Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftStreet, and DraftKings 4/29/14 Full slate of games for this Tuesday so start getting prepared. Lots of losers on the mound tonight which is great for some big bats. A quick note - our baseball product for FanDuel, DraftKings and DraftStreet is LIVE!. Be sure to sign up for a free 3-day trial to access the MLB system and spreadsheets that help produce our picks. And give a follow on Twitter @dailyfantasysr. Pitchers Jose Fernandez FanDuel 10200 DraftKings 11600 DraftStreet 22777 Basically have to put him out there because of the early season returns. What he's doing on the mound is just nuts. I want to say he's been lucky. But he hasn't. Luck is taken out when you just strike everyone out. His 13.36 K/9 is gross. The xFIP is 1.71 and shows no signs of moving to any significant degree. He's just amazing. The Braves are middle of the road against righties and are prone to the K. Oh, by the way, he had 14 K's last time they met a week ago. Cole Hamels FanDuel 8200 DraftKings 8300 DraftStreet 18010 Have to love this matchup today. The Mets seem to be getting paid per strikeout. The hitters at least. How else to explain their close to 28% K rate so far against lefties. That is an insanely high number. Hamels only has one outing under his belt, but it was a fine performance against the Dodgers and his price hasn't jumped too much. He's below some other guys like Gio and Cingrani who I like a bit less just for the dollars. The K potential is almost too good to pass up even with so many other big name studs going tonight. Alex Wood FanDuel 7700 DraftKings 10000 DraftStreet 17255 The Marlin offense is coming back down to Earth and will continue to fall in the rankings as their Babip normalizes. Right now they are in the lower third of the league against lefties with a .290 wOBA. Wood has been fantastic so far this year, K-ing a dude an inning and limiting the walks. The big downside for Wood here is the Braves facing Fernandez meaning his chances at a win are diminished. This will be a low scoring game. I still like Wood on just the K's alone. But scraping out a W will be tough. Matt Cain FanDuel 7100 DraftKings 7800 DraftStreet 16506 Looking at Cain because of the matchup. The Padres are complete trash. They are near the bottom of the league in just about every relevant hitting category and Cain, while not fantastic, has been fine to start the year. The K's are there a...

Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftStreet, and DraftKings 4/28/14 Welcome to another glorious week. A time to revel in new beginnings and enjoy the very essence that is Monday. Breathe it in people. That's progress we are making. And a new chance to set MLB lineups. Aren't Mondays the best? A quick note - our baseball product for FanDuel, DraftKings and DraftStreet is LIVE!. Try it out and give us some feedback. It's a free 3-day trial to access the MLB system and spreadsheets that help produce our picks. And give a follow on Twitter @dailyfantasysr.   Pitchers Madison Bumgarner FanDuel 9000 DraftKings 9800 DraftStreet 19367 Bumgarner is, I believe, the top pitching option on the day. He's been super solid to start the season with a K/9 over 10. The walks are right in line with his career averages of less than 3 per 9 and he owns a 3.22 xFIP. Very solid. This combined with the opponent in the Padres means he'll be a big percentage start today. The Padres are near the bottom of the league in hitting lefties. Some of it is with a low Babip (.243) but that doesn't explain everything. They have a 71 wRC+ and are striking out nearly 23% of the time. Those numbers are gross even if you factor in for luck. Bumgarner is the best bang for the big buck today. Jeff Samardzija FanDuel 7700 DraftKings 0 DraftStreet 17685 Let me start by saying that I don't totally buy Samardzija's early ERA as it has a lot of luck behind it. And his K's are trending lower than his career averages. Not exactly the best way to open about a pick; I never was the best salesman. But Samardzija I think offers a contrarian opportunity on a day that doesn't involve many strikeout pitchers. The Reds are middle of the road against righties and are prone to K. They have a leadoff hitter in Hamilton who can get overpowered and the talent in their lineup falls off a cliff after the first few batters. Not a safe play by any means, but I don't think a lot of people will be on him and he could post a solid line. Tyson Ross FanDuel 5900 DraftKings 8300 DraftStreet 15685 Over the last couple of seasons, Ross has been able to maintain a K/9 around 8. Solid. His xFIP hovers in the mid 3's. Solid. And today he gets the Giants who have been striking out the fourth most in the league against righties. This all lines up for a solid value play in the mid-lower tier of pitchers.   Catchers Wilin Rosario FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 3900 DraftStreet 6793 Wade Miley...

Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftStreet, and DraftKings 4/27/14 Finishing off the weekend in style today. Games start early so make sure to set those lineups before the early afternoon start. A quick note - our baseball product for FanDuel, DraftKings and DraftStreet is LIVE!. Be sure to sign up for a free 3-day trial to access the MLB system and spreadsheets that help produce our picks. And give a follow on Twitter @dailyfantasysr.   Pitchers Honestly, this was one of the harder days to pick quality, value pitchers. Between suboptimal matchups, early season statistics and prices, I don't really like anyone on the board. Danny Salazar FanDuel 6400 DraftKings 5800 DraftStreet 17229 Salazar's strikeout numbers are crazy high. So that's good. His walks are also completely unreasonable. So that's bad. I'm taking him on the upside today. The K's are for sure there and the Giants have really struggled with righties early in this season. Their K% is among the highest in the league. They don't grind out at bats and Salazar does have big upside at this price. He has downside as well, considering he can get wild. The price is right and I'm firing it. Ian Kennedy FanDuel 6300 DraftKings 8200 DraftStreet 14160 If you've been reading this column, you know we've been fans of Kennedy almost every time out. And he's paid his way in a majority of his outings. Today looks to be more of the same. The Nationals have a few legit bats, but their lineup doesn't have a ton of depth. They're sporting a 96 wRC+ against righties this season. Kennedy has kept his K% close to a strikeout an inning and the walk rate is solid. He's a good, not great option today. Justin Verlander FanDuel 9400 DraftKings 10300 DraftStreet 21097 The Twins are riding an inflated Babip to early season hitting success. This isn't to say they are a bad team running crazy hot, but they probably aren't nearly as good as some of their early numbers indicate. They strikeout about league average and have a few bats in their lineup. Honestly, I'm drawing this pick more on past performance which is always dangerous. Something I like to avoid. Verlander's xFIP is significantly higher than his ERA, which is worrisome. But he does have K potential and the Twins do strikeout. Seems like a bi pricetag, but you can consider it.   Catchers Victor Martinez FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 6754 Where he is catcher eligible, few guys make safer cash game plays than Martinez. Hitting behind Miguel Cabrera offers that kind of safety. Kyle Gibson is a pitcher I love to target in DFS because his K rate...

Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftStreet, and DraftKings 4/26/14 Love Saturdays in MLB. Games all days and plenty of excuses to get some money in. Lot of value with the bats today. Let's check it out. Be sure to sign up for a free 3-day trial to access the MLB system and spreadsheets that help produce our picks. And give a follow on Twitter @dailyfantasysr. Also, we took on Randy William (@devilball420) over at Daily Fantasy Sports Network in the second day of H2H on FanDuel. I won day one, he took day two. I'll post a link later with a write up about my thought process with my plays.   Pitchers Anibal Sanchez FanDuel 7800 DraftKings 8400 DraftStreet 18714 Though the Twins have hit righties well to start the season, some of there success is Babip fueled. This is still a team with a weak bottom of the linuep, that strikes out about 22% of the time. Sanchez's K rate is still there, though the walks are up a tick. He probably isn't the ace he appeared to be last year, but he's good. Add in that Target Field really dampens power and you've got a nice play today for Sanchez's prices. Dan Straily FanDuel 6400 DraftKings 7800 DraftStreet 16588 Houston sucks. Let's start there. They strike out the most in the league against righties and Straily has been K-ing almost 9 per 9 this season. He's run a little bad and his xFIP is 1.70 runs below his era. That's encouraging and the prices are right in the value range. I'd consider playing him everywhere. Marco Estrada FanDuel 6700 DraftKings 10100 DraftStreet 19297 He's really only a play on FD. I'd probably avoid on the other sites. Estrada is buoyed by the Cubs striking out a metric ton this season against righties. Estrada's numbers aren't uplifting, but he is a solid pitcher and I'm targeting opponent here as much as anything.   Catchers Wilin Rosario FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 3900 DraftStreet 6712 Even though this game isn't being played in Coors and the fact that Dodger Stadium suppresses power to righties still doesn't sway me from Wilin today. In fact, those two park factors are the only reason he isn't the runaway favorite for best catching option for the money today. He crushes lefties and Paul Maholm is a lefty who can and does get killed. Salvador Perez FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 2900 DraftStreet 5139 Perez's matchup is almost as good as Rosario's and makes for a strong play across the board. He faces a lefty in Wei-Yin Chen who isn't exactly Randy Johnson* in his prime. Perez is a lefty killer, hitting to the tune of a 374...

Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftStreet, and DraftKings 4/18/14 A quick note - our baseball product for FanDuel is LIVE!. It's going to be free until the end of the regular season in basketball - so PLEASE, if you have any feedback, we'd love to hear it! Be sure to sign up for a free 3-day trial to access the NBA system and spreadsheets that help produce our picks. And give a follow on Twitter @dailyfantasysr. A little note about baseball picks If you're coming over from basketball - welcome. If you're a lifelong fantasy baseball player, welcome. I want to give a quick heads up about how we are going to do our baseball picks. Unlike basketball, contextual information matters very little baseball. Guys rarely take days off, and "playing well recently" means almost nothing. Playing time hardly ever changes (unlike in basketball where guys can increase their opportunities by 50% on a coach's whim), and when it does, it's fairly obvious. So, we're going to be giving picks each day without huge write-ups. The only thing that changes about a player in a given day (for the most part) is the park he's playing in and the pitcher he is facing. Most of the other stuff is noise, unless a player has drastically changed his position in the lineup. For pitchers, all that really matters is who they are facing, which park, and if they've been recently injured. We cool? Let's do it. Pitchers Matt Cain FanDuel 7400 DraftKings 9300 DraftStreet 16344 The reasons for this pick probably go without saying, but indulge me. Cain looks for all the world like a pitcher in decline, but this match-up plays to all of his strengths. His major weakness - the long ball - is mitigated by San Diego's terrific home park. The guy pitching for his opponent, Tyson Ross, has outperformed his peripherals considerably so far this year, and his 5 bb/9 isn't going to allow him to maintain an ERA under 4 for much longer. Jon Niese FanDuel 5700 DraftKings 8100 DraftStreet 12332 Niese has had some tough luck in the win department this year, but he's back to looking like the promising pitcher the Mets thought they had during Niese's break out season 2 years ago. His control has been excellent, and he is actually running bad with his hr/fly ball rate. He's got a nice opportunity for a win with Harang going on the other side - so all systems are go for Niese here. Sonny Gray FanDuel 8000 DraftKings 10200 DraftStreet 17001 If I decide to go a little more expensive at pitcher today, I'm fading the Gio/Greinke duo and going with Gray....