DraftKings Points Per Game: 70.23
Points Per Plate Appearance: 1.85
If you've been reading our daily stacks columns here on numberFire, this shouldn't be a shock to you. I've had to pump up these bad mamma jammas pretty much every day because their offense is the illest.
Allow me to illustrate just how gross they are and why their output should have an effect on how you weigh lineup decisions.
On the season, the Blue Jays' number six batter has averaged 7.83 DraftKings points per game. In 2014, the average at that spot in the batting order was 6.86 (it has dropped to 6.53 through the first half of 2015). The five-hole average was just 7.41. In order to eclipse the Blue Jays' total, you need to hop all the way up to the clean-up batter.
This has huge implications when it comes to stacking. When I'm stacking in cash games, I get really nervous if I dip below the five-hole. Let's say the number three batter records the final out of the game. That means all batters I roster have one fewer plate appearance in that contest. One fewer plate appearance is one fewer chance to rack up some serious points. If I have a stack of the middle of a team's order in a cash game, I'm missing out on far more than one plate appearance.
With the Blue Jays, however, that fear is reduced. Not only are their hitters lower in the order recording more plate appearances because the team sends more batters to the plate, but they also average more points per plate appearance because they can leach off of the production of the top of the order. I'm still hesitant to go too low in cash games, but the Blue Jays make the act of doing so far more rational.
If it's a tourney, the bottom of the order is fair game for me, especially with the Blue Jays. Their ownership totals will be much lower than that of Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and others, they're cheaper, and they provide the production of another team's hitter higher in the order. Not only are the Jays the highest-scoring DFS team of the first half, but they're also the one that provides the most flexibility and creativity in stacks.