DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 8/24/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Mike Clevinger FD - P 11200 DK - SP 11800 Opponent - KC (Glenn Sparkman) Park - CLE FD - 41.92 DK - 22.99 One of the league's unassuming aces, Clevinger has been truly stellar in the 73 innings he's pitched so far this year. He was already good last year, but adding 4 K/9 and increasing that rate to a ridiculous 13 Ks per 9 has pulled his xFIP down more than a run this season. He's coming off a brutal three game stretch against three of the league's offenses in Minnesota, Boston, and New York, and he managed 25 Ks against 5 BBs over that stretch. He'll face no such juggernaut here, as the Royals have posted the league's 4th lowest wOBA in the Majors vs. right handed pitching this season. Clevinger is a high floor, high ceiling option, and is the clear starting pitcher one on this slate as best I can tell. Chris Bassitt FD - P 8300 DK - SP 9600 Opponent - SF (Madison Bumgarner) Park - OAK FD - 32.96 DK - 17.45 A familiar name in our pitcher two discussions this season, Bassitt has established himself as a reasonably priced mid-tier starter that's playable in certain match-ups. His 8.42 K/9 is nothing to write home about, but it's plenty at these prices in a good match-up. The Giants certainly qualify there. In 2019 they've mustered the fifth worse wOBA against right handed pitching in the majors, while striking out a league average rate. Bassitt has a 3.81 FIP at home this year, and getting a plus spot against the G-men makes this a high floor (if not super high ceiling) pitcher two play on DraftKings. Catcher/First Base Yasmani Grandal FD - C 3100 DK - C 4100 Opponent - ARI (Zac Gallen) Park - MIL FD - 11.34 DK - 8.46 Catcher is always a little bit weird, in that you're often picking between a small handful of legitimately good hitters and a bunch of bums. Today, I submit that you should play one of the decent hitters. Grandal is second the majors in catcher WAR (behind JT Realmuto), and his excellent approach (15.7% BB rate) has made him a popular high floor cash game play all season long. It's not a dream spot against Zac Gallen, who was a top 100 prospect with excellent stuff going into this season. Gallen's double digit K/9 is...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 8/17/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Jacob deGrom FD - P 11500 DK - SP 11600 Opponent - KC (Jake Junis) Park - KC FD - 39.96 DK - 22.68 It was pretty close between deGrom and Ryu for me today, but I'm giving deGrom the edge for a couple of reasons. For real life purposes, the tale of the tape between deGrom and Ryu is pretty close. They are separated by .01 in xFIP. Ryu has the best ERA among qualified starters, deGrom is ranked 5th. deGrom has pitched six more innings this season, but he also has two more starts. They're both ace's aces, and you'd be thrilled to have either on your favorite team. For fantasy purposes, deGrom's skillset and match-up just have to get the nod here. He's striking out almost four more batters per nine innings this season, and that's just downright hard to ignore in DFS. He's also got by far the better match-up, with the Royals landing as the fifth worst team against RHP this season (and the Braves being 8th best against LHP, by comparison). deGrom is also the bigger moneyline favorite at -190. I love Ryu, but deGrom has to be the best ace for your cash games today. Eduardo Rodriguez FD - P 8400 DK - SP 9000 Opponent - BAL (Asher Wojciechowski) Park - BOS FD - 35.5 DK - 18.88 After Ryu and deGrom things start to get bleak pretty quickly, with games in Arlington, Coors, and Arizona, and then a host of simply awful pitchers. And E-Rod! He's the clear pitcher two option against the orioles, to me. Not only are the O's a bottom 5 team in terms of wOBA against lefties this year, they also lead the entire Major Leagues with a 26.3% K rate against them. As for Rodriguez, he hasn't been the breakout star many people assumed he'd be after topping 10 K/9 last year, but he's still striking out a batter per inning with a respectable walk-rate. Throw that profile against the best match-up for left handed pitchers andit's tough to ask for a whole lot more in the pitcher two slot. Also considered: Zach Eflin in his return from the bullpen - he's very cheap on both sites. Catcher/First Base Yasmani Grandal FD - C 3300 DK - C 3700 Opponent - WSH (Anibal Sanchez) Park - WSH FD - 10.33 DK - 7.71 You know the routine by now....

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 8/10/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Patrick Corbin FD - P 9800 DK - SP 11200 Opponent - NYM (Noah Syndergaard) Park - NYM FD - 37.35 DK - 20.49 Two of the best pitchers on the main slate are unfortunately facing one another tonight, and while Vegas sees this as essentially a pick 'em, our projection system seems to prefer Corbin. It's not too difficult a case to make, as the left handed Corbin strikes out far more batters en route to an xFIP .3 better than Syndergaard's number. In spite of the Mets' recent hot streak, it's still not a terrible match-up. Many of the Mets' best hitters (Cano, Conforto, McNeil) are left handed, and getting them on the worse side of their platoon is meaningful here. Jake Odorizzi FD - P 8000 DK - SP 8800 Opponent - CLE (Adam Plutko) Park - MIN FD - 29.04 DK - 15.45 We're getting some great prices on Odorizzi here, who's become something of a darling for our projection system in the last few months. For starters, he's very obviously affordable, which is often all we really need to run him out there in the pitcher two slot. He also possesses some strong skills for fantasy purposes - he's striking out more batters than ever while walking fewer than ever, and posting a solid 3.61 ERA. xFIP would have you believe he's quite a bit worse than this thanks to his perennial battle to be the league's most fly-ball heavy pitcher, but what it means for our purposes is that he's a high ceiling option with potential blowup risk. The Twins are modest -158 favorites against the Indians here, who present almost exactly a league average match-up for Odorizzi. I think he's a strong option on DraftKings, if too risk to mess with on FanDuel. Also considered: There is no line on this game at the moment, but Charlie Morton is in a great spot against the Mariners, who own the league's 5th highest K rate against right handed pitching. Depending on who starts for Seattle and where this line lands he could very well wind up being the best big money play on the slate. Also considered: Aaron Sanchez, if you believe that the Astros may have salvaged his career. Again, too expensive on FanDuel, but an interesting pitcher two option on DraftKings. Catcher/First Base Yasmani Grandal FD - C 3400 DK - C 4100 Opponent -...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday 7/28/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Matthew Boyd FD - P 9700 DK - SP 11400 Opponent - SEA (Tommy Milone) Park - SEA FD - 37.29 DK - 20.81 I was skeptical of Boyd's hot start to the season, but after 21 starts with a 12 K/9 I probably have to concede that he's fundamentally better than he has been in the past at this point. A hat-tip to FanGraphs, which wrote this article in April that detailed the work Boyd did in the off-season add velocity to his slider. All that work has paid off, and Boyd is now the owner of the 11th highest xFIP in all of baseball among qualified starters. Today he'll get an interesting match-up with the Mariners, who make for a pretty polarizing match-up for opposing left handers. The Seamen have posted the 11th highest wOBA against lefties this year, but have also struck out at the 5th highest rate in the league. Given Boyd's newfound strikeout prowess and the lack of other ace level options in good match-ups, I think he's the first guy on my list for cash games today. Robbie Ray FD - P 10200 DK - SP 10800 Opponent - MIA (Elieser Hernandez) Park - MIA FD - 37.92 DK - 20.56 If you're looking at our top two pitchers at a similar price point, it's hard to make the case for Robbie Ray. He strikes out slightly fewer batters than Boyd (though he does have a better track record of maintaining absurd K rates), walks more than twice as many, and hasn't gone as deep into games this year. The case for him essentially comes down to the match-up, where the Marlins are .001 OPS points away from being dead last in the Majors against opposing lefties. They don't strike out a ton, though, so I think I'll just take Boyd here regardless. Still, it might be a day where we can roster both on DK, and I'd be open to doing so. Also considered: Chris Sale, but the risk is obvious given that he's facing the Yankees. Catcher/First Base Yasmani Grandal FD - C 3300 DK - C 4400 Opponent - CHC (Jose Quintana) Park - MIL FD - 12.18 DK - 9.09 J.T. Realmuto FD - C 3100 DK - C 3900 Opponent - ATL (Kevin Gausman) Park - PHI FD - 11.3 DK - 8.67 Well, it seems like these two are basically the...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 7/22/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Gerrit Cole FD - P 11700 DK - SP 12500 Opponent - OAK (Homer Bailey) Park - HOU FD - 44.13 DK - 24.96 It's getting harder and harder to find meaningful DFS statistics where Cole doesn't reign supreme. He leads the Majors with a 2.58 xFIP and a 13.47 K/9. He's fifth in the Majors in innings pitched. The Astros have the third best record in baseball, which means he's a heavy favorite on most nights he goes out there. The only thing stopping him from being a cash game lock on any given night is a bad match-up, and while the A's are a good team, they've only been league average against opposing right handed pitching this season. I love Cole in all formats thanks to his terrific consistency and absurd upside. Robbie Ray FD - P 9600 DK - SP 11400 Opponent - BAL (Aaron Brooks) Park - ARI FD - 37.13 DK - 20.25 Pitcher two gets a little dicier from where I'm sitting, but I'll be the first to say it looks like Robbie Ray really can maintain this bizarre pitcher profile. He's dropped under 12 K/9 this season but he's also shaved his BB/9 down to 4.38. It won't inspire anyone of vintage Greg Maddux, but it's very meaningful for a guy who has struggled to keep that number below five in the past. Fewer walks and strikeouts also means Ray is going deeper into games. Last season he pitched just 6 more innings than he has this year in spite of pitching three more starts. The Orioles are also just a great match-up here, pairing a bottom 5 wOBA with a top 5 K rate against left handed pitching. It's always tough to call Ray a safe cash game play, but he's one of the few guys that can battle Cole for upside on any given day. Also considered: Mike Clevinger. Catcher/First Base Yasmani Grandal FD - C 3200 DK - C 4100 Opponent - CIN (Sonny Gray) Park - MIL FD - 11.75 DK - 8.77 Baseball's best fantasy catcher! Grandal leads all catchers in home runs with 19, and leads all qualified catchers with an .870 OPS. At a truly terrible position, you can't really ask for a a whole lot more. The fly in the ointment here is the match-up. Sonny Gray is a legitimately good pitcher at this point, adding to his...