DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday, 9/1/21 Yo, how the hell is it September 1? After 2020 lasted about six centuries, we're absolutely flying through 2021. What that does mean is that we have just one month remaining in the season. This is where the playoff contenders beat up on the rebuilders, leading to some lopsided scorelines. It looks like we should have mostly close games here, though, so let's go ahead and get into it! 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 Carlos Rodón FD - P 10200 DK - SP 10100 Opponent - PIT (Mitch Keller) Park - CHW FD - 42.66 DK - 23.22 If you stumbled into Rodon in your season-long leagues, congratulations on a successful season. This guy has come out of nowhere to develop into one of the best pitchers in baseball, generating a 2.49 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. His upside has been amazing, too, scoring at least 46 FanDuel points in 11 starts this year. That's truly incredible, giving him the highest average of any player on this slate. We absolutely love all of that against a team like Pittsburgh, ranked dead-last in both runs scored and OPS. That has Rodon and the Sox entering this matchup as a -350 favorite as well. Steven Matz FD - P 8000 DK - SP 8300 Opponent - BAL (Matt Harvey) Park - TOR FD - 36.1 DK - 19.17 This one could back to bite us, but there's a lot in Matz's favor here. The biggest is the matchup, with Baltimore ranked 26th in OBP and 23rd in wOBA. More importantly, they lose pretty much every day inside this division, with Toronto entering this matchup as a -280 favorite. Anybody who's $8K and a -280 favorite needs to be at the top of the list, especially when they're rolling. Matz is doing just that, maintaining a 1.30 ERA and 1.12 WHIP over his last five starts. That's the stud we saw in New York, and we think he should be in line for another quality start and a win here. Kevin Gausman has been an NL Cy Young candidate all year and should succeed at home against a 22nd-ranked Brewers offense. Catcher/First Base Vladimir Guerrero Jr. FD - 1B 4400 DK - 1B 6100 Opponent - BAL (Matt Harvey) Park - TOR FD - 16.71 DK - 12.67 It's sad that Vlad isn't getting any more consideration for AL MVP, but it's hard to compete with an ace who will likely finish...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Tuesday 8/31/21 - 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 clickiang the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Lucas Giolito FD 10200 DK 8800 Opponent - PIT (Bryse Wilson) Park - PITFD - 41.46 DK - 22.44 Giolito is a big-time, -285 favorite against the lowly Pirates on Tuesday. He hasn’t been as good this season as the last two, but the identical 3.68 ERA and xFIP play well enough and he is still striking out more than 10 batters per nine. The Pirates rank dead last in team wOBA this season and strike out around 22% of the time. They are such a light-hitting bunch with barely any pop in the lineup, giving Giolito a very high floor in this matchup. Lance McCullers Jr. FD 9200 DK 10100 Opponent - SEA (Yusei Kikuchi) Park - SEAFD - 39.31 DK - 22 McCullers isn’t an overwhelming favorite in this game, ringing in at -157 on the road against the Mariners with an 8 over/under. The Mariners rank 27th in team wOBA this season, striking out well over a league-average rate at 26%. For McCullers, walks are still a slight issue with the 11% BB% the second-highest number of his career. But his 27.8% K% is his best mark in four seasons, giving him big time upside on that number in the game against Seattle. I like the FanDuel price better than the DraftKings one here and think the bit of savings will help you roster a bigger bat or two. Consider Brandon Woodruff (FD $10600 DK $9400) on DraftKings where he is a bit cheaper than McCullers and can dial up the Ks as well. The matchup against the Giants is much worse though. Catcher/First Base José Abreu FD 3900 DK 5000 Opponent - PIT (Bryse Wilson) Park - PITFD - 14.73 DK - 11.14 Yasmani Grandal FD 3200 DK 5300 Opponent - PIT (Bryse Wilson) Park - PITFD - 12.79 DK - 9.47 The White Sox are in one of the best spots on the slate facing off against the righty Bryse Wilson. The team implied run line is right around six runs and they are all coming moderately priced. Abreu has put up some power numbers this season with 27 home runs and an OPS sitting in the mid-800s. He should be able to make a lot of contact here considering Wilson has shown almost no swing-and-miss stuff at the major league level. Meanwhile, Grandal has dealt with some injury issues this season,...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 8/30/21 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 Robbie Ray FD 10900 DK 9700 Opponent - BAL (Chris Ellis) Park - BAL FD - 44.26 DK - 23.57 We have two of the top three in the NL CY Young odds are the top tonight but I will be building around Robby Ray as my top pitcher. He is having a career year as he enters the night with the 7th best ERA(2.72) in baseball and adds an elite 31% K rate. He has been even better in the second half going 6+ innings in seven of eight starts, allowed more than five hits just once, and has tallied an average of 7.8 K’s per start. He now gets a bottom-five offense in the O’s and at these prices gives us a terrific combination of a high floor and ceiling. Fire up Ray in all formats. German Márquez FD 9100 DK 8500 Opponent - TEX (A.J. Alexy) Park - TEX FD - 36.09 DK - 18.91 With Burnes and Wheeler just over $10K on Draftkings tonight the option is most definitely there to pay up for both pitchers which will keep you under the $20K threshold. For me, I will be looking for a little more savings and will be rolling with German Marquez, at least in cash games. He has been much better at home(weird right?) but I am not at all concerned about those home/road splits tonight in a plus matchup vs. the Rangers who have scored a league-worst 3.4 runs per game with a 70 wRC+ and .262 wOBA in the second half. Catcher/First Base Max Muncy FD 3700 DK 4800 Opponent - ATL (Drew Smyly) Park - ATL FD - 13.24 DK - 9.75 With this being a smaller slate with a lack of options at the position, I didn't expect a sub $5K price on DraftKings for Muncy but here we are. He has been a beast all season with a .392 wOBA and 150 wRC+, both of which are top 10 amongst all hitters in baseball. He now gets a plus matchup against an average-at-best Drew Smyly and has absolutely crushed lefties to the tune of a .401 wOBA and .262 ISO. Even on FanDuel, Muncy is easily my top play at the position in all formats tonight. Anthony Rizzo FD 3500 DK 3700 Opponent - LAA (Undecided) Park - LAA FD - 9.08 DK - 6.81 Luke Voit FD 3200 DK...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday, 8/29/21 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! This is one of my favorite slates in recent memory. One of the reasons I love it is because we have two pitchers that I absolutely adore. I actually thought these two would be the most expensive players on both sites, but both barely cracked the Top-5. That has lineup construction looking like a breeze, so let's go ahead and get into it! Pitchers Zack Greinke FD - P 9000 DK - SP 9300 Opponent - TEX (Taylor Hearn) Park - TEX FD - 33.55 DK - 17.68 I was so excited when I saw that Greinke was below $10K on both sites. He was my top target coming in, and I absolutely love how the pricing played out. The biggest reason we like him is this tasty matchup, with Texas ranked dead-last in both OBP and wOBA. That makes them the worst lineup in baseball, and a stud like Greinke should have no problem slowing them down. We're talking about a righty with a 3.41 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, which is right on par with his amazing career averages. He actually went off in his one matchup with the Rangers, allowing four baserunners across seven sensational innings. Not to mention, ZG enters this matchup as a -210 favorite as well. José Berríos FD - P 8500 DK - SP 9100 Opponent - DET (Matthew Boyd) Park - DET FD - 35.53 DK - 19.56 Berrios has been bad the last two weeks, but we're going to chalk that up to a rough stretch. In his previous six starts before a three-game slide, Jose had a 2.54 ERA and 0.77 WHIP over his previous six outings. That's much more indicative of the stud we saw for most of the season, dropping at least 27 FanDuel points in each of those. The reason we believe he can bounce back to that player here is the matchup, with Detroit ranked 25th in wOBA and 27th in K rate. Berrios actually faced this lineup a month ago, striking out eight batters across seven impressive innings. Ranger Suarez is a nice option with his sub-2.00 ERA if you're looking to go cheap at pitcher. Catcher/First Base Paul Goldschmidt FD - 1B 4000 DK - 1B 5800 Opponent - PIT (Wil Crowe) Park - PIT FD - 11.92 DK - 8.96 The Cardinals are fighting for their lives to stay in the playoff hunt, and Goldy is doing all...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 8/29/21 - Early and Main slates 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 Early Kyle Gibson FD 9000 DK 9000 Opponent - ARI (Humberto Mejía) Park - ARIFD - 36.49 DK - 19.66 Gibson is a -205 home favorite against the Diamondbacks on Saturday, giving him the best-implied win odds on the slate. He has been decent this season, though not quite as good as the 3.06 ERA would suggest. The 4.32 xFIP is closer to the truth for sure. But this is such a good matchup against the lowly Diamondbacks that you can forgive it some. I think he is the cash arm for the afternoon set of games. Alek Manoah (FD $9500 DK $8700) is close here and it will probably make sense to pair these guys together on DraftKings. Main Lance Lynn FD 10400 DK 9600 Opponent - CHC (Alec Mills) Park - CHCFD - 43.05 DK - 24.3 Lynn is a huge -277 home favorite against the gutted Chicago Cubs who sold off nearly every meaningful bat at the trade deadline. Lynn isn’t as good as the 2.20 ERA would have you think considering the xFIP is 1.75 runs higher. But he is still striking out about 10 batters per nine and the Cubs offense is pretty damn weak at this point. Considering the win odds and the matchup I think he is the pretty clear cash game option here for the evening. If David Price (FD $7100 DK $7000) can hit around five innings then I like his price on DraftKings as an SP2. Catcher/First Base Early Vladimir Guerrero Jr. FD 4500 DK 5700 Opponent - DET (José Ureña) Park - DETFD - 14.65 DK - 11.11 We should be able to pay up for some bats on the early slate of games and the Blue Jays are going to be the way to go there. Vlad leads the charge and is having one of the best seasons at the plate that you will see. He has 36 home runs and a .998 OPS. The dude gets on base more than 40% of the time and is very tough to strikeout at only 17%. Facing off against Urena who doesn’t have much in the way of swing-and-miss stuff has the Jays as the easy stack. Main Nelson Cruz FD 3900 DK 5000 Opponent - BAL (John Means) Park - BALFD - 15.05 DK - 11.26 The Rays get another god matchup against an...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 8/27/21 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 Interesting slate tonight in that we have two top pitchers, both in plus matchups followed by a sea of pitchers who are either struggling, not consistent, have ugly matchups. I don't think we can pay up for both top pitchers on DraftKings tonight but I am going to make a case for both anyway. Gerrit Cole FD 11200 DK 10500 Opponent - OAK (James Kaprielian) Park - OAK FD - 38.33 DK - 21.4 After Getting popped by Tampa in July, Cole has bounced back in a big way giving up just seven hits and one earned run over his last two starts(11.2 IP) while striking out 15 and walking just two. While the matchup doesn't jump off the page, he does get the A's at a good time as they went to Thursday night's game losers of four straight and eight of their last 10 while scoring just 2.7 runs per game. It is close but coming slightly cheaper than McClanahan on DraftKings, Cole is my top pitcher but by the smallest of margins. Shane McClanahan FD 10500 DK 10700 Opponent - BAL (Matt Harvey) Park - BAL FD - 35.49 DK - 19.33 While it may seem crazy that McClanahan is the most expensive pitcher on DraftKings and more than Cole there is an argument for it. First of all, he is having a tremendous rookie season with a 3.63 ERA and even better 3.20 xFIP while also adding a 28.5% K rate. He also gets a terrific matchup against an Orioles team he has faced three times in the second half, holding them to 14 hits and five earned runs across 17 innings while striking out 7+ in each start. I will have exposure in all formats. Catcher/First Base Yuli Gurriel FD 3400 DK 5000 Opponent - TEX (Glenn Otto) Park - TEX FD - 12.79 DK - 9.81 I have always found it very interesting being a baseball writer and getting the same teams/players daily but having different player pools. A lot of that has to do with matchups for sure but this season pricing has dictated so much of my player pool. A great example is Paul Goldschmidt being $4800 on DK last night and now in a similar matchup is $6K tonight. If you have the money, there are a ton of options to pay up for here but for me, I am going...