’s been lights out.
While he’s always been a solid pitcher, he’s really turned it up a notch this year with a career high in his K% which is sitting over 30% for the year. He’s also allowing the fewest walks in his career with just a 5.5 BB%. My gut says the NL pulls out the win this year with Wheeler as the pitcher on record. A win bonus for Wheeler tonight would be big!
Craig Kimbrel ($4k) – After a couple of down years to start his Cubs career, boy has Kimbrel made a resurgence. He’s been dominant this year with a .57 ERA and a 46% K rate. He hasn’t had a K rate anywhere near that since he broken in with Braves.
Kimbrel is essentially showcasing his talent right now for prospective buyers as his Cubs look to be sellers. No better audition than the All Star Game. With the National League winning the game tonight, I like Kimbrel to earn the save tonight with a clean inning. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him strike out the side tonight!
The final piece to the puzzle
Fernando Tatis Jr. ($10.2k) – We’ve already covered one of the Juniors in the game. Let’s cover the other one. Tatis has had a stellar first half. Even though he missed some time early on this year with Covid and a bum shoulder he still has managed to hit 28 homers to go with a .419 wOBA.
He’s been the star we all thought he would be. Like I said with Ohtani earlier, stars shine when all the lights are on them. Outside of Ohtani, there’s no bigger star in the game than Tatis. I want to make sure I have a piece of Tatis tonight.
MLB DFS: The Wrap Up
Even without a healthy Trout, baseball is truly blessed with some of the biggest and brightest stars being able to play tonight. Tonight’s game will be historic with Ohtani leading off the game and then being the starting pitcher for the American League. After you set your lineups tonight, sit back, crack open a beer or a seltzer or some bourbon and I truly hope you enjoy watching a game I love.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
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