Baseball Picks Daily Fantasy Expert Advice
Daily Fantasy MLB Pitchers for FanDuel and DraftKings - 8/28/17
Here's where you can find some recommendations for tournament pitchers target for FanDuel and DraftKings. Find our main set of cash game picks here.
Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB optimizer, our NFL Optimizer, and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below.
First time with NFL or MLB? Be sure to read our free MLB and NFL Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.
GRAB A FREE TRIAL OF OUR PROJECTION SYSTEM, AND CHECK OUT DFSR PRO!
Max Scherzer FD 11500 DK 14100
Opponent - MIA (Urena) Park - @WSH
FD - 43.61 DK - 24.55
We've got some decisions to make tonight. Coors Field is on the slate, and the activation of Scherzer means we've got some aces -- not to mention a handful of mid-tier arms -- to choose from. And the fact that it's a 10-game slate will likely cut into the amount of attractive value bats in the pool, so you're going to have to decide if you want to pay up for pitching or for hitting. Scherzer is obviously a stud, but the price (especially on DK), as well as the fact that he's coming off the DL, should keep his ownership in check. Truthfully, in lineups where we're employing an ace, we'd probably rather take the savings on Kluber, but since we wrote him up with the cash game picks, we'll take a look at Scherzer here. In sum, he's about as good as it gets for reliable DFS production. He ranks 2nd among qualified starters this season with 12.35 Ks/9 and a 2.25 ERA, and his 2.82 FIP and 3.06 xFIP rank third and fourth in the league, respectively. He's got double-digit Ks in 13 of his 24 starts this season and 9 Ks in four more. And striking the injury-shortened appearance on Aug. 1, he's been his typically nasty self against the Marlins this season, racking up 20 Ks in 15 IP while yielding four runs on seven hits. Of course, the Marlins are on a bit of a tear right now, led by Giancarlo Stanton's unearthly HR pace, but what we're more concerned about is Scherzer's health. There's no accounting for the decision-making processes of Dusty Baker, but it would make sense for the Nats to treat their ace with care and limit his run down the stretch. That adds an element of risk we don't usually have to consider with Scherzer and it's significant enough that we'll probably want to keep exposure to him fairly low. But for the sake of his ceiling at potentially low-ish ownership, we think you're going to want at least a couple of lineups built around him in your tournaments tonight.
Andrew Heaney FD 6000 DK 5100
Opponent - OAK (Gossett) Park - @LAA
FD - 24.35 DK - 16.08
This one's purely an SP2 value dart. Heaney's been roughed up in both starts since returning from the DL, but if we squint we can see faint reasons for optimism. It starts with the fact that he's not walking anybody and he's posting a fair number of Ks (9 in 10 IP, 20 K%). Of course, he's also given up seven HRs (yikes!), so his FIP is still gross (10.43), but that's not gonna last forever. More than half of his fly balls allowed have left the yard, and at some point regression is gonna kick in -- which is why his xFIP is a much more palatable 3.66. But all these numbers don't really carry that much weight; we're only talking about two starts, after all. And while Heaney has yet to live up to his first-round pedigree, we have seen solid work out of him in the past (3.77 FIP over 105 IP in 2015). And really, all we need for him is to be decent at these prices. He'll have to face a lot of righties in the Oakland lineup, but the bright side to that is it's the Oakland lineup, and most of those righties aren't very good. The projected starters are coming in with a sub-.300 wOBA and a 26.8 K% (!!) vs. LHP this season. Look no further than that if you're trying to figure out why Vegas has Heaney installed as a -165 favorite. So, yeah, it won't feel great to do it, but go ahead and plug him in and console yourself with the fact that you're flush with salary to spend on sexier options throughout the rest of your lineup.
GET OUR FREE EBOOK ON DAILY FANTASY MLB and NBA BY CLICKING HERE!
You'll also get our picks in your inbox every day!