DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 4/21/19 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 James Paxton FD - P 9600 DK - SP 9400 Opponent - KC (Jorge Lopez) Park - NYY FD - 40.35 DK - 22.3 Paxton is the biggest projected favorite on this slate and it's easy to see why. After struggling the first three games, Paxton threw an absolute gem against the Boston Red Sox in his most recent outing. Paxton pitched eight-shutout innings, allowing just three baserunners while striking out 12 batters. That's the Paxton that we've become accustomed to, as he's posted a 2.90 FIP and 30.3 percent K-rate in his last two years with the Mariners. Facing Kansas City is a treat too, as they currently rank 25th in wOBA.  Joey Lucchesi FD - P 8300 DK - SP 9400 Opponent - CIN (Tyler Mahle) Park - SD FD - 31.25 DK - 16.52 Luchessi's 5.06 ERA is far from pretty but his underlying statistics tell a different story. In fact, Luchessi owns a 3.30 FIP this season and 26 percent career K-rate. Those are the numbers of an elite pitcher and he should have success in a pitcher's park like Petco. What really makes him an intriguing option here is his matchup, as he faces a Reds team who ranks dead-last in both OBP and batting average. That's why Cincinnati's projected run total is barely above three and Luchessi should have no problem shutting down one of the weakest lineups in baseball in such a friendly park.  Stephen Strasburg FD - P 10500 DK - SP 10700 Opponent - MIA (Trevor Richards) Park - MIA FD - 39.26 DK - 21.36 Strasburg has traditionally struggled against the Marlins but it's a tough matchup to fade. In fact, the Marlins currently rank last in both wOBA and xwOBA so far this season. That's really no surprise when you consider the fact that Starlin Castro is probably their best hitter. Pitching in Miami is fantastic too, as that currently ranks as the best pitching park in the majors based on park factors. In addition, Strasburg's has some special peripherals, owning a 2.92 xFIP and a 29 percent K-rate for his career.  Catcher/First Base Wellington Castillo FD - C 2600 DK - C 3400 Opponent - DET (Daniel Norris) Park - DET FD - 9.77 DK - 7.5 Picking catchers is like pulling teeth but Castillo has some serious home run upside in this matchup. Over the last five years, Castillo has...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 4/20/19 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 Masahiro Tanaka FD - P 9100 DK - SP 9200 Opponent - KC (Heath Fillmyer) Park - NYYFD - 37.62 DK - 20.43 I can't say I'm typically excited to run Tanaka in DFS, but every time I go and look at his stats I'm reminded that he's pretty solid if not super exciting. This year he's basically doing what he did last year. The 2.01 BB/9 is elite, the 8.46 K/9 is serviceable, and the slight down-tick in strikeouts has been more than made up for by the increased ground-ball rate. Generating more ground-balls in Yankee Stadium tends to be a winning strategy, especially on days where the ball is flying out to right field. You're not getting Tanaka in an elite match-up here. The Royals are a bottom 10 team in terms of striking out against righties, and are a middle of the pack team in terms of wOBA. If you don't play him, though, you're very quickly going to land in frog-kissing territory, choosing between has-beens like Greinke, Santana or Darvish, never-will-bes like Fillmyer or Daniel Norris, and whatever Miles Mikolas is. Me? I'd like to prioritize Tanaka, I think. For DraftKings, I don't mind Daniel Norris in the pitcher two slot. He's young, actually has some pedigree, and he'll be up against the free swinging White Sox. You also have to think a win is more likely than usual given that he's going up against one of the very worst pitchers in the majors in Ervin Santana. Team Cash Stacks     New York Yankees Park - NYYOpposing Pitcher - KC (Heath Fillmyer)Vegas Implied Run Total - 5.17Hey, we're back at it again with another Yankees stack. It's funny, the Yankees haven't quite been the prolific offense that many predicted at the beginning of the season. They've gotten next to nothing from Stanton, Andujar, and Aaron Hicks, and have relied upon plucky contributions from guys like Luke Voit and Greg Bird to plug the gaps in the meantime. And you know what? They've still been pretty serviceable. It seems like we've recommended them a ton this season largely on the basis of the pitchers they've gone up against, and in that area Heath Fillmyer is a welcome sight. Fillmyer was never much of a prospect to begin with, and last year's 4.60 xFIP in his major league debut didn't change matters for the better. He's picked up right where...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 4/19/19 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! We have a fascinating full slate ahead of us. There is an Arizona-Chicago game that we're going to eliminate, as that happens to be the one day game with Wrigley Field years behind the rest of the league. But with nearly a full schedule ahead of us, let's take a quick look at the weather. The games we need to keep an eye on are the SF-PIT, NYM-STL, MIN-BAL, KAN-NYY, CWS-DET and ATL-CLE games. That's a ton of rain in the forecast and it'll be critical to know what the weather looks like in these matchups prior to first pitch. Baltimore is definitely the most concerning when looking at early forecasts and it's a wonder if they'll even play. With that ugliness behind us, let's get into some of our favorite pitchers.  Pitchers Justin Verlander FD 10800 DK 10400 Opponent - TEX (Drew Smyly) Park - TEX FD - 38.94 DK - 21.87 Using pitcher's in Texas is always dangerous but Verlander is hard to fade on any slate. The statistics speak for themselves, with Verlander posting a 3.20 xFIP, 1.04 WHIP and 31.3 percent K-rate this season. Those are the standards we've become accustomed to with Verlander and he's clearly in mid-season form. Despite this being arguably the toughest ballpark in the majors, Verlander has had success against the Rangers throughout his career. In fact, Verlander owns a 2.98 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 26 starts against Texas, striking out 170 batters across 160 innings. Not to mention, Verlander enters this matchup as a monstrous -210 favorite.  Jose Berrios FD 10400 DK 10800 Opponent - BAL (Alex Cobb) Park - BAL FD - 37.28 DK - 19.98 While the weather is concerning in this game, it's hard to overlook Berrios' upside if we get the green light to play. What we really like here is his strikeout upside, with Berrios owning a 27.5 percent K-rate this season. It's not just the strikeout rate that makes Berrios intriguing, as he's posted a 2.30 ERA and 0.73 WHIP in four starts this season. That becomes particularly beneficial in a matchup like this, with Baltimore ranking near the bottom of the league in nearly every offensive statistic. In fact, the Orioles sit 23rd in OBP, 22nd in OPS and 27th in xwOBA. Much like Verlander, Berrios enters this matchup as a huge favorite too, with Minnesota being projected as a -210 favorite in this tasty matchup. ...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 4/18/19 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! Early Pitchers Patrick Corbin FD 10800 DK 10300 Opponent - SF (Drew Pomeranz) Park - WSHFD - 37.87 DK - 20.41 It has been a terrific start to the season for Corbin who is quickly proving last year's breakout(3.15 ERA, 2.61 xFIP, 31% K rate) was not a flash in the pan. Through three starts, he has allowed just six earned runs(2.84 ERA, 3.31 xFIP) while posting an elite K/BB ratio of 6 to 1. He now gets an elite home matchup against a Giants team that ranks near the bottom in almost every offensive category including a team K rate of 25.1%. Fire up Corbin in all formats on this early slate. Michael Pineda FD 8900 DK 8200 Opponent - TOR (Clay Buchholz) Park - MINFD - 34.35 DK - 18.18 For value, I will be turning to Michael Pineda who has not been great to start his tenure with the Twins but he hasn't been bad either. He has allowed just five earned runs over 15 innings(3.00 ERA, 3.53 xFIP) while striking out 15 and walking just two. What stands out more than anything with Pineda is the matchup as he gets to face a rebuilding Jays team that also sits near the bottom of the league in hitting while leading the league with an ugly 28% K rate. Pineda is my top SP2 option on DraftKings and in play in all formats on FanDuel as well. Team Cash Stacks Atlanta Braves Park - ATLOpposing Pitcher - ARI (Luke Weaver)Vegas Implied Run Total - 4.08 The Braves are built around their offense and it while they rank outside the Top 10 in runs scored(88) at the moment, they sit with a Top 10 ISO(.198) and sit 17% better than league average when looking at wRC+. While the matchup doesn't jump off the page, consider Luke Weaver has given up nine earned runs in 15.2 innings(5.17 ERA) while giving up a monster 49% hard contact rate(batted balls with 95+ mph exit velocity). Potential Players to Stack Ozzie Albies FD 3900 DK 4500 Opponent - ARI (Luke Weaver) Park - ATLFD - 10.47 DK - 8.1Freddie Freeman FD 4400 DK 5000 Opponent - ARI (Luke Weaver) Park - ATLFD - 11.28 DK - 8.55 Ozzie Albies has spent four straight and seven of his last nine games in the leadoff spot and as long as he remains there, he makes a terrific play in...

DFSR's Daily Fantasy MLB Podcast for FanDuel and DraftKings Wednesday 4/17/19 Listen to "MLB Podcast 4 17" on Spreaker. DFSR's James Davis and Doug Norrie take to the baseball podcast to break down a full day of Wednesday MLB action. FanDuel and DraftKings didn't align their slates so the guys try to wade through the options having to do with both sites. A theme of today's podcast is talking about pitchers who we maybe should have concerns about. They spend extended time talking about Walker Buehler and Carlos Carrasco, both of whom have struggled to start the season. They also look at Cole Hamels, Kevin Gausman and some other arms. For stacks, they highlight the Angels/Texas game with the highest run line. Be sure to subscribe through iTunes or Stitcher...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 4/17/19 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! Early Pitchers Walker Buehler FD 9300 DK 9300 Opponent - CIN (Sonny Gray) Park - LAD FD - 35.28 DK - 19.25 The pitching on this early slate is nothing to write home about making it easy to roll with the most talented pitcher in the best situation. The Dodgers are the biggest favorites(-185) on the slate facing a Reds team that went into Tuesday having scored just 55 runs with a 75 wRC+, both ranking 25th overall. They have also struck out just over 25% of the time overall and have been much worse against right-handed pitching. It has been a rough start for Buehler who has given up five earned runs twice in three starts but he did look good in his other start where he held the Rockies to one run in Coors. It comes down to getting ahead in the count with his 96 mph fastball and letting the slider do the rest to rack up the K's. More good news as he has only given up one home run and is giving up just an average of 86 mph exit velocity on batted balls which has resulted in a low 28% hard contact rate. All things considered, he is my top pitcher in all formats on the early slate. Also Consider: Jake Arrieta(PHI) Listen to "MLB Podcast 4 17" on Spreaker. Team Cash Stacks Kansas City Royals Park - CHW Opposing Pitcher - CHW (Lucas Giolito) Vegas Implied Run Total - 4.32 Looking at the implied runs, it is very close between multiple teams on the early slate but the Royals get the edge as my top team for cash games. They sit at the bottom of the AL Central division but the good news is that the offensive production has out-performed the record. They also get one of the best matchups on the entire day facing Lucas Giolito who has already given up 11 earned runs in just 16 innings(three starts). While his xFIP is much lower than the ERA, I am still not buying into his positive regression as he is giving up an average exit velocity of 91.7 mph(330th out of 387 pitchers) and a 42% hard contact rate(% of batted balls with a 95+ mph exit velo). Potential Players to Stack Whit Merrifield FD 4200 DK 4900 Opponent - CHW (Lucas Giolito) Park - CHW FD - 10.83 DK - 8.48 Hunter Dozier FD 4300...