DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 7/23/21 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 Zack Wheeler FD - P 10200 DK - SP 9800 Opponent - ATL (Max Fried) Park - PHI FD - 40.92 DK - 22.32 While we do get some ace pitchers tonight, the decision is tough as all of them have average-at-best matchups. At the time of writing of this, the system prefers Wheeler and I have to agree although it is splitting hairs. He is slightly cheaper than Cole on both sites and has a better ERA(2.44) and xFIP(2.73) while giving up fewer flyballs and hard contact. To split hairs even further he gets the better matchup against a Braves team who is without their star in Ronald Acuna. All things considered, Wheeler is my top pitcher if paying up tonight. Frankie Montas FD - P 8600 DK - SP 8700 Opponent - SEA (Yusei Kikuchi) Park - SEA FD - 33.93 DK - 18.09 From a PTS/$ perspective, I absolutely love Frankie Montas in that mid $8K on both sites tonight. The game is pretty much a pick-em against Seattle but the starting pitchers are trending in opposite directions with Montas leading the way. He has held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in four straight starts while averaging 18.8 DK/34.5 Fd points per game.  He now faces a Mariners offense that has been league average over the last few weeks and 10% below league average(wRC+) against right-handed pitching while striking out 26% of the time. I will have plenty of exposure to Montas in all formats on both sites tonight. Catcher/First Base Yuli Gurriel FD - 1B 2700 DK - 1B 4600 Opponent - TEX (Kolby Allard) Park - HOU FD - 14.4 DK - 11.05 Like clockwork, I am back on Yuli Gurriel as the sites are just making this way too easy as the Astros are #1 in implied runs yet come in underpriced in all the same areas once again. Tonight they go up against Kolby Allard who is in a bit of a slump at the moment posting a 5.65 ERA/4.97 xFIp over his last five starts while also giving up seven long balls. Gurriel has been good in both splits but better against lefties with a .386 wOBA and 151 wRC+. Fire him up in all formats. Pete Alonso FD 3900 DK 5800 Opponent - TOR (Steven Matz) Park - TOR FD - 12.28 DK - 9.12 Some say the Home...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 7/22/21 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 Charlie Morton FD - P 8800 DK - SP 8700 Opponent - PHI (Matt Moore) Park - PHI FD - 32.14 DK - 17.66 We get yet another slate full of question marks at the pitcher position so I will be looking for value to help fit more bats. It starts with Charlie Morton who gives us a nice floor on strikeouts alone as he has tallied seven or more in six straight starts and once again comes at a sub $9K price on DraftKings. The Phillies have been slightly above-average on offense lately but have been worse (14% wRC+ difference) against right-handed pitching. All things considered, Morton is my top PTS/$ play on the mound and in play in all formats. Sean Manaea FD - P 9100 DK - SP 9600 Opponent - SEA (Chris Flexen) Park - SEA FD - 30.63 DK - 15.81 I am not into paying up for Buehler against the Division-leading Giants so I will take the discount and ride with Manaea. Despite some average outings in July, he has still posted an elite 2.37 ERA/3.44 xFIP over his last 10 starts while striking out 27% of batters. He now faces a below-average Mariners offense(.295 wOBA/90 wRC+) that strikes out 27% of the time. I will be pairing Manaea with Morton on DraftKings and I also lean Manaea slightly on FanDuel as my top pitcher overall. Catcher/First Base Max Muncy FD - 1B 3900 DK - 1B/2B 5700 Opponent - SF (Anthony DeSclafani) Park - LAD FD - 12.5 DK - 9.21 The first base position is loaded at the top so I will split hairs and go with Muncy who comes a bit cheaper than Olson and has much better splits than Freeman and his lefty/lefty matchup. Muncy's bat has been relied on heavily this season with injuries and down season for other star players and he has responded tremendously and is on pace for a career year. His .420 wOBA is 3rd to only Vladdy and Ohtani and he enters the night with hits in five of six games since the ASB. It is very close  but I lean Muncy as my top play at first base tonight. Anthony Rizzo FD - 1B 3100 DK - 1B 4200 Opponent - STL (Kwang Hyun Kim) Park - STL FD - 10.1 DK - 7.56 It has been a rough season overall for Rizzo...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Tuesday 7/20/21 - 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 Shane McClanahan FD - P 7800 DK - RP 8600 Opponent - BAL (John Means) Park - TBFD - 34.31 DK - 18.58 Shane McClanahan has had an excellent season, able to translate his minor league numbers into striking out major league bats. He’s putting down hitters almost 30% of the time and the 3.24 xFIP is about three-quarters a run better than the ERA. He comes in as the best-win odds pitcher on the slate as a -191 home favorite against the Orioles. Baltimore strikes out about 24% of the time as a team and ranks 22nd in terms of wOBA. I suspect he is one of the highest-owned cash game pitchers. He’s simply too cheap on both sites, especially FanDuel. Trevor Rogers FD - P 10000 DK - RP 10000 Opponent - WSH (Paolo Espino) Park - WSHFD - 34.19 DK - 18.95 Rogers is more expensive though his numbers aren’t that different from McClanahan. He’s run better with the ERA (2.31) even though the xFIP is about the same. He’s a good pitcher in his own right obviously but has a worse matchup against the Nationals who are in the top-third on offense this season. And his win odds aren’t as good. But because of the McClanahan’s discount on DraftKings you can definitely play these guys together over there. Catcher/First Base C.J. Cron FD 3700 DK 5000 Opponent - SEA (Marco Gonzales) Park - SEAFD - 13.51 DK - 10.18 You are guying to see more than a couple of Rockies on this list today and for good reason. Playing in Coors against a weaker lefty will do that. Gonzales has a 5.05 xFIP on the season and doesn’t have much in the strikeout stuff. Cron has had a solid enough first season with the Rockies with a mid-800s OPS and 13 home runs. He walks enough to keep the floor high and should be hitting in the top six spots in the lineup against the lefty. Yuli Gurriel FD 2700 DK 4200 Opponent - CLE (Triston McKenzie) Park - CLEFD - 14.03 DK - 10.76 Gurriel makes a solid cash game play in most matchups because he puts the ball in play so much (80% of the time) and strikes out only 10% of the time. The contact rate is elite and he has some power as well with 10 home runs this...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 7/19/21 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 Yu Darvish FD - P 11200 DK - SP 9200 Opponent - ATL (Kyle Muller) Park - ATL FD - 33.59 DK - 18.86 Buckle up tonight if you fall into the recency bias category as my top pitchers both went into the All-Star break struggling. The good news here is that both were All-Stars and have been very consistent overall. Darvish's short outing vs. the Nats can be attributed to hip inflammation which also put him on the 10-day IL but he is back healthy, with no restrictions, and gets a matchup vs. the Acuna-less Braves. This is also a buy-low opportunity as he is at his lowest price since early in the season. Darvish tops our projections and is my favorite pitcher in all formats. Kyle Gibson FD - P 9100 DK - SP 9000 Opponent - DET (Casey Mize) Park - DET FD - 31.91 DK - 17.27 Gibson bookended the first half with terrible starts(5 ER in each) but the good news is it was the work in between that earned him a spot on the All-Star team. Even with those two bad starts, he still held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in 14 of 17 starts good for a 2.29 ERA which is 5th-best in baseball. He opens his second half against a Tigers team that has won three straight but I am not worried as they rank bottom 10 in almost all offensive categories including wOBA, wRC+, and ISO. Gibson is in play in all formats. Catcher/First Base Yuli Gurriel FD - 1B 2700 DK - 1B 4700 Opponent - CLE (J.C. Mejía) Park - HOU FD - 12.32 DK - 9.45 First article for me out of the ASB so of course I have to go with one of my favorite plays all season in terms of PTS/$ value. I have mentioned over and over that Yuli is having a career year at age 37 as he enters the night hitting .314 with an elite .379 OBP and 137 wRC+. He and the Astros not only get a plus matchup against JC Mejia who has given up six earned runs in three of his last four starts, Gurriel's price continues to sit below $5K on DraftKings making him a core play for me in all formats. Anthony Rizzo FD - 1B 3100 DK - 1B 3700 Opponent - STL (Jake Woodford)...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 7/17/21 - 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 Gerrit Cole FD 10100 DK 10000 Opponent - BOS (Nathan Eovaldi) Park - BOSFD - 41.42 DK - 23.27 Cole had struggled for a couple of outings, possibly related to the new rules around Spider tack and other grip substances. But he turned right back around last outing with a complete-game shutout against the Astros. He struck out 12 and walked only two over the game, his best of the year. He doesn't get a great matchup against the Red Sox here, but along with Woodruff is just the best overall pitcher on the slate. Alex Cobb FD 8800 DK 8200 Opponent - SEA (Yusei Kikuchi) Park - SEAFD - 35.81 DK - 19.12 Cobb has basically turned into a totally different pitcher this season, striking out more than 10 batters an inning when the career number is 7.25/9 over a sizable sample. And the 3.04 xFIP would represent the second-best number of his career if the season ended today. He’s throwing his curveball less and his changeup more, which is helping and he is getting people to swing outside of the zone more. Plus, Cobb is throwing his fastball harder than at any point in his career as well. It is all working and he has been one of the surprise stories on the mound this season. Strongly consider Tylor Megill (FD $6500 DK $8000) against the Pirates. Catcher/First Base Will Smith FD 3200 DK 4800 Opponent - COL (Kyle Freeland) Park - COLFD - 15.7 DK - 11.66 With the Dodgers playing in Coors once again, we can stack them without wringing our hands all that much. Against the lefty Freeland, Smith should be in the middle of the order. It is worth noting that the catcher has been better against righties for his career, and that isn’t a luck thing either. He takes more walks in that split. But that BABIP definitely is a factor here. If the Dodgers are going to believe in him hitting here, then we should too and he’s just too cheap on FanDuel rolling in Coors. Chris Gittens FD 2000 DK 2000 Opponent - BOS (Nathan Eovaldi) Park - BOSFD - 6.67 DK - 5.13 He’s not a household name, but Gittens has been called into service with the Yankees having to shelve players because of COVID issues. He hit the minors pretty well in his last couple of...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 7/10/21 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 Afternoon Lucas Giolito FD - P 9600 DK - SP 10300 Opponent - BAL (Thomas Eshelman) Park - BALFD - 36.26 DK - 19.76 Giolito has an xFIP more than half a run lower than his ERA (3.65) and is striking out almost 11 batters per nine on the season. He’s a -192 road favorite against the Orioles and I’m only a little concerned about the 10 over/under that opens here. That being said, he’s the best high-upside K guy on this slate. Anthony DeSclafani FD - P 8200 DK - SP 9500 Opponent - WSH (Jon Lester) Park - SFFD - 29.75 DK - 15.49 DeSclafani isn’t as good as the sub-3 ERA would suggest, but he’s still put together a very good season so far. He’s striking out about a batter an inning and has been able to keep the runs in check because he’s a fly ball pitcher in a huge pitchers park. He is allowing a 48% flyball rate which plays perfectly in San Francisco and comes into this game as a -180 home favorite against the Nationals. Pitching is on the weaker side for this slate. Evening Freddy Peralta FD - P 9900 DK - SP 9200 Opponent - CIN (Vladimir Gutierrez) Park - MILFD - 42.29 DK - 24.23 Peralta is putting up huge strikeout numbers this season, putting down 12.5 batters per nine on the season. This isn’t a great matchup against the Reds who have a good offense, but he is still tough to pass up considering what he can get you for the upside. He’s a -190 home favorite here with an over/under of 9. The price isn’t reflective of what he can dial up with the strikeouts. Walker Buehler FD - P 10400 DK - SP 9600 Opponent - ARI (Caleb Smith) Park - LADFD - 40.08 DK - 22.03 Buehler enters the evening slate as a -260 favorite against the Diamondbacks who are among the worst teams in the league on offense. They rank 26th in team wOBA this season and are striking out around 24% of the time. Buehler has seen the Ks dip a little bit this season down to about a strikeout an inning, but he is still rocking decent peripherals. The xFIP is about a run higher than the ERA but he is still a borderline ace. On the evening slate he is the best...