Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) rounds the bases during the inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 25, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
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Opponent - DET (Elvin Rodriguez) Park - NYY
FD - 46.91 DK - 26.57
Cole is a massive, -325 favorite on Friday, easily one of the best money lines you’ll see for a starting pitcher. The win probability really can’t get all that much higher and he’s likely going to be one of the more popular plays on the slate. Cole is having one of his best seasons with a 2.75 xFIP while striking out more than 11 batters per nine and keeping the walks in the low 2’s. He’s just elite, that’s really all there is to it, and is facing off against a very weak Tigers team.
Opponent - OAK (James Kaprielian) Park - OAK
FD - 38.99 DK - 21.02
Eovaldi is a -162 road favorite against the A’s on Friday and offers one way to spend down a bit at pitching in order to fit some of the higher-priced bats. The righty has been solid this season, putting up a 6.5:1 K:BB ratio and striking out more than a batter an inning. The 3.13 xFIP is slightly better than the 3.77 ERA and he’s going close to six innings per start because of the efficiency. Oakland ranks dead last in team offense this season and is one of the best matchups to target from a DFS standpoint. I suspect Eovaldi will have a lot of ownership on this slate.
Opponent - MIN (Chi Chi González) Park - MIN
FD - 14.32 DK - 10.79
There’s a game in Coors that we are going to get to here as well, but it’s hard to ignore the Blue Jays on this Friday slate facing off against Chi Chi González. The latter has pitched more than 260 major league innings with a 12.5% K rate and career 5.29 xFIP. You won’t see it get much worse than that. Meanwhile, Guerrero isn’t having quite the season he put up in 2021, but this is still one of the elite hitters in the game and Gonzalez has almost no chance of getting anything by him. There’s a reason the Blue Jays’ implied run line if pushing six right now.
Opponent - COL (Chad Kuhl) Park - COL
FD - 13.85 DK - 10.31
He’s coming a bit more expensive than Guerrero here, though the Braves are taking another turn in Coors so there’s reason for it. Olson hasn’t been quite the signing Atlanta thought they were getting this season and has now dropped to sixth in the order, but there is still plenty of upside. The Braves have a whopping 6.4 implied run line, one of the highest you’ll ever see, even for a game in Colorado. It’s going to be hard getting away from these bats on this slate.
Strongly consider Travis d'Arnaud (FD $3200 DK $4200) who should be fifth or sixth in the lineup.
Opponent - MIN (Chi Chi González) Park - MIN
FD - 11.02 DK - 8.58
It’s looking like Espinal could hit second in the order for the Blue Jays on Friday and that would put him in a tremendous spot against the righty Gonzalez. As stated, the latter is terrible and Toronto could be a popular stack. If Espinal was slotted here, he’d be coming very cheap with a lot of upside considering the team’s run line. He’s been solid over the last couple of seasons with a mid-700s OPS thanks to a low K rate and a bit of speed. This is the worse side of his split for sure, but again, Chi Chi mitigates that by being among the worst regular starters out there.
Opponent - ATL (Max Fried) Park - ATL
FD - 9.21 DK - 7.14
He’s slated to hit pretty low in the Rockies’ lineup, but he’s also coming near punt prices on both sites. I don’t mind just taking some savings here if you need to load up elsewhere. Hampson has a mid-700s OPS for his career at Coors and has flashed some fantasy upside in the past. Again, he isn’t coming out there like gangbusters, but the price doesn’t mean he has to either.
Opponent - COL (Chad Kuhl) Park - COL
FD - 13.14 DK - 9.99
Swanson has the power-speed combination you love to see in fantasy and it helps keep the floor higher even though he does go down on strikes a fair amount. He already has nine stolen bases on the season, matching his mark from last year in 450 fewer plate appearances. It’s clearly just part of his game now in a way it wasn’t before. And that’s a good thing moving forward. He’s not on the same power pace as last season, but it’s less problematic if he’s going to take off on the base paths.
Opponent - MIN (Chi Chi González) Park - MIN
FD - 12.88 DK - 9.92
Noticing a theme here? There are two teams that stand out well above the rest when it comes to fantasy upside on this slate and it’s just tough to get away from either. I think you still have to like the price on Bichette on FanDuel even though the returns have been underwhelming for this season so far. He’s got an OPS barely scraping over .700 with the K rate up some and the BABIP down. He still has seven home runs on the season and has managed to swipe four bags. As long as Toronto keeps him in the top-four of their lineup then I think he’s still viable in this price range, especially with such a good matchup.
Opponent - COL (Chad Kuhl) Park - COL
FD - 13.08 DK - 9.9
How many Braves are we going to be able to fit into lineups on Friday? That’s going to be one of the tougher questions seeing as how they aren’t exactly coming cheap on this slate. But Riley is worth getting in there considering the power he’s displayed over the last couple of seasons. He has 46 home runs total in that span and this season is rocking a .257 ISO and .861 OPS. He’s been better against lefties for his career, though not by an overwhelming degree, making this righty-righty matchup fine to target.
Opponent - MIN (Chi Chi González) Park - MIN
FD - 10.98 DK - 8.16,p> He’s one of the few Toronto bats you can actually get a “deal” on even though he’s slated to hit a bit lower in the order. The righty Chapman has some power in the bat and is a platoon neutral hitter over the course of his career. The K expectation is tempered because of Chi Chi and 3B is a weaker position as it is. I don’t mind grabbing some savings here.
Opponent - COL (Chad Kuhl) Park - COL
FD - 17.51 DK - 13.19
Acuna hitting leadoff in Coors is the stuff fantasy upside is made of and he makes for a tough fade on Friday even at these inflated prices. Even with a 31% K rate through more than 100 plate appearances, Acuna still has a mid-800s OPS. The power hasn’t completely come around, but he already has nine stolen bases which is helping to keep the fantasy floor as high as ever. When it’s all cooking he’s one of the best fantasy guys around and that’s especially the case when he’s going in the best hitter’s park in baseball.
Opponent - MIN (Chi Chi González) Park - MIN
FD - 14.08 DK - 10.58
Springer helps round out the Blue Jays stack and he’s going to be slotted into the leadoff spot once against for Toronto. He has an OPS in the high-800s, with nine home runs already on the season and he remains difficult to put down on strikes. That’s not an issue with Gonzalez anyway, just worth mentioning. Like Acuna, he’s pricey here, but it’s for good reason and this is why we like having Eovaldi in the SP slot because he offers a way to fit some of the pricier bats.
Opponent - TEX (Dane Dunning) Park - TEX
FD - 12.44 DK - 9.38
If looking for savings in the outfield, Winker is definitely a way to go seeing as how he’s coming pretty cheap on both sites. He’s been hitting leadoff off for the Mariners, giving him solid plate appearance expectation. The results haven’t been there seeing as how the OPS is sitting in the low 600s, but the walk rate is still borderline elite and he’s running super bad on his Hr/FB rate so far. That’s driving the price down a lot.
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