DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 8/20/20 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 Shane Bieber FD - P 12000 DK - SP 10600 Opponent - PIT (Trevor Williams) Park - PIT FD - 42.91 DK - 23.41 We have been gifted some excellent slates in terms of starting pitching and that continues tonight. With a price tag just $400 more than Kershaw on DraftKings, Shane Bieber is where I will be starting my builds. He continues to develop into an ace and is having an elite start to the season allowing just five earned runs(1.30 ERA/1.65 xFIP) over five starts, winning four of them. It doesn't stop there as he has struck out at least eight in every start and comes into tonight with an insane 43% K rate and 19.8% swinging-strike rate. The matchup couldn't get much better either as he faces a Pirates team that has a 53 wRC+ and 25% K rate against right-handed pitching on the season. You might be better off taking the saving with Kershaw on FanDuel but on DraftKings Bieber is my top pitcher in all formats. Alex Young FD - P 5800 DK - SP 6700 Opponent - OAK (Sean Manaea) Park - OAK FD - 25.54 DK - 12.99 The system absolutely loved the double pay-up at pitcher on DK last night and I suspect it will again as the total cost is cheaper tonight. If that is the route you want to go, both Kershaw and Sonny Gray are terrific options but if you want more bats, I have a value play for you. Alex Young got his first start on Saturday limiting the red-hot Padres to four hits and one earned run and while he only went 4.1 innings on 63 pitches, he still put up 14.8 DK points, over 2x at these prices. The D-backs are underdogs(+139) tonight but Oakland is a good pitcher's park and he faces an A's team that strikes out 29% of the time vs. left-handed pitching and 26% of the time overall. I suspect the pitch count will be up to about 75-80 and if he can tally some K's even a few earned runs against will still allow him to hit value, at least for cash games. Catcher/First Base Mitch Moreland FD - 1B 3300 DK - 1B 4800 Opponent - BAL (Asher Wojciechowski) Park - BAL FD - 11.28 DK - 8.46 The Red Sox are in a plus spot tonight and currently sit...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 8/19/20 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 Jacob deGrom FD - P 10700 DK - SP 11800 Opponent - MIA (Pablo López) Park - MIA FD - 36.98 DK - 20.87 We have a tough decision to make tonight with two elite aces on the bump and for cash, it is deGrom who gets the edge for me tonight. It is very close but the consistency is what stands out as deGrom has yet to allow more than two earned runs in a start and since seeing his pitch count extended over 90 pitches he has won twice with a 16:3 strikeout to walk ratio. He also gets the better matchup as the depleted marlins roster sits with a 88 wRC+ and 26% K rate over the last 14 days. All things considered, DeGrom is the top pitcher on this slate and in play in all formats. Pablo López FD - P 8300 DK - SP 7200 Opponent - NYM (Jacob deGrom) Park - MIA FD - 25 DK - 12.68 Whether you are rolling with deGrom or Cole tonight, you are going to have to pair him with a value SP2 to get any bats in your lineup on Draftkings and Lopez stands out above the rest. The Marlins rotation is currently Top 10 in ERA and Lopez has played a huge role winning two of his three starts while allowing just four earned runs over 16 innings(2.25 ERA) and that is backed up by an elite 2.73 xFIP. On top of that, he is also missing a ton of bats with a 17% swinging strike rate which has led to 28% K rate. The only concern is the matchup against a hot Mets team but at his price tag, I am willing to take the risk at SP2 on DraftKings even if it means two pitchers from one game. Catcher/First Base Travis d'Arnaud FD - C 3200 DK - C 3200 Opponent - WSH (Erick Fedde) Park - ATL FD - 11.7 DK - 8.87 Tyler Flowers FD - C 2700 DK - C 3600 Opponent - WSH (Erick Fedde) Park - ATL FD - 8.92 DK - 6.73 Outside of the game at Coors, the Braves/Nats has the highest total at the moment and whichever catcher is behind the plate is a great value. We have discussed D'Arnaud who, after running in the mid $4K range for a couple of weeks, dropped big-time on...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Tuesday 8/18/20 We've got a packed MLB slate for Tuesday. Let's take a look at DraftKings and FanDuel baseball plays. 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 Yu Darvish FD - P 9900 DK - SP 10500 Opponent - STL (Daniel Ponce de Leon) Park - CHCFD - 40.94 DK - 22.49 Darvish has been fantastic to start the season, following up on his excellent second half in 2019. This season he’s striking batters out at a 10.13 per nine rate which is down some for his career. But where he’s really winning is limiting the walks. For his career, he’s walked more than three batters per nine. This season, through the first four starts, that number is down to 1.50. It’s helped him to a 1.88 ERA which is lower than the 3.10 xFIP, but both are fantastic. He’s a -180 home favorite against the Cardinals and we are just waiting on the wind direction in Wrigley on Tuesday. Carlos Carrasco FD - P 9800 DK - SP 9900 Opponent - PIT (JT Brubaker) Park - PITFD - 36.42 DK - 19.7 Carrasco reeled off four straight six inning games to start the season but ran into some control issues against the Cubs in his last start, walking five. Overall, he’s been very good striking out more than 12 batters per nine though the walk rate definitely looks weird because of the last start. On Tuesday he enters as a -190 favorite over the Pirates who’ve struggled to start the season and have very little firepower in the lineup. I prefer Darvish, but Carrasco makes a case to go double expensive on DraftKings. Trevor Bauer (FD $12000 DK $10800) has been amazing this season for sure. He almost certainly won’t keep up this K rate, but he’s also putting it all together this year and is completely elite. He’s expensive and I think the two guys above are better values, but it’s hard to argue with the results. Dylan Bundy FD - DK - SP 9100 Opponent - SF (Trevor Cahill) Park - LAAFD - 0 DK - 18.66 I know he’s Early-Only but I just wanted to make note of Bundy here. Bundy’s been the surprise arm to start 2020, near the top of starting pitcher WAR thanks to just dominating on the mound. He’s averaging more than seven innings per start, striking out close to 11 batters per nine, walking fewer than one per nine and...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 8/17/20 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 Kenta Maeda FD - P 8700 DK - SP 9600 Opponent - KC (Kris Bubic) Park - MIN FD - 34.81 DK - 19.29 A common theme so far in the 2020 season has been a ton of ugly slates in terms of starting pitching and Monday fits that mold perfectly. The only real ace on the mound is Hyun Jin Ryu and he faces a surprising Orioles team that leads the pack in terms of hitting lefty pitching. I love the upside but for cash games, I will be rolling with Kenta Maeda who is having a solid start to his Twins career winning three of his four starts with a 2.66 ERA backed up by a tremendous 3.34 xFIP. For FanDuel, he has tallied a quality start in three straight and now faces a Royals team that has struck out 27% of the time over the last week and rank in the bottom half of the league in almost all hitting categories on the season. Fire up Maeda in all formats. **Update - Matt Wisler has been named the Twins starter for Monday night. Stay tuned to the projections for our updated top pitchers for the night.** Ross Stripling FD - P 8100 DK - RP 7900 Opponent - SEA (Justin Dunn) Park - LAD FD - 36.19 DK - 19.42 While the consistency isn't quite on the same level as his ex-teammate Maeda, Stripling is still a very solid option tonight, especially at his price point. Despite some struggles early on with the fastball(four of five home runs given up off four-seamer), he has won three of his four starts and while the K rate is down he has recorded seven in two of his four starts. What stands out the most tonight is that Stripling gets a great shot at his fourth win as the Dodgers are huge -260 favorites against a Mariners team that ranks dead last in runs scored over the last 14 days and bottom 5 in wOBA(.289) and wRC+(86) on the season with a 24% K rate. Maeda has a slight edge in raw points projection but from a PTS/$ perspective, Stripling is the play in the system. Lock and load in all formats. Catcher/First Base Freddie Freeman FD - 1B 3900 DK - 1B 5300 Opponent - WSH (Anibal Sanchez) Park - ATL FD - 14.31 DK - 10.75 Travis d'Arnaud...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday 8/16/20 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! Sundays are always one of the toughest days to navigate because we have games spread all throughout the day. What makes it even tougher is the fact that we have many teams playing back-to-backs on Saturday. That could cause chaos in terms of who will play and it means that you guys need to check lineups before hitting the submit button for DFS! Pitchers Max Scherzer FD 11100 DK 10800 Opponent - BAL (John Means) Park - BALFD - 40.87 DK - 23.32 The obvious play of the day. Scherzer is by far the best pitcher on the slate in a perfectly fine match-up against the Orioles. With 37 FanDuel points in each of his starts (and double digit strikeouts in two of those) he's in the same Cy Young level form that we're used to, and as a -184 favorite there's no need to belabor the issue: he's the play of the day. Lance McCullers Jr. FD - P 8800 DK - SP 8700 Opponent - SEA (Justus Sheffield) Park - HOU FD - 33.84 DK - 17.95 While McCullers doesn't necessarily pop up highly in our projections, this is a great spot for him to succeed. We'll go ahead and start by talking about that matchup, facing a Seattle team who sits 22nd in runs scored and 26th in OPS. It's simply one of the worst lineups in baseball and it has the Astros entering this matchup as a -240 favorite. The talented righty is coming off his best start of the year too, allowing just one hit across seven scoreless innings earlier in the week. McCullers actually faced the Mariners once this season too, providing 40 FanDuel points in yet another gem. Adam Plutko FD - P 6500 DK - SP 6400 Opponent - DET (Michael Fulmer) Park - DET FD - 24.95 DK - 13.09 Using pitchers against Detroit is always a profitable endeavor. This is a team that ranked 29th or 30th in runs scored, OBP, OPS and K rate last season, currently sitting 27th in K rate and 23rd in OBP this season. That is really no surprise when you consider where the Motor City Kitties play, owning one of the most spacious ballparks in baseball. That big park is better for a guy like Plutko, who's only weakness is his swing-and-miss stuff. That low K rate doesn't really matter when you consider his 0.90 ERA and 0.90...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 8/15/20 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! Things finally feel normal with almost every team in action, or as normal as can be. That's what us baseball fans have been looking forward to and it's exciting to see what these teams are doing in such a quick sprint of a season. This weird scenario has teams as monster favorites on every slate because the games matter more than ever. Our two pitchers are going to be two of those big favorites, so, let's kick things off with Patrick Corbin! Pitchers Patrick Corbin FD - P 10600 DK - SP 10500 Opponent - BAL (Asher Wojciechowski) Park - BAL FD - 37.53 DK - 20.45 There are a lot of pitchers who have struggled to find their groove in this shortened season but Corbin is not one of them. The southpaw is pitching to a 2.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP across 18 innings of action, striking out 20 batters. That's not far off of his recent averages, attaining a 3.17 ERA and 1.11 WHIP dating back to 2018. All of that makes him a very attractive against the Orioles, with Baltimore ranked 22nd in OBP and 26th in OPS last season. They've been much better this year but we're likely looking at Corbin entering this matchup as a -190 favorite as well. Cristian Javier FD - P 7800 DK - SP 7400 Opponent - SEA (Nick Margevicius) Park - HOU FD - 35.87 DK - 18.64 This dude is honestly very impressive. The lefty is currently pitching to a 3.82 SIERA and 0.89 WHIP this season. His minor league numbers were even more ridiculous, posting a 2.23 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in his minor league career. That doesn't even take into consideration that he posted a K rate north of 30 percent at that level and owns a 27 percent rate in the Majors. All of that is very intriguing against a team like the Mariners, who own a .304 OBP and .671 OPS this year. This is why Javier and the Astros enter this matchup as a -215 favorite. You won't want to go there on FanDuel, but he looks very attractive in the pitcher two slot on DraftKings. Catcher/First Base Matt Olson FD - 1B 3600 DK - 1B 4900 Opponent - SF (Kevin Gausman) Park - SF FD - 10.5 DK - 7.82 While Olson has struggled with his average this season, seven dingers in 20 games is an...