DFSR's Daily Fantasy MLB Podcast for FanDuel and DraftKings Friday 4/26/19 Listen to "Max Scherzer, James Paxton and Friday's Best DFS plays for FanDuel and DraftKings - 4/26/19" on Spreaker. DFSR’s Doug Norrie and James Davis are back on the MLB podcast discussing FanDuel and DraftKings DFS plays for Friday in baseball. They talk about Max Scherzer’s dominance and how he’s criminally underpriced on DraftKings. They also look at James Paxton’s peripherals, Carlos Rodon and whether his numbers are sustainable and whether to be worried about Hyun-Jin Ryu’s pitch count. For stacks, they wax on Shelby Miller’s ineptitude, the Twins against Alex Cobb and a few more. It’s all there on a full MLB podcast for FanDuel and DraftKings. Be sure to subscribe through iTunes or Stitcher...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 4/26/19 Friday's MLB action brings us a bunch of aces, some surprisingly efficient arms and some cash stacks we can sink our teeth into. Let's take an early look at FanDuel and DraftKings cash plays. 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! PitchersMax Scherzer FD - P 12300 DK - SP 10400 Opponent - SD (Matt Strahm) Park - WSHFD - 46.44 DK - 26.54Scherzer is the highest-priced pitcher on the board and rightfully so, What makes him such an attractive option here is this matchup, with San Diego putting out a lineup full of righties. That can't be overlooked when considering Scherzer, as he owns a 36 percent K-rate against righties throughout his career. It's not like these are tough righties either, with San Diego ranking 25th in xwOBA. That's why the Nationals enter this game as a -200 favorite with the Padres projected to score only three runs. Scherzer's numbers are simply ridiculous too, with Scherzer owning a 2.25 career FIP and a WHIP below 1.00 in three straight seasons.James Paxton FD - P 11000 DK - SP 9600 Opponent - SF (Madison Bumgarner) Park - SFFD - 38.21 DK - 20.9Paxton is my personal favorite play of the day and his recent form his hard to overlook. Not only has he gone two starts without allowing a run, Paxton has actually only allowed five baserunners in that span, striking out 24 batters across 14 innings. That's obviously ridiculous and it should only continue in this superb matchup. Facing an NL lineup with a pitcher is beneficial enough, but he's actually facing a Giants team who ranks bottom-three in runs scored, batting average, OPS and xwOBA. To put it simply, this is one of the worst lineups in baseball facing arguably the hottest pitcher in the league. Carlos Rodon FD - P 9400 DK - SP 8100 Opponent - DET (Daniel Norris) Park - CHWFD - 35.88 DK - 18.49Rodon was a personal breakout of mine at the beginning of the season and recent results are really encouraging. What I really like about Rodon this season is his improved control, with Rodon owning a 33:12 K:BB rate. That's a huge improvement from a guy who walked everybody last season and that's what's going to lead to a full-on breakout if he continues this. That alone is attractive but his 2.89 ERA and 1.11 WHIP backs up that control. The matchup may be the best part of this play though, with Detroit ranked 27th...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 4/25/19 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 11100 DK - SP 10200 Opponent - CLE (Trevor Bauer) Park - HOU FD - 36 DK - 19.81 The game of the night takes us to Houston where we have a pitchers duel between Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole. For fantasy purposes, I am easily leaning Cole as my top pitcher on this small slate despite getting blown up in his last start. Before that start, he had been solid holding opponents to three or fewer runs in all four starts while striking out 36.7% of batters. Since joining the Astros before the start of last season, he has firmly placed himself in the elite class posting a 3.17 ERA, 2.99 xFIP, 1.05 WHIP, and 35% K rate. The other reason I am leaning Cole here is the Astros lineup is much scarier than the Indians at the moment. Yes, they got Lindor back but over the last seven days they are still striking out just over 27% of the time and overall sit bottom 10 in the league in almost every offensive category. Marco Gonzales FD - P 8400 DK - SP 8400 Opponent - TEX (Adrian Sampson) Park - SEA FD - 32.65 DK - 16.83 For value, I will be turning to Marco Gonzalez tonight as he gets a favorable home matchup against the Texas Rangers. They do sit Top 10 in runs scored early in the season but have all the splits going against them today. First of all, they have been much better at home, especially the power department(.238 ISO at home, .132 ISO on the road). They have also been much worse against left-handed pitching with a .303 wOBA, 80 wRC+, and 25% K rate. For Gonzalez, he isn't going to provide much K upside but he has been averaging over six innings per start and has been very consistent holding opponents to three or fewer earned runs in every one of those starts. He makes an excellent SP2 on DraftKings and is also in play in all formats on FanDuel. Also Consider: Aaron Nola(PHI) or Caleb Smith(MIA) in GPP formats Catcher/First Base Daniel Vogelbach FD - 1B 4000 DK - 1B 5100 Opponent - TEX (Adrian Sampson) Park - SEA FD - 10.12 DK - 7.58 The Mariners went into Wednesday ranked #1 in runs scored(163), 25 more than any other team and they also lead the league with a...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 4/24/19 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 Early Blake Snell FD - P 12000 DK - SP 10400 Opponent - KC (Jake Junis) Park - TB FD - 35.06 DK - 19.26 Snell is back ahead of schedule after breaking his toe and with the nature of the injury, I am not at all worried about the ace pitcher. After getting blasted on Opening Day by the Astros, he has been back on CY Young form allowing just one earned run over his last three starts with 33 strikeouts(50.8%!!!). After winning a CY Young, it is tough to find an area to improve but Snell has done it walking just 4.5% of batters through four starts and if that continues, he is going to be in the running once again. The matchup also stands out as the Royals have really struggled against lefties early in the year ranking 28th in both wOBA(.263) and wRC+(60) while striking out 26% of the time. Build around Snell in all formats today. Also Consider: Chris Paddack(SD) Main Jordan Lyles FD - P 8000 DK - SP 7400 Opponent - ARI (Merrill Kelly) Park - PIT FD - 30.88 DK - 15.44 This is a case of trusting the much larger sample size(career 5.18 ERA, 4.27 xFIP, 16.4% K rate) or the hot start to the 2019 season. Lyles has been a pleasant surprise for the Pirates this season allowing just one earned run(.53 ERA) in three starts(17 IP) while striking out 18 at a 29% K rate. There is definitely regression coming as he sits with a 3.77 xFIP but that in itself is still very solid. The biggest difference for Lyles has been the curveball and changeup which he has started to use more since the start of last season. While his overall swinging strike rate is just 9.3%(league average) he is producing a 15.6% and 17.7% swinging strike rate on the curve and change. While the Diamondbacks sit Top 10 in runs scored this season they have been better against lefties and are just league average against righties while striking out just over 24% of the time in the split. From a PTS/$ perspective, Lyles is at the top of my list today. Also Consider: Justin Verlander(HOU) Catcher/First Base Early Justin Smoak FD - 1B 4200 DK - 1B 4700 Opponent - SF (Drew Pomeranz) Park - TOR FD - 11.69 DK - 8.75 The price has taken a big jump on...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Tuesday 4/23/19 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 Frankie Montas FD - P 8400 DK - SP 7600 Opponent - TEX (Lance Lynn) Park - OAK FD - 32.5 DK - 15.94 Montas has been one of the early-season breakouts and it's hard to overlook his stellar form. Over his first four starts, Montas owns a 2.70 ERA and 0.94 WHIP while striking out 20 batters across 23.1 innings. What makes that all the more impressive is the fact that two of those starts came against the Houston Astros. In addition, Montas owns a .272 wOBA allowed this season while holding hitters below the Mendoza Line in terms of batting average. While facing Texas isn't necessarily a great matchup, pitching in Oakland is quite the treat. In fact, Oakland Coliseum has surrendered the fewest runs in the majors this season, That's why we have the Rangers projected to score fewer than four runs, with Montas entering this game as a -150 favorite.    Spencer Turnbull FD 7000 DK 7200 Opponent - BOS (Hector Velazquez) Park - BOS FD - 36.46 DK - 19.23 It's never fun thinking about running out road underdog into the Red Sox lineup as a possible cash game play. But that's something of the nature of the Tuesday slate of pitching. It's pretty damn grizzly out there. Turnbull's had a nice start to the season with a 27% strikeout rate and 3.86 xFIP through his first 21 innings. The k's are bound to come down some (propped up by a 10K performance against the Royals), but I do think the innings tick up some over the course of the season. Again, on a *normal* day for pitching I don't think we'd be considering Turnbull here but our options appear quite limited. I suppose you can consider Jonathan Loaisiga (FD $5900 DK $6900) against the Angels. He does have big time strikeout stuff, but also has control issues and gives up a lot of free passes. Catcher/First Base Francisco Cervelli FD - C 2300 DK - C 3100 Opponent - ARI (Luke Weaver) Park - PIT FD - 8.83 DK - 6.73 Cervelli is our one catcher for the day and his price is the reason we really like him. In fact, Cervelli sat around $3,000 on FanDuel for the majority of last season and around $4,000 on DraftKings. His early-season slump is why his price is so low but there are reasons to be encouraged. Batting...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 4/22/19 Monday's MLB slate brings us plenty of question marks when it comes to pitching. Can Chris Sale start to turn things around after a horrific start to the season? Is Brad Peacock going to go far enough into the game? Who else can we even consider at starting pitcher? There's plenty to answer plus some interesting stacks for a Monday in baseball action. 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 Chris Sale FD - P 8400 DK - SP 8600 Opponent - DET (Matthew Boyd) Park - BOSFD - 42.14 DK - 24.32 If you told me about two months ago that we’d have a chance to play Sale at sub $9K on FanDuel against the woeful Tigers then I’d have been convinced the sites had just messed up their pricing algorithm and we were looking at a near-universal play. But Sale’s struggled out of the gate early this season, striking out batters at only a 17% clip (less than half of what he’s done of the last two seasons) thanks in some part (or in whole part) to a reduction in velocity on his fastball. That being said, the velocity ticked up a little last game even if the results didn’t. On this shorter slate, I feel like we need to plug our nose and roll Sale in cash games as a -215 home favorite. If there were other ace arms going here with heavy win odds, I don’t think I’d take the risk. Brad Peacock FD - P 8100 DK - SP 8200 Opponent - MIN (Jake Odorizzi) Park - HOUFD - 33.35 DK - 18.08 Peacock will take the start for the Astros on Monday after making his last two appearances out of the bullpen. He’s had two previous starts this season with mixed results. One was a 6 2/3 inning, five strikeout, one earned run game against the Rangers in Texas. Then he was roughed up for five runs in an as many innings against the A’s. The truth is probably somewhere in between. Pitching is kind of a mess on this Monday slate which is about the only reason we are considering Peacock in cash games. He comes in as the second-highest money line favorite at -180 and even if the innings projection is a little lower than a *normal* starter, he does have K upside when things are clicking. Strongly consider Joe Musgrove (FD $9000 DK $8100) against the Diamondbacks. He's not as good...