DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday, 6/1/22 How crazy is it that we're in June already? The COVID months felt like they were at a snail's pace, but we're back to time flying by. We're already 30 percent though this MLB season, and we're finally getting a good read on these lineups and rotations. The injuries have been a disaster over the last week, but that does open up some more value. One of the biggest surprises this year has been the resurgence of a Hall-of-Fame pitcher, so, let's start there! Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA, PGA, NHL, and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Justin Verlander FD - P 10900 DK - SP 10000 Opponent - OAK (Cole Irvin) Park - OAK FD - 41.1 DK - 22.86 It's crazy that JV took nearly two years off and has come back better than he was before. This was already one of the best pitchers over the last 10 years, and he's recaptured that form with a 2.03 ERA and 0.83 WHIP. He's still got those numbers despite getting blown up in his last start, and that certainly won't be the case here. Verlander gets to face Oakland, who ranks dead-last in OBP and wOBA. That's no surprise since they play in one of the most spacious ballparks in baseball. In 14 starts at Oakland Coliseum, JV has a 2.64 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 9.0 K/9 rate. That has him entering this matchup as a -230 favorite in a game with a 7-run total. Garrett Whitlock FD - P 7000 DK - SP 7000 Opponent - CIN (Hunter Greene) Park - BOS FD - 33.7 DK - 17.95 It's wild that Whitlock is just $7K on both sites. The right-hander has struggled in his last two starts, but he had a 2.43 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and 11.2 K/9 rate before that. He was doing that damage as a limited starter, but the righty threw 84 pitches and six innings in his most recent start. That means he's pretty much ready for a full workload, and he'd be one of the best starters around if he can keep that going. The best part of this is the matchup, though, with Cincinnati ranked 23rd in OBP, 25th in OPS, and 27th in xwOBA. All of that has him entering this matchup as a -200 favorite. A quality start and a win would be massive from a $7K player, and he has a much higher upside than that with his strikeout potential. I don't...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Tuesday 5/31/22 - Main Slate Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA, PGA, NHL, and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Kevin Gausman FD 10200 DK 9700 Opponent - CHW (Lucas Giolito) Park - CHWFD - 43.35 DK - 23.5 Gausman has now put together a four-year stretch of ace-level pitching and this season might be his best yet. He’s got his K% right around 30% and he’s walking only 2.3% of batters-faced. That’s just ridiculous and it’s why he’s easily the league-lead in WAR among pitchers so far on the year. He’s a -183 home favorite against the White Sox who rank third-to-last in the league in team offense, though they don’t strike out that often. No bother, Gausman is easily the top cash game arm on the slate. Blake Snell FD 7000 DK 8100 Opponent - STL (Adam Wainwright) Park - STLFD - 32.42 DK - 17.73 Snell is making a comeback after an early-season injury and comes into this game as a slight underdog to the Cardinals. This is a guy who’s struck out around 11.5 batters per nine over the last couple of seasons and if he can keep the walks in check he’s an elite arm in the game. This play is more about his price on DraftKings where he’s coming pretty cheap all things considered and we are going to almost definitely want to spend up on some bats for this slate. There is a risk, for sure, but I do think it’s warranted in this case. Catcher/First Base Keston Hiura FD 2600 DK 3100 Opponent - CHC (Justin Steele) Park - CHCFD - 10.51 DK - 7.94 It looks like the wind is blowing out again in Wrigley on Tuesday, and we’ve got another higher run line game headed our way. It worked out well in one of these tilts on Monday and not so much in the other. Regardless, we press on. Hiura should be hitting fifth against the lefty Justin Steele and this makes for an interesting matchup. On the one hand, Hiura is striking out a crazy 41% of the time this season and Steele does has some swing-and-miss stuff. But the former also has an OPS in the 800s and there’s some power. He’s coming cheap and the wind is blowing out. We’ll take it. Matt Olson FD 3400 DK 4700 Opponent - ARI (Humberto Castellanos) Park - ARIFD - 12.74 DK - 9.48 The Braves haven’t quite gotten what they thought they were paying for with...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 5/30/22(Main Slate) Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA, PGA, NHL, and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Walker Buehler FD - P 10300 DK - SP 9200 Opponent - PIT (Zach Thompson) Park - LAD FD - 46.39 DK - 24.85 The pitching on either slate was suspect today with a lack of top options and the ones we do get are either struggling or in a tough matchup. On the main slate, Buehler easily checks the most boxes but I can't say as I am overly excited about the price tag. While he has been consistent to start the year holding opponents to two or fewer earned runs in seven of nine starts(2.91), he has a sub 20% K rate. Tonight, I am willing to overlook that lack of upside given the matchup against the Pirates who are bottom three in almost every statistical category. Fire up Buehler in all formats. Drew Rasmussen FD - P 8900 DK - SP 10100 Opponent - TEX (Glenn Otto) Park - TEX FD - 31.84 DK - 17.48 It's a very similar story for Rasmussen tonight and while I am not a fan of the price tag on DraftKings, he comes at an excellent value on FanDuel tonight. He was fully converted into a starter ahead of the 2022 season and has flourished with a 2.68 ERA/3.11 xFIP, has won five of his last six starts, and struck out 14 over his last two. The only issue I have here is the matchup as the Rangers come in red-hot with a 126+ wRC+/.189 ISO over the last two weeks but on the positive side, they have struck out at a 25% rate in that time and have been worse against righties. Fire up Rasmussen in all formats. Catcher/First Base Pete Alonso FD 4100 DK 5300 Opponent - WSH (Erick Fedde) Park - WSH FD - 12.59 DK - 9.4 Freddie Freeman FD 4100 DK 5500 Opponent - PIT (Zach Thompson) Park - PIT FD - 12.51 DK - 9.43 Decisions, decisions, decisions. That is the case at first base tonight as even with a small slate, we have a ton of options whether wanting to pay up or pay down. Let's start at the top with Alonso who has been scorching hot over the last week and half with hits in eight of 11 games with six multi-hit efforts, and four home runs for an average of 13.2 DK/17.8 FD points per game. He gets a terrific matchup...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday, 5/29/22 How nice is it that we're back in summer weather? Not worrying about the weather on every slate is a treat for DFS, and it's undoubtedly screwed me a few times this year. The fewer variables you have to deal with, the easier this racket gets. We've got another Sunday slate to look forward to, with every team in action. All but four teams take the field between 1ET and 5ET, which leaves us with plenty of players to pick from. With that in mind, let's get started with the 2021 NL Cy Young! Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA, PGA, NHL, and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Corbin Burnes FD 10200 DK 10200 Opponent - STL (Miles Mikolas) Park - STLFD - 42 DK - 23.89 Not enough people talk about Burnes when discussing the best pitchers in baseball. This guy has been just that, totaling a 2.31 ERA and 0.94 WHIP since 2020. Amazingly, he's been even better this year, amassing a 2.18 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. That doesn't even consider that he's one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball, striking out 389 batters across those 284 innings. Some of you might be worried about this matchup with the Cardinals, but Burnes has buried them throughout his career. In fact, Corbin had a 1.64 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and 11.5 K/9 rate in his four matchups with the Cards last year. Triston McKenzie FD 9000 DK 7600 Opponent - DET (Elvin Rodriguez) Park - DETFD - 35.16 DK - 18.52 It's fantastic seeing someone so skinny dominate a professional sport. This string bean has been one of the best pitchers in the AL this season, pitching to a 2.45 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and 8.0 K/9 rate in his seven starts. That's no surprise with the way Cleveland churns out starters, and McKenzie has shown glimpses of this form in the past. He had a 3.62 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 9.6 K/9 rate over his final nine starts of last year and should be able to continue that against Detroit. The Motor City Kitties rank 29th in both OBP and OPS while sitting dead-last in runs scored. That was on full display when Triston surrendered just two total hits in his two matchups with the Tigers last year, completing 13 scoreless innings! Max Fried (FD $9200 DK $9200) is a quality start machine and should pick up an easy one against a terrible Marlins lineup as a -250 favorite. Catcher/First Base Matt Olson...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 5/28/22 - All Day Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA, PGA, NHL, and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Joe Musgrove FD - P 10800 DK - SP 9900 Opponent - PIT (JT Brubaker) Park - SDFD - 45.51 DK - 24.57 Musgrove is a -226 favorite going into the game on Saturday, the best money line odds on the day. That’s a good place to start with cash games seeing as how he’ll be facing off against one of the worst offenses in baseball. Musgrove isn’t K-ing guys at the same level he was at last year (of the year before) but he’s still going further into games and the lack of walks makes the innings upside all that much better. I like the DraftKings price better than FanDuel, but he’s in play on both sites. Gerrit Cole FD 10500 DK 10500 Opponent - TB (Corey Kluber) Park - TBFD - 39.93 DK - 22.46 He doesn’t have the same moneyline odds as Musgrove because the matchup against the Rays is much worse. But Cole is still one of the best pitchers on this slate and there aren’t a ton of high-quality arms going on Saturday. The Rays strike out around league average, but Cole is helped by the park here with Tampa really favoring pitchers and mitigating power to all sides. Cole is striking out around 11 batters per nine on the season and has been consistently keeping the walks to right around two per nine. He’s expensive but has been a safe arm with upside over many seasons now. Catcher/First Base Freddie Freeman FD - 1B 3800 DK - 1B 5800 Opponent - ARI (Merrill Kelly) Park - ARIFD - 15.02 DK - 11.32 The Dodgers are getting a typical Freddie Freeman performance this season in that he’s an elite bat and is almost impossible (from an MLB perspective) to get out. He’s got an OPS pushing .900 because he’s tough to K (12%) and walks just as much (12%). He’s been one of the best hitters in baseball over the last few seasons and that didn’t change with him coming to LA. He’s very expensive on DK, but that’s to be expected. José Abreu FD 3000 DK 4300 Opponent - CHC (Keegan Thompson) Park - CHCFD - 10.57 DK - 8 Abreu isn’t putting up the same power numbers as last season when he smacked 30 home runs on his way to an .832 OPS. Things are down a bit this time...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 5/27/22 - Main Slate Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA, PGA, NHL, and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Sean Manaea FD 9700 DK 10000 Opponent - PIT (José Quintana) Park - PITFD - 42.08 DK - 22.87 Manaea comes in with the best win odds of the day, facing off against the Pirates as a -200 road favorite. Though the 4.04 ERA might scare you, know that the xFIP is lower and this is a guy striking out more than 10 batters per nine and going more than six innings per outing. The Pirates rank 24th in team wOBA this season and are striking out 24.2% of the time, 8th-most in the league. This is a pretty easy play all things considered. Jon Gray FD 7100 DK 5500 Opponent - OAK (Cole Irvin) Park - OAKFD - 37.04 DK - 19.32 Gray’s DraftKings price is a total joke. He’s so cheap over there that I think he’ll easily be the chalkiest play on the slate for that slight. Gray’s 5.14 ERA is underwhelming, but the 3.72 xFIP is almost 1.5 runs lower. He’s striking out close to a batter an inning on the season and has run into some LOB% issues which look more like bad luck than anything else. Plus, he gets to face off against the Oakland A’s who, along with Detroit, occupy the basement in terms of team offense. They stink. Gray is in a tremendous spot here and will cost almost nothing. Shane Bieber (FD $8600 DK $9000) gets to face off against the aforementioned Tigers’ “offense” and could pile up K’s. Garrett Whitlock (FD $7000 DK $6800) is a heavy favorite over the Orioles. Catcher/First Base Will Smith FD 3400 DK 5300 Opponent - ARI (Madison Bumgarner) Park - ARIFD - 10.45 DK - 7.77 Smith should be hitting cleanup for the Dodgers on Friday when they face off against Madison Bumgarner and there’s a reason this squad has a 5.3 implied run line heading in. Bumgarner isn’t nearly as good as the 2.76 ERA would suggest, striking out fewer than six batters per nine and mostly getting lucky this year. Smith has been better for his career against righties, but the matchup is just too good here considering you can load up on bats with some of the pitching options coming on the cheaper side. Keibert Ruiz FD 3000 DK 4500 Opponent - COL (Austin Gomber) Park - COLFD - 10 DK - 7.67 Ruiz projects to hit second...