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The Milwaukee Brewers are undoubtedly the biggest surprise so far during the 2014 MLB season. After a season of turmoil during 2013 due to the Ryan Braun saga, not many in the game expected the Brewers would be the team holding the lead in the NL Central to start the summer. They have done it with their underrated pitching staff, led by today’s fantasy baseball value pitcher of the day, Kyle Lohse.
Lohse has gone 7-2 in 13 starts thus far, pitching to a 3.27 ERA and 1.057 WHIP. He has only walked 14 batters in 88 innings for a stellar 1.4 BB/9 and has struck out 66 batters in those aforementioned 88 innings, good for a serviceable 6.8 K/9.
This evening, Lohse takes the mound against an offensively challenged New York Mets club in New York at cavernous Citi Field — a seemingly perfect match-up for fantasy purposes. With a solid defensive outfield behind him led by Gold Glove center-fielder Carlos Gomez, Lohse can pitch to contact without being overly concerned about giving up the long-ball to a power-starved Mets lineup.
Lohse is reasonably priced on all daily-fantasy sites, making him a borderline must start this evening. Expecting a stat-line of seven innings pitched with five strikeouts having given up two or less runs is a fair assumption. It is no secret that Milwaukee is a right-hand dominant offensive club led by Braun and Gomez, which gives them an advantage against Mets’ starter LHP Jon Niese.
All things considered, Lohse is in a perfect scenario to pick up his eighth win of the season on an evening where there is not an abundance of good options, making him the savvy play of the day.
Timothy Downs is a fantasy sports writer for www.RantSports.com. You can add him on Google or follow on Twitter @Tidow1212.
