Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/9/17 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB optimizer, our NBA Optimizer, and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with MLB? Be sure to read our free MLB and NBA Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.   Pitcher Max Scherzer FD 11600 DK 11800 Opponent - BAL (Jimenez) Park - @BAL FD - 36.57 DK - 24.32 Facing the Orioles in Baltimore is never ideal, but there's a certain safety that comes with bankable strikeouts, and on a night like this one is shaping up to be, that cushion could be even more valuable than usual. The 14-game main slate features seven of the best hitting environments in baseball in either overall park factors, HR park factors, or both. That mitigates the risk that comes from Camden Yard to some degree, and the fact that Scherzer is one of the most reliable power arms in baseball should help wipe away any damage done by a stray Baltimore homer or two. He's had at least 7 Ks in all six starts this season, and 11 straight if you go back to last season. He's also gone at least six innings in each of his 2017 appearances, with five quality starts. In other words, he's exactly the guy he's been for the last five-plus seasons. So even with Coors Field on the slate, we think you should be able to find enough value bats to make his salary worth paying for. Justin Verlander FD 9500 DK 10000 Opponent - ARI (Ray) Park - @ARI FD - 35.13 DK - 23.27 There's an awful lot of similarity between Scherzer's situation and the one Verlander finds himself in at Chase Field. The Diamondbacks' home park is a little less homer-prone than Camden Yark, but a better overall venue for offense, while the Arizona lineup is a slightly better matchup. They're right behind the Orioles in wRC+ vs. RHP on the season (right about average), but strike out a good bit more (4th highest K% in league). The source of the comparative discount between our top two pitchers, though, is the pitchers themselves. Verlander is a quality arm, but he can't quite match Scherzer in terms of upside or consistency. He's struggled at times with his command this season and he's getting hit harder than we'd like, too. Still, there's plenty to like about a guy who approaches 9 Ks/9 against a strikeout-heavy lineup, and the velocity is there for Verlander, so we think his intermittent issues are probably...

Daily Fantasy MLB Hitter Stacks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/8/17 Here's where you can find some recommendations for GPP stacks to 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 NBA Optimizer, and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with MLB? Be sure to read our free MLB and NBA Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.   COLORADO ROCKIES Hey guys, it's Coors Field, so do whatever you want. Stack the Rockies, stack the Cubs, do a double wraparound stack starting with the No. 7 hitters for both teams. Go crazy. Impossible is nothing. Dare to dream. ... So, we think the Cubs are probably the chalk play here, but since they were featured heavily with the cash game picks, we'll turn our attention to Colorado. There's a decent chance they'll go under-owned facing Jake Arrieta, but we think it'd be a mistake to bypass them based on the name value of the opposing pitcher. For one thing, the Rockies' numbers at home since last season are ridiculous (.373 wOBA, .217 ISO) and put them in play against virtually anybody. For another, Arrieta has scuffled a bit this season. The xFIP suggests his 4.63 ERA will be coming down a bit, but the fact that his groundball rate is down to 42% after sitting at 56% in 2015 and 53% last year is worrisome. And really, any bat is in play. Obviously the big-name bats that occupy the top and middle of the order are the most attractive as long as you've got the money to spend. Also, though the sample size is really small, Arrieta has struggled with lefties this season (.348 wOBA), so you might want to keep that in mind. NEW YORK YANKEES I'd expect the Yankees to be the go-to pivot off of Coors, and for good reason. They lead MLB in wRC+ and wOBA vs. RHP this season, and they're fourth in ISO. Meanwhile, the Reds are offering up the Great American Ballpark and Rookie Davis, which makes for a very enticing combo. Davis was serviceable in his last start, but other than that, his first taste of the bigs has been borderline disastrous. He's sitting on a 6.01 xFIP with 1.84 HRs/9 in his first four starts, and his minor league numbers were pretty average, so even when/if he gets it figured out, we're not looking at a front-line starter here. Meanwhile, the park is up there with Coors...

Daily Fantasy MLB Pitchers for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/8/17 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 NBA Optimizer, and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with MLB? Be sure to read our free MLB and NBA Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.   Pitchers Nathan Karns FD 7000 DK 7200 Opponent - TB (Snell) Park - @TB FD - 28.57 DK - 19.02 Holy cow, there is some crap on this slate. It's not that all the pitchers are bad, it's just that most of the decent ones are in pretty tough spots. In fact, outside of the three guys we recommended with the cash game picks, it might be a stretch to find anybody else you feel great about rostering tonight. That said, there is a case to be made for Karns, given the fact that his low cost is going to make Coors and/or those sexy Yankees bats much easier to fit into you lineup. It starts with Ks. The Rays are second in baseball with a 25.9 K% vs. RHP, and Karns averages over 9 Ks/9 in his career. That number is down a bit this season, (8.09 per 9 IP), but the swinging strike rate is in line with last year's, when he had 9.64/9 IP, so the potential for a nice night is there. The ballpark, which suppresses homers, also helps, because Karns needs all the help he can get keeping the ball in yard. Of course, the Rays have been pretty solid vs. RHP this season, with a 103 wRC+ in the split, and Karns is the epitome of hit-or-miss -- three good starts, three really bad ones this year -- so you're not exactly getting a steal here. But given the dearth of palatable SP choices tonight, we think Karns' risk is acceptable. Trevor Bauer FD 8800 DK 7900 Opponent - TOR (Stroman) Park - @TOR FD - 29.03 DK - 19.34 Ok. Karns wasn't so bad. You really only need to squint to see how he might be a feasible GPP play. For Bauer, on the other hand, I'm not sure the Hubble telescope would do the trick. But since we must, here's the pitch: the Blue Jays have been awful this year. That's really 90 percent of the story here. They're 26th in wRC+ vs. RHP, 27th in wOBA, and 23rd in ISO. Real bad....

Daily Fantasy MLB Hitter Stacks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/3/17 Here's where you can find some recommendations for GPP stacks to 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 NBA Optimizer, and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with MLB? Be sure to read our free MLB and NBA Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.   HOUSTON ASTROS Ok, so Nick Martinez has thrown a couple of good starts in a row. The question is: do you buy it? We don't, at least not yet. There's not much in a two-game sample size that would hold any predictive value whatsoever, but it is worth noting that he's cranked up the velocity by more than 2 mph over last season average and is now sitting at just below 94 mph with his fastball. So, just put a pin in that and keep in the back of your mind. But in the meantime, go ahead and feel free to load up against him, because it's gonna take more than 13 IP of being decent to make us wipe away 300-plus innings of being crappy (technical term). Martinez holds a career xFIP of 5.19 since breaking into the bigs in 2014. In that span exactly zero (0) qualifying pitchers have been worse. So, yeah. Not sweating a nice outing against the Royals right now. As for the Astros, they've been one of baseball's best offenses vs. RHP this season, ranking third in wRC+, and eighth since the beginning of 2016. The personnel additions they made in the offseason have helped, but probably not as much as Yuli Gurriel starting to figure out MLB pitching. He struggled last season at all levels after coming over from Cuba, but he's raking right now against RHP (.431 wOBA, .200 ISO, 10% K rate). We're still dealing with unreliable sample sizes, but he's clearly a viable play right now. Per usual, Jose Altuve is your top option with a .394 wOBA vs. RHP since last season. Carlos Correa also has a .354 wOBA and .183 ISO in the split, and Evan Gattis (.240 ISO) deserves some attention if he's in there. PITTSBURGH PIRATES We're still not in love with this lineup in the absence of Starling Marte, but the combination of soft Cincinnati pitching and the Great American Ballpark is pretty inviting. The downside -- aside from Pittsburgh's 89 wRC+ vs. RHP this season -- is that after they went off for 12...

Daily Fantasy MLB Pitchers for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/3/17 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 NBA Optimizer, and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with MLB? Be sure to read our free MLB and NBA Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.   Pitchers Carlos Carrasco FD 10400 DK 10700 Opponent - DET (Boyd) Park - @DET FD - 35.38 DK - 23.25 Gotta admit, we're not super stoked to pay these prices for just about anybody against the Tigers -- and outside of large-field GPPs, we wouldn't recommend heavy exposure here either, so tread carefully. Detroit ranks fourth in baseball in wRC+ vs. RHP this season, and third since the beginning of 2016, and we have to be aware of that risk. But with Jacob deGrom and Jake Arrieta likely to attract the most attention on an otherwise thin pitching slate, we think Carrasco and his noteworthy upside just might slide under the radar. Since the beginning of 2016, he's averaging 9.1 Ks/9 with a 3.29 xFIP, which is seventh best among current starting pitchers in that span. As mentioned, Detroit is dangerous, but Comerica Park is pretty neutral and with cool-ish temps and an inbound breeze expectted, we think the risk/reward balance is worth some exposure to Carrasco in tourneys. Julio Urias FD 7400 DK 8500 Opponent - SF (Samardzija) Park - @LAD FD - 32.28 DK - 21.14 We really like the 20-year-old lefty in this spot, but he comes with risks, too. His arrive primarily in the threat of abbreviated run, which can deeply undercut a pitcher's ceiling, snatching away point-producing innings and Ks, as well as lessening the likelihood of a quality start and/0r a win. Urias went just 90 pitches in his first start of the season last time out, and it wouldn't be surprising if the Dodgers keep the kid gloves on with their top pitching prospect. But if Urias is hitting his spots, keeping the pitch count manageable and the Dodgers decide to stretch him out a bit, then the upside is there for him against the Giants. San Francisco ranks 24th in baseball in wRC+ vs. LHP since the start of last year, and 26th in 2017. They don't strike out a ton, but Urias (84 Ks in 77 career IP) should have something to say about that. Fire up No Half Time for baseball season, and...