DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday, Labor Day 9/2/19 With the Labor Day holiday here, MLB shifts to an afternoon slate of games. There isn't much to speak of pitching-wise here, but we will make due with what we're given. What we do have are a bunch of good offenses poised to possibly put up a lot of runs against bad pitching. That's what the holidays are all about right? 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 Kyle Hendricks FD - P 8100 DK - SP 8900 Opponent - SEA (Justus Sheffield) Park - CHCFD - 35.45 DK - 18.33 Hendricks is far from an ace, but that’s pretty much what we are looking at for this afternoon Labor Day slate of games. He doesn’t strikeout a ton of batters (7.6 per nine) but he gets away with it my limiting the walks and ends up with decent peripherals (4.75 K:BB). The xFIP is about a run higher than the 3.47 ERA so you can’t get too bullish there, but the matchup is choice. The Mariners rank 18th in wOBA against righties this season and that number is falling as they drift closer to the bottom. They strike out 25% of the time in the split which should buoy Hendricks’ K numbers. We will need an update on Wrigley wind today as the only caveat to Hendricks as a cash play. Adam Wainwright FD - P 7300 DK - SP 7600 Opponent - SF (Tyler Beede) Park - STLFD - 31.41 DK - 15.94 Wainwright has ticked his K numbers up a bit over the last two seasons and is hovering around a strikeout an inning. With it have come more walks though so he isn’t exactly getting a ton of bang for his buck in that department. That being said, he’s a perfectly (above) average pitcher at this point with a choice matchup in the Giants. San Fran ranks near the bottom of the league in wOBA against righties and have such little pop in the lineup that it’s tough to figure Waino getting torched here. He opens as a -175 home favorite with a 9 over/under. That, plus the matchup are good enough to put him in the conversation for cash pitchers on both sites considering the price. Catcher/First Base Joey Votto FD - 1B 3000 DK - 1B 4200 Opponent - PHI (Drew Smyly) Park - CINFD - 12.74 DK - 9.54 Votto’s struggles this season are well-documented with almost all of his stats...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday 9/1/19 We are now in the final month of the season and it's getting down to the good stuff. We're finally seeing meaningful games and that's all we can ask for as DFS players. That makes things so much more predictable and that's really all we wanr. With that in mind, let's get to the two best pitching options on the board. 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 Justin Verlander FD 11900 DK 12000 Opponent - TOR (Wilmer Font) Park - TORFD - 48.54 DK - 28.18 This guy is simply the best pitcher of my generation and he's still doing serious damage at the age of 36. It's truly amazing just how consistent this guy is, as he's currently pitching to a 2.69 ERA and 0.80 WHIP this season. Those are some of the best numbers of an already Hall-of-Fame career and if doesn't even take into consideration that he has a K rate north of 30 percent. That's truly frightening for a Blue Jays lineup who ranks 22nd in K rate, 28th in OBP, 24th in OPS and 27th in wOBA. That's why Verlander and the Astros enter this matchup as a -300 favorite. Patrick Corbin FD 11200 DK 11100 Opponent - MIA (Caleb Smith) Park - MIAFD - 41.77 DK - 23.01 This is probably the best play on the board. The main reason why is because of this matchup, with the Marlins ranked bottom-two in runs scored, OBP, OPS and xwOBA. That's really no surprise when you consider the fact that Marlins Park is arguably the toughest park to hit in. It's not like Corbin is some slouch either, with the lefty generating a 29 percent K rate to match his 3.15 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. That's why Corbin enters this matchup as a -280 favorite with Miami projected for fewer than four runs. If the wind is blowing in in Wrigley we might be getting Yu Darvish (FD $9000 DK $10200) at a discount even in a tough matchup against the Brewers. Miles Mikolas (FD $6700 DK $7100) also makes for a decent DraftKings SP2 option against the Reds. Catcher/First Base Ji-Man Choi FD 2600 DK 4000 Opponent - CLE (Adam Plutko) Park - CLEFD - 11.08 DK - 8.34 Why do these sites continue to disrespect Choi? This guy has been superb all season long and has done nothing but destroy right-handed pitching throughout his career. In fact, Choi has a .371 OBP, .489...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 8/31/19 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 Stephen Strasburg FD - P 11200 DK - SP 11200 Opponent - MIA (Pablo Lopez) Park - WSH FD - 41.73 DK - 19.92 The clear number one today, and it's not particularly close. Not only is he the best pitcher on the slate, as we'll get to in a second, but he arguably has the best match-up as well. The thing he brings more than any other player on this slate is the strikeout upside, as his 10.58 K/9 is almost two better than Lucchesi and three better than Keuchel. Kershaw is a comparable pitcher, but he's just so expensive relative to his lower K rate that it isn't worth it. As for the Marlins, they have the second worst wOBA in the Majors against right handed pitching while striking out at the 6th highest rate. Fade Strasburg at your own peril. Joey Lucchesi FD - P 7800 DK - SP 9100 Opponent - SF (Logan Webb) Park - SF FD - 30.09 DK - 15.7 It's been an up and down ride for Lucchesi and his fantasy owners this season. He's going deeper into games than he was last year, but he's shed almost 1.5 K/9 off of his excellent age 25 season. Still, 8.61 K/9 and 3.00 BB/9 isn't an awful package at these prices, and when you start comparing him to the other options on the slate, it looks even better. The Giants are the fourth worst team in the league against left handed pitching this season, and it's only getting worse as they give more young players a shot. It's a fantastic match-up in a fantastic park, and that's enough that right now our system is picking out Lucchesi as an interesting option in all formats. Dallas Keuchel FD - P 8400 DK - SP 9600 Opponent - CHW (Reynaldo Lopez) Park - ATL FD - 29.04 DK - 14.67 Yep, tonight's pitcher two options come down to a couple of cheap left handers. Keuchel's much anticipated signing has actually paid off for the Braves so far, and while he's not at Cy Young levels, he's still pretty effective. His 60.7% ground ball rate would be the best in the Majors if he had thrown enough innings to qualify at the position, and he's added nearly a K per 9 by switching to the National League. He's also averaging slightly more than 6 innings per start, and his...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 8/30/19 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're back at it again with another monster Friday slate and we have some plays we absolutely love. The Rockies participate in Coors Field again and we're looking at an enormous 14-total in that contest. That means it's going to be tough to fade but it's going to be fascinating putting the correct pieces together for this difficult puzzle known as DFS baseball! Pitchers Trevor Bauer FD - P 9600 DK - SP 10400 Opponent - STL (Dakota Hudson) Park - STL FD - 32.65 DK - 17.51 Yeesh, Bauer has downright sucked since joining the Reds but he has too much potential to be priced this cheap. We're talking about an AL Cy Young candidate from last season who still has a 4.16 FIP and 28 percent K rate. Those are way off of his 2.21 ERA and 1.09 WHIP from last season but that shows just how special this dude can be. The reason we like him here is because he gets to face a weak offense in a pitcher's park. In fact, the Cardinals rank 21st in runs scored, 19th in OBP, 24th in SLG and 22nd in both OPS and wOBA. The scary thing about this spot is that they're sending out a bunch of righties like Goldy, DeJong, Ozuna and Molina against Bauer, which gives the Reds pitcher even more upside in terms of strikeouts. Madison Bumgarner FD - P 9200 DK - SP 10200 Opponent - SD (Dinelson Lamet) Park - SF FD - 35.2 DK - 18.56 This is probably the safest play on the board. Bumgarner has been his usual stellar self this season, pitching to a 3.71 ERA ad 1.10 WHIP. He's been even better at home, with Mad Bum generating a 2.95 ERA and 0.93 WHIP at Oracle Park this season. That's really no surprise when you consider that it's the best pitching park in the Majors. The match-up is simply the icing on the cake, with the Padres ranked 27th in K rate, 26th in runs scored and 28th in xwOBA. That's why we're looking at a total of 7 here, which is the lowest of the slate. Don't forget about Bumgarner's counterpart, Dinelson Lamet, who has a 29 percent K rate and also faces a bad offense. Our projection model also likes Aaron Nola hosting the Mets, as he's been much better since the All-Star break. Catcher/First Base Daniel Murphy FD -...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 8/29/19 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 Jose Berrios FD - P 8800 DK - SP 9900 Opponent - CHW (Dylan Cease) Park - CHW FD - 34.94 DK - 18.47 On a smaller slate like this, paying up for an ace like Clevinger is going to be tough which has me taking the discount with Berrios, at least in cash games. His last start looks a lot worse than the boxscore shows as he was cruising through five innings before a couple of singles, a poorly fielded ball in the outfield, and home run had him exit early in the 6th and eventually picking up the loss. I am not concerned here as he gets another plus matchup against a White Sox team that ranks near the bottom of the league in hitting over the last 30 days and against right-handed pitching for the season. Under $10K on both sites, Berrios is my top play in all formats today. Also Consider: Chris Bassitt(OAK) Main Jacob deGrom FD - P 11200 DK - SP 12000 Opponent - CHC (Jon Lester) Park - NYM FD - 40.66 DK - 22.97 There are six games on the main slate making it a bit easier to pay up at pitcher and that is good news as every other top pitcher has struggled lately. Struggling is something Jacob deGrom hasn't experienced much of this season as he has held opponents to three or fewer earned runs in 23 of his 26 starts and two or fewer earned runs in nine straight starts. That gives him the third-best ERA(2.56) and fourth-best xFIP(3.20) in baseball and he also gives us big upside with a 31.9% K rate and 15.7% swinging-strike rate. The Cubs got to Syndergaard last night but that doesn't overly concern me as they have been well below average(.302 wOBA, 83 wRC+, 25% K rate) over the last 30 days. All things considered, I will be loading up on deGrom in all formats. Also Consider: Lance Lynn(TEX) Catcher/First Base Early Carlos Santana FD - 1B 4100 DK - 1B 4600 Opponent - DET (Daniel Norris) Park - DET FD - 12.68 DK - 9.45 There are three teams I am targeting on this small four-game early slate and it starts with the Indians who currently sit atop the raw points projections today. Santana has been very up and down lately but when he gets on the scoresheet he makes it count as he...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 8/28/19 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 12000 DK - SP 12200 Opponent - TB (Ryan Yarbrough) Park - HOU FD - 43.97 DK - 24.83 With Max Scherzer admitting he is "not out of the woods" with his back injury and unable to give 100% it makes it an easy choice for me at the top of the salary tonight. Not only does Gerrit Cole enter tonight with the fifth-best ERA(2.75) in baseball but he backs it up with a league-leading 2.76 xFIP after holding opponents to two or fewer earned runs in six straight and 14 of his last 15 starts. With double-digit K numbers in five of his last seven starts and 14 times on the season, he also leads the league with an eye-popping 37.3% K rate. The Rays are slightly better against righties and don't K as much(22%) but I will take the elite pitcher over the average offense every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Fire up Cole in all formats. Jake Odorizzi FD - P 8500 DK - SP 9400 Opponent - CHW (Ross Detwiler) Park - CHW FD - 29.66 DK - 15.9 Getting bats you are comfortable with in cash games is the challenge with Cole and if there are not enough values popping up when lineups come out, I will most likely be turning to Odorizzi. he is nowhere near the same level of talent as Cole but from a PTS/$ perspective, it is a very close call on both sites. He was solid in his first season with the Twins and has improved on that in year two as he enters the night with a 3.57 ERA and while the xFIP(4.71) is over a run higher his xwOBA(.306) is right in stride with his wOBA(.300) telling me the regression curve isn't nearly as steep. The other promising aspect outside of the plus matchup vs. the White Sox is the K upside he has displayed in 2019 with a career-high 25% K rate and supporting 12.1% swinging-strike rate. Odorizzi will be in my player pool in all formats and with the salary savings allows us to load up on bats. Kenta Maeda FD - P 8700 DK - SP 8000 Opponent - SD (Undecided) Park - SD FD - 30.08 DK - 16.06 Maeda is a much better play on DraftKings but still a play that stands out across the board tonight. As...