DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 10/15/20 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! A night after the Astros staved off elimination in the ALCS and the Dodgers clubbed their way back into the NLCS, we have another two-game, playoff slate today. Things are much more cloudy in terms of pitching but let's dig in and discuss what we do know and a few players who we should be rostering in our lineups. Tampa Bay Rays vs. Houston Astros As of about 9:00 am ET this morning, there are no starters announced for this game thus no odds have been posted at this point. There is a chance the Rays throw out Blake Snell on short rest but I just don't see the point up 3-1 in the series. It will most likely be an opener or possibly Josh Fleming who hasn't pitched since the end of the regular season. For the Astros, Greinke(pitched yesterday), Valdez(started game 1), and McCullers(started game 2) are all out of the mix and Cristian Javier came into the game in relief yesterday. Watch for possibly Luis Garcia or Chase de Jong to get a start but I am not at all expecting a lengthy outing from either. Both are dirt cheap, however, if you just want to punt one spot on DraftKings to load up on bats. Randy Arozarena FD 3700 DK 4700 Opponent - HOU (Undecided) Park - HOU FD - 10.62 DK - 8.15 Manuel Margot FD 2900 DK 3100 Opponent - HOU (Undecided) Park - HOU FD - 9.17 DK - 7.09 On the Tampa Bay side of things, when looking at what bats to target, I don't think there is any reason to fade the top of the lineup here. Manuel Margot was moved to leadoff in game three and if he remains there he will be a top value play on this slate once again. While the price has gone up, Randy Arozarena cannot be faded here as he has been the Rays MVP and arguably the best player in the entire playoffs leading everyone with a whopping 19 hits and 12 runs scored. José Altuve FD 3700 DK 4600 Opponent - TB (Undecided) Park - TB FD - 10.22 DK - 7.82 On the Astros side, I am looking at Jose Altuve at second base. After making a key error in game three that led to a Rays win, Altuve responded with a double, home run, and two RBI last night to help...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 10/14/20 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! Playoff baseball continues on Wednesday so let's take a look at a pitcher and a few bats in each game to help us build lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves Julio Urías FD - P 8600 DK - SP 7800 Opponent - ATL (Kyle Wright) Park - ATL FD - 26.78 DK - 13.97 In the first game of the day, the Dodgers will look get back into the series after falling to the Braves in each of the first two games. They will turn to Julio Urias who has yet to give up a run and has only given up four hits across eight postseason innings while striking out 11 of 30 batters faced(37%). He will be limited to 75-90 pitches tonight but I am not too worried about that with a lack of options and will have exposure to Urias in all formats. Corey Seager FD - SS 3900 DK - SS 5200 Opponent - ATL (Kyle Wright) Park - ATL FD - 12.26 DK - 9.28 Max Muncy FD - 1B 3500 DK - 1B 5000 Opponent - ATL (Kyle Wright) Park - ATL FD - 12.99 DK - 9.61 Cody Bellinger FD - OF 4000 DK - OF 4900 Opponent - ATL (Kyle Wright) Park - ATL FD - 14.02 DK - 10.46 Picking and choosing bats on these small two-game playoff slates is a tough proposition so you have to dig a little deeper to split hairs. While Kyle Wright was excellent in his first playoff start, these are not the over-achieving Marlins but rather the Dodgers who led the league in both wRC+(122) home run(118) on the season. I will be first turning to the lefties in the lineup as Wright gave up a .288 average and .393 wOBA in the split during the regular season. Corey Seager is at the top of my list hitting in the two-hole and now has hits in four straight with two doubles, a home run, and 6 RBI. Max Muncy has been a bit more hit and miss but hits cleanup and comes with a ton of power. Cody Bellinger would be at the top of the list if not for hitting down in the order but the good news is that he has been consistent in these playoffs with hits in six of seven games. Marcell Ozuna FD - OF 4100 DK...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 10/8/20 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 Kyle Wright FD - P 9200 DK - SP 7200 Opponent - MIA (Sixto Sánchez) Park - MIA FD - 28.79 DK - 14.82 Pitching is going to be very tough today with teams facing elimination and as of writing this there are only three pitchers even confirmed for this slate. One that stands out to me right off the bat is Kyle Wright who, after struggling early on this season, finished with three straight quality starts. He will now make his first postseason start and face the Marlins who have yet to score a run in this series. I see the Braves closing this series out on Thursday with Wright leading the way with a win. I will have exposure in all formats. We are going to have to wait until the morning for the rest of the starters to be announced as it would only be speculation at this point. The Dodgers could go with either Tony Gondolin or Dustin may, both of which would be interesting GPP options at their prices. Tampa Bay is likely going with a bullpen game while it could be Frankie Montas vs. Cristian Javier in the A's/Astros game four. Catcher/First Base Matt Olson FD - 1B 3100 DK - 1B 4700 Opponent - HOU (Undecided) Park - HOU FD - 11.27 DK - 8.39 Despite scoring 11 runs and up 2-0 in the series, paying up for Freddie Freeman hasn't worked so I will be taking the discount, especially on FanDuel, and rolling with Olson today. While consistency isn't something we ever mention, Olson more than makes up for it with his power upside(14 during regular season) and comes into today with a long ball in two of his last three games. Stay tuned for the Astros starter but if it Javier, I love this play even more as he has been much worse vs. lefties giving up a .332 wOBA(.208 to righties). Also Consider: Freddie Freeman(ATL) despite just one hit in four playoff games is still the MVP and one of the most consistent batters in the league. At catcher, it will be hard not to fit Freeman's teammate Travis D'Arnaud who has been red-hot in the playoffs with hits in all four games including home runs in back to back games against the Marlins Second Base Mike Brosseau FD - 2B 2500 DK - 1B/3B 5000 Opponent - NYY (Jordan...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 10/7/20 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! We get another four-game slate on Wednesday with the new "no days off" playoff format. Let's get started by looking at some core plays at each position for FanDuel and DraftKings. Then head over and check out the projections and lineup optimizer and grab a copy of my cheatsheet. Pitcher Ian Anderson FD - P 9500 DK - SP 8200 Opponent - MIA (Pablo Lopez) Park - ATL FD - 39.22 DK - 21.14 Pitching is tough once again today but one name that stands out is rookie Ian Andreson. Even drafting him 3rd overall, I am not sure the Braves even expected to see him performing at this level so quickly as he posted a 1.95 ERA over six starts in the regular season and he was dominant against the Reds in the wildcard round allowing just two hits and striking out nine over six innings. The Marlins have proven to be an issue but do present on of the better matchups on this slate and with his price, Anderson is my top overall pitcher in all formats. Clayton Kershaw FD - P 10300 DK - SP 9600 Opponent - SD (Undecided) Park - LAD FD - 34.04 DK - 19.16 I am not overly thrilled with the matchup against the Padres here but Kershaw comes with a very fair price considering he has been dominant or close to it all season. While he isn't an elite K pitcher(28%), he has the second-highest rate on this slate and only walked 3.6% of batters he faced all season. He faced the Padres once in the regular season adn while he gave up three earned runs, he did strike out nine. I see this being another grind it out, low-scoring game putting Kershaw in the conversation as the top pitcher on this slate. Catcher/First Base Freddie Freeman FD - 1B 4200 DK - 1B 5000 Opponent - MIA (Pablo Lopez) Park - ATL FD - 14.6 DK - 10.97 We had Freeman as a top play yesterday and while he let us down, we are going back to the well on the likely National League MVP. The Braves put up nine runs in game one and get one of the better matchups on this small playoff slate tonight and I just don't see the extremely consistent Freeman letting us down again. If paying up at the position, Freeman is the play today....

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Tuesday 10/6/20 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 Max Fried FD - P 8700 DK - SP 7700 Opponent - MIA (Sandy Alcantara) Park - ATLFD - 33.48 DK - 17.61The Braves come in as -198 favorites over the Marlins on this slate, easily the best moneyline odds of the four-games. Don’t be completely fooled by the 2.25 ERA he sported during his 56 innings this season, the xFIP was in the low 4’s. He has some K stuff, putting down just over eight batters per inning which was down from what he did in 2019. He can get outs because he induced ground balls at a 55% rate this season with a very low 25% flyball rate. The Marlins, while a nice story, had the 21st ranked team xOBA this season and are the worst offense going on this slate. Fried’s price is right and he avoids some of the slate’s bigger bats. Framber Valdez FD - P 10000 DK - RP 8900 Opponent - OAK (Sean Manaea) Park - OAKFD - 34.14 DK - 18.15Valdez was excellent in the shortened season, striking out more than a batter an inning and dramatically reducing his walk rate off his career averages. He had a sub-3 xFIP (2.94) which was better than the ERA. The A’s actually ranked 24th in the league against lefty arms this season with a team .301 wOBA in that split. Valdez is a slight +100 underdog here but he has decent K upside if he can hang around the game. Catcher/First Base Freddie Freeman FD - 1B 4200 DK - 1B 5400 Opponent - MIA (Sandy Alcantara) Park - ATLFD - 13.99 DK - 10.51Sandy Alcantara is getting to start another playoff game despite his team having a -41 run differential this season. He was *fine* in his first game in the first round, but this is very much just an average arm. Meanwhile Freeman crushed an 1.102 OPS this season and will be in the MVP discussion for sure. He walked more than he struck out (17% to 14%) and sported a .456 wOBA. Simply put, he’s one of the best hitters in the game and gets a somewhat choice playoff matchup on the mound here on Tuesday. As of this writing, San Diego still hadn’t announced who they were putting on the mound. Max Muncy (FD $3600 DK $4800) is coming cheaper on both sites considering pitching doesn’t cost a ton and...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 10/5/20 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 Gerrit Cole FD - P 10900 DK - SP 8600 Opponent - TB (Blake Snell) Park - TB FD - 44.23 DK - 25.04 While Cole wasn't as dominant as he was in his final season with the Astros, he has been terrific in a shortened 2020 season helping the Yankees to the ALDS. He ended up holding opponents to two or fewer earned runs in eight of his 12 starts adn while he only did it once in three starts against the Rays he did strike out 36% of batters in that sample size. That K upside is what I am concentrating on in this matchup as the Rays struck out 27% of the time on the season and over 30% of the time over the past two weeks. The Yankees are -120 favorites to win the series and -140 favorites to take game now and Gerrit Cole is my fav pitcher to build around today in all formats. Chris Bassitt FD - P 8700 DK - SP 8100 Opponent - HOU (Lance McCullers Jr.) Park - OAK FD - 31.42 DK - 16.23 There is most definitely a case to be made for jamming both pitchers in the Yankees/Rays game as Snell is massively underpriced as an underdog. The other path and direction I am going is with a pitcher from both games to maximize on the win points. While not nearly as much K upside(21%) Bassitt has a solid season going 5-2 with a 2.29 ERA and was terrific in an elimination game against the White Sox holding them to one earned run over seven innings. I like the A's to win this series and it starts with game one on Monday. Catcher/First Base Yuli Gurriel FD - 1B 2700 DK - 1B 3600 Opponent - OAK (Chris Bassitt) Park - OAK FD - 8.71 DK - 6.67 This is a very tough slate to dissect but, for the most part, I will be focusing on the Astros/A's for bats. This pick is not for those with a weak stomach as Yuli was pretty terrible this season but does present a nice discount and on a two-gamer which we are going to need, especially if loading up on Cole. Also Consider: Matt Olson(OAK) as a boom or bust play with big power upside or Luke Voit(NYY) if paying up and going against Snell  Second Base Tommy La...