With just one afternoon game and 14 evening games we will be concentrating mostly on the main slate on Friday. We get a nice selection of top tier starting pitching at the top in some very favorable matchups. At this point the weather looks decent across the slate outside of the Angel/Ranger game in Arlington. Be sure to check out the news article posted tomorrow to catch up on all the recent news and weather updates.
Now’s your chance to get DFSR Pro with MLB Optimal Lineups, Projections and Player Cards. Or try a free trial of our base package with projections for every player. While the seasons overlap, you'll get access to our tools for the NBA and NHL as well! Get started for free by clicking the button below.
First time with MLB? Be sure to read our free MLB Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.
A quick heads up - we post an updates article every day in the early afternoon, EST, to catch everyone up on how things are changing as a result of whatever news has come through. We also have great talks in the comments of that article. Hope to see you there!
We've also launched a Stats and Research Page, which includes a lot of the individual statistics that we use to make our projections. It's free! Enjoy.
Opponent - PHI (Morgan) Park - @PHI
FD - 41.09 DK - 23.14
After three straight losses to open the 2016 season Kluber came out strong last start striking out 10 Tigers in eight innings. He now gets a terrific matchup vs. the Phillies who rank in the bottom third of the league in wOBA(.304) and strikeout rate(21.9%) vs. right handed pitching. Kluber has provided the strikeout upside we have all expected with 29 K's with only 5 BB's but the issue so far this season has been the long ball. He should have no problem with the Phillies who have limited power outside Mikael Franco. He is the highest rated pitcher in the projections and well worth paying up for on Friday night.
Opponent - KC (Medlen) Park - @SEA
FD - 35.08 DK - 18.4
He has been a bit on the lucky side with a .188 BABIP so far this season and was roughed up in his last start giving up two homers to the Angels in road loss. He had only given up two earned runs in his first three starts with 20 strikeouts. He is another pitcher having early season issues with control as he is giving up 5.4 BB/9 which is near three walks worse than his career average. He gets a decent matchup vs. the Royals on Friday who sit in the middle of the league in wOBA(.304) in a great pitchers park where Felix has performed much better over his career. He comes at a nice discount from Kluber on FanDuel and is safe in all formats.
Opponent - TOR (Sanchez) Park - @TB
FD - 25.83 DK - 12.46
If you are looking for a low owned tournament option on Friday you should seriously consider Drew Smyly. Outside of his first start against these Blue Jays he has been terrific with a 33 K's and only 5 BB's with a 2.51 ERA. So why put him out there against the Jays again? The upside. The Jays have actually been pretty bad against left handed pitching this season as they rank 24th in wOBA(.288) and are striking out over 25% of the time. He can definitely get in trouble with the huge power he is facing but can also shut them down completely. Great recipe for a low owned, high upside play for large field tournaments.
Opponent - CHW (Rodon) Park - @BAL
FD - 10.82 DK - 8.33
He got the night off on Thursday as the Orioles beat up on the White Sox in game one of the four game series. As Austyn wrote up last night, Wieters has struggled to start the season but his peripheral numbers suggest a positive regression as he has a high hard hit rate(36.4 %). He has positive splits vs. left handed pitching for his career and gets a decent matchup on Friday vs. Carlos Rodon who has K upside but also struggles with control. Wieters normally hits 6th in the lineup right behind strong power hitting outfielders Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo presenting some RBI opportunities on Friday.
Opponent - PHI (Morgan) Park - @PHI
FD - 10.66 DK - 8.2
With the top hitting catchers in tough mathcups on Friday we gravitate down the list and will go with the value on Friday night. Gomes has shown some power upside this season with three home runs and 11 RBI and gets a favorable matchup vs. Adam Morgan making his season debut. In 15 starts last season Morgan only struck out around five batters per nine innings with a very low 30% ground ball rate.
Opponent - PHI (Morgan) Park - @PHI
FD - 14.17 DK - 10.73
Another Indians hitter in a prime spot vs. an inexperienced, right handed, fly ball pitcher. Santana has been red hot lately since taking over as the Indians leadoff hitter and has hits in three straight and seven of his last eight games with five multi hit efforts. He is a terrific leadoff hitter in the sense that he has an above average OBP and if he continues to hit at the top of the lineup will provide a ton of value, especially with a sub $4K price tag.
Opponent - TEX (Lewis) Park - @TEX
FD - 13.13 DK - 10.08
The Angel bats are in a great spot on Friday night as they face Colby Lewis and the Texas Rangers. It has been a somewhat frustrating start for Pujols who is working with an extremely low .136 BABIP which is 160 points below his career average. He has shown the power we like to see for GPP's as he has clubbed five HR's and added 14 RBI and 10 runs early on in the 2016 season. Expect some positive regression to come as early as tonight as Lewis is struggling with a very low 2 to 1 K/BB and a 17% HR/FB ratio.
Opponent - BAL (Wright) Park - @BAL
FD - 14.12 DK - 10.73
Much like Pujols, Abreu has dealt with a low BABIP(.213) which has held his average below the .200 mark so far this season. Things has started to turn around recently as he has recorded hits in three straight and five of his last six games. The power is still missing but as he heats up it is likely to come back as he is hitting more fly balls(40%) than the last two seasons but has seen his HR/FB rate drop from 19+% down to around 11% this season. It will be a great matchup for the power hitters on the White Sox as Wright is a fly ball pitcher who isn't going to strike many out.
Opponent - ATL (Blair) Park - @CHC
FD - 10.14 DK - 7.97
I don't blame you if you want to fit the Braves/Cubs game in and set an all day lineup. I would only recommend doing so on DraftKings where you can swap out players before the main slate starts at 7:00 pm et. The upside is incredible as the Cubs are the second highest scoring team(123 runs) in the majors to start the season and lead the league with a 16-5 record. Zobrist is only hitting .246 on the year but has a high .390 OBP as he is currently running a 19.5% BB rate. With those numbers and him hitting in front of some power bats he is going to get a ton of run opportunities, especially against a weak pitcher in Aaron Blair who scare nobody.
Opponent - BAL (Wright) Park - @BAL
FD - 10.39 DK - 8.12
A very safe pick for cash games at second base in the evening slate. Lawrie has been very consistent for his new team with hits in 17 of his first 23 games with a .266 batting average. He has also added 11 runs and 7 RBI. The power has been lacking as his HR/FB rate has dropped nearly 7% from the last two years. As mentioned with Abreu the White Sox get a favorable matchup vs. a fly ball pitcher on Friday night which could jump start the power bats.
Also Consider - Ian Kinsler(DET)
Opponent - PHI (Morgan) Park - @PHI
FD - 12.53 DK - 10.44
As you can probably already tell the projection system absolutely loves the Indians infield in this matchup vs. the Phillies on Friday. They face Adam Morgan making his first start of the year. Lindor is a switch hitter that has absolutely crushed left handed pitching this year to the tune of a .406 average and his only home run. Trust him in any format tonight.
Opponent - BAL (Wright) Park - @BAL
FD - 11.5 DK - 9.46
He has limited upside but is a consistent hitter who projects well for cash games. He has picked up a hit in six of his last eight with four extra base hits and two stolen bases. He hits second for the White Sox and should get plenty of opportunities to score if he can get on base in front front of the powerful core of the lineup vs. a fly ball pitcher.
Also Consider - Carlos Carrea(HOU)
Opponent - SD (Vargas) Park - @LAD
FD - 9.92 DK - 7.8
When looking for value in cash games there a ton of great options who hit near the top of the lineup and come in at very affordable prices. Turner is one of these players. He hits third behind Corey Seager and right in front of Adrian Gonzalez. He doesn't provide the upside you need in GPP but is consistent and gets a decent matchup vs. Cesar Vargas, making his second career major league start in Dodger Stadium.
Opponent - LAA (Santiago) Park - @TEX
FD - 12.05 DK - 9.27
If it's upside you're looking for at 3B tonight, turn to Adrian Beltre. He hits third in Rangers lineup who rank 9th in runs scored(95) and face a left handed pitcher on Friday. Beltre one of my top BvP plays of the night. If you're into that sort of thing. I usually try and avoid it until the sample size grows and Beltre has faced Santiago 37 times. That's a healthy number. He has walked six times while only striking out five and has eight hits with three of them being home runs. If you're not into BvP, well Beltre has a career .300+ average vs. left handed pitching..
Also Consider - Manny Machado(BAL)
Opponent - TEX (Lewis) Park - @TEX
FD - 16.69 DK - 13.01
Opponent - TEX (Lewis) Park - @TEX
FD - 12.42 DK - 9.69
As I mentioned with Pujols, the Angels are in a great spot vs. Colby Lewis on Friday who they have crushed in their career. In 30 at bats Trout has raked Lewis to the tune of a .574 wOBA/.567 ISO in 25 career at bats while Calhoun isn't far behind with a .446 wOBA/.250 ISO in 28 career at bats. It looks like most of the rain is scheduled for the afternoon and should clear for game time with a possible delay. Be sure to check out the news article posted in the late morning/early afternoon for updates as this game currently has the highest risk of rain. Trout has been hot over the last week with four home runs and nine RBI and is safe in any format while Calhoun has been struggling and should only be considered in a GPP stacking scenario.
Opponent - CHW (Rodon) Park - @BAL
FD - 12.09 DK - 9.42
For cash games I prefer Jones over Calhoun as he comes in at a cheaper price and the weather is much less of a concern in Baltimore on Friday. Oh ya and he is much better hitter overall, despite the slow start to the season which can be attributed to his low BABIP of .238 which is around 70 points lower than his career mark. He is coming off his second multi hit game of the year on Thursday and will look to carry the momentum over into Fridays matchup against Rodon.
Opponent - BAL (Wright) Park - @BAL
FD - 12.83 DK - 10.55
The projection system is giving us another White Sox batter on Friday. It's hard to ignore the matchup fly ball pitcher Mike Wright and Eaton has been a spark plug at the top of the White Sox lineup. He is hitting over .300 on the season and has multiple hits in three of his last four games. Look for a bounce back game for the entire team after getting thumped by the O's 10-2 last night.
Also Consider - J.D. Martinez(DET), Ryan Braun(MIL), Ryan Raburn(COL)
So yeah, baseball season! And we've got some goodies you can take with you. At the end of the post, we have our MLB eBook that you really ought to check out before setting even a single daily fantasy MLB lineup. It's free, below.
And Daily Fantasy MLB Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings every day!
image sources
Week 12 DraftKings and FanDuel cash game NFL plays.
DraftKings and FanDuel Week 11 cash game NFL plays
Week 10 NFL cash game picks for DraftKings and FanDuel
Daily Fantasy DraftKings and FanDuel NBA Picks & Projections Playing NBA DFS Nightly? Join one…
Week 9 NFL DFS plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Packed slate of NBA action on FanDuel and DraftKings
View Comments
Dee Gordon 80 game ban...wow
No lefty Mets against Peavy??
Also what are the odds that Fulmer gets at least 5 innings tonight against a crappy Twins lineup?? Thinking of rolling the dice on him
Mets stack looking juicy today. All top hitters outside of Wright with platoon split advantage vs. Softball League Cy Young.
I disagree here a little bit. Peavy been pretty unlucky this season all things considered. Yes, the ERA is high, but the xFIP is more than two runs lower. He's walking less than a batter per nine and has been bit by the strand rate. He isn't good necessarily, but I'm not as bullish on a Mets' stack.
I like to stack a mid tier P with a higher end one (nothing ground breaking lol). I"m on the fence between sanchez against TB (high whiff/low wOBA) OR conley against MIL ( high whiff rate).
The system favors conley now, but I have a feeling it will even out by the time of first pitch.
I'm also very intrigued about a smyly/sanchez pairing in the same game on DK. (LOW O/U, great pitchers park and both teams strikeout a ton = fantasy goodness)
Random thought I've been having, but wonder why you have to choose hitters by position. Do any of the sites give you points for defensive plays? None that I know of. They should just have you pick a pitcher and then a bunch of hitters.
I love this concept. Makes so much more sense. Why be hamstrung by position scarcity? I get that it aligns with a baseball order, but having to roster SS is brutal. I would play on a site that did this for sure.
I agree. Infielders should get points for turning double plays, catchers should get points for gunning down base stealers and outfielders should get points for robbing home runs. That would be AWESOME and make some great defensive players who are not great hitters a little more valuable.
I mean i dont mean to come off rude or anything, because as i say this in my head it sounds snarky, but its just the way it is. Its how fantasy sports works. Why need posistions for any sport? its just the rules.
You cant play 3 QBs and no RBs in NFL DFS or 7 Guards in NBA... so MLB you need to field a full roster...
Is Car Go in play on DK at only $2900 I know he's got a lefty but I don't see Ray going the whole game meaning Car Go will get at least 1 possibly 2 cracks at a bullpen arm for that price worth it or nah?
I don't mind having to pick for every position but I do wish that a Utility/DH spot was offered. It sucks having to leave out a middle of the order bat bc two players in the lineup are both the same position but one bats DH. Example; Detroit Tigers with Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez both only offered at 1B.
Peavy has given up 35 hits and K'd only 14 in 21 innings of work, Thats enough for me to say that the left heavy Mets get to him.. If you prove me wrong I let you say told you so timorrow
I'm playing all day slate with Lester trying to decide which cub bats to use
The Cubs bats are the usual suspects. The Top 4 of their order is simply very good on almost a daily basis. If cost is an issue, I don't think you ask for Cubs bats and leave Rizzo and Zobrist out. Since you need Rizzo and Zobrist, If I cannot afford the top 4 with Cubs, I sometimes make the hard decision to leave out Fowler and play their 2-4.