DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 4/18/22 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 Sean Manaea FD - P 9700 DK - SP 9100 Opponent - CIN (Nick Lodolo) Park - SD FD - 37.82 DK - 20.52 Manaea is one of many Athletics players shipped out before the 2022 season and the Padres couldn't be happier to have him aboard. He tossed seven innings of no-hit ball in his first start and while he picked up the loss in his second start, he struck out six and allowed just two earned runs on four hits. He now faces a Reds team that has lost six straight and eight of their last nine and ranks dead last in wOBA(.251) and wRC+(53) while striking out just over 26% of the time. With all the top pitchers in much tougher matchups, it is Manaea sitting at the top of my rankings in all formats tonight. Shane McClanahan FD 9200 DK 8100 Opponent - CHC (Kyle Hendricks) Park - CHC FD - 36.44 DK - 19.7 While he has yet to make it through five innings in his first two starts, there are a lot of positives for McClanahan starting with a 3.00 ERA and even better 2.52 xFIP. Better yet are the elite K stuff he is showing us as he has already racked up 15 strikeouts( 39.5%) and backed it up with an insane 18% swinging-strike rate. The Cubs' offense has been no pushover but to say they are overperforming is probably not too much of a stretch. The other plus of a shaky(ish) start is that the price has stayed in check making him one of our top PTS/$ plays on the mound tonight. Catcher/First Base Sean Murphy FD - C 2600 DK - C 4800 Opponent - BAL (Spenser Watkins) Park - OAK FD - 11.37 DK - 8.56 We almost never mention catchers in our articles but it has been impossible to ignore what Murphy is doing for the A's right now. He comes into tonight with hits in five straight including three multi-hit efforts, two home runs, and seven RBI. I have no issue paying the premium catcher price on DraftKings for multiple reasons starting with the balanced attack I am taking at pitcher, the value throughout the A's lineup, and the fact the A's get one of the best matchups on the board against Spenser Watkins. Murphy is my top catcher on DraftKings tonight and a nice lower-owned target for...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday, 4/17/22 The opening week was bizarre, but we're starting to get back into the groove. Grinding every day is essential when it comes to MLB DFS, and that's tough when we have small sample sizes to deal with. The good news is that these rotations and lineups are finally solidifying, making things much easier on us going forward. We feel like we have a good read on this Sunday card, so let's go ahead and get into it! 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 Alek Manoah FD - P 10000 DK - SP 10000 Opponent - OAK (Adam Oller) Park - TOR FD - 39.83 DK - 21.71 Manoah had a fantastic rookie season, and it looks like he's on his way to becoming an ace. The big right-hander had a 3.22 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in his impressive rookie campaign and added a new pitch to his repertoire. He presented it in the opener, holding a potent Yankees lineup scoreless across six innings of action. To say this is a step down in competition would be a drastic understatement, with Oakland owning the worst lineup in baseball. That has the Alek and the Blue Jays entering this matchup as a -250 favorite, with the A's projected for just 3.5 runs. Zack Wheeler FD - P 10200 DK - SP 10200 Opponent - MIA (Elieser Hernandez) Park - MIA FD - 38.28 DK - 20.61 How weird is it to see two pitchers at the same price on both sites? That really doesn't matter, but it's a completely random occurrence. In any case, Wheeler is the most expensive player on the board, and rightfully so. The right-hander registered a 2.78 ERA and 1.01 WHIP across 213.1 innings last season, striking out 247 batters! He showed glimpses of that in his shortened debut, surrendering just three baserunners across 4.2 one-run innings. He threw 65 pitches in that game, and it should have him ready for 80 here. That's really all he needs against Miami, with the Marlins ranked 29th in both runs scored and OPS while owning the worst xwOBA in baseball last season. In his previous three starts against them, Wheeler has allowed just five runs across 20 innings while flirting with a 1.00 WHIP. Nestor Cortes (FD $8400/DK $8200) has been fantastic filling in over the last two years, providing a 2.77 ERA and 1.06 WHIP since the start of last season. That's why he's a...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 4/16/22 - All Day 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 Julio Urías FD - P 9800 DK - SP 9900 Opponent - CIN (Hunter Greene) Park - LADFD - 39.15 DK - 21.11 Urias doesn’t play until the last game on the slate, but that shouldn’t matter for our purposes here. He’s in a tremendous spot against the Reds, and the Dodgers are the biggest favorites on the slate, sitting at -250 at home. Urias, for sure, had a weird first outing of the season, striking out no batters and lasting only two innings. But I’m not letting that dissuade me too much here going against the Reds, and this is a guy who was a 9.5 K/9 guy last year with an xFIP in the 3’s. The deal is too good to pass up, on DraftKings especially. Hyun Jin Ryu FD - P 10800 DK - SP 8500 Opponent - OAK (Paul Blackburn) Park - TORFD - 34.06 DK - 17.83 I hate the FanDuel price, but the DraftKings salary is definitely in play. He’s the second-biggest implied odds favorite for the win on this slate with the Blue Jays sitting at -233 at home against the Athletics. Ryu isn’t a huge K guy for his career, getting by on limiting the long ball and rarely walking batters over the last few years. This Oakland offense isn’t one you worry about and there’s a chance that Ryu can dial up some swing and miss stuff. Again, we are mostly looking at a DK play here with the FD price a bit out of bounds. Trevor Rogers FD 7100 DK 9200 Opponent - PHI (Ranger Suárez) Park - PHIFD - 32.8 DK - 17.61 Jameson Taillon FD 8600 DK 7000 Opponent - BAL (Tyler Wells) Park - BALFD - 32.53 DK - 17.09 I’m putting these two guys together because I think they are mispriced on FanDuel and DraftKings respectively. Rogers doesn’t have a great matchup against the Phillies, but the $7000 price tag on FanDuel is simply too low for a dude who’s struck out almost 11 batters per nine over his first 166 innings and has a career 3.59 xFIP. Paying this salary on a day with a ton of bats really helps round out lineups. And then there is Taillon who is a -188 road favorite against a weaker Orioles team. The $7K salary on DraftKings is coming a tier below expectation and Taillon...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 4/15/22 - 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 clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Carlos Rodón FD 10100 DK 9800 Opponent - CLE (Zach Plesac) Park - CLEFD - 37.7 DK - 20.91 I hate the matchup against Cleveland but just about everything else is working for Rodon. For starters, if his first game of the year can be believed, then the 2021 stats weren’t a fluke at all. In his first outing with the Giants, Rodon came out and struck out 12 batters in just five innings. It was a lights-out performance that solidified the idea that the changes he made in his approach were going to carry over to this season. Frankly, it was awesome. If he is operating on this ace level, and it sure seems like he is, then the price is simply too low independent of who he has to face while on the mound. The Giants are -153 road favorites in this game with the over/under set at 8. It’s still a good spot and we might look back and wonder how we're ever getting Rodon this *cheap*. Freddy Peralta FD 9900 DK 10000 Opponent - STL (Miles Mikolas) Park - STLFD - 37.01 DK - 20.11 On the other side of this coin was the first game from Freddy Peralta. He struggled some out of the gate, walking four batters in his first four innings against the Cubs. Sure, he struck out six batters as well in that stretch, as a reminder of his swing-and-miss stuff. But the control is definitely a concern. I don’t mind the matchup against the Cardinals here though they don’t strike out a ton as a team (17% this season, fourth-least in the majors). But like Rodon, I do think we are still buying a bit low on the potential K upside just because of his track record. MacKenzie Gore FD 6400 DK 5000 Opponent - ATL (Kyle Wright) Park - ATLFD - 27.78 DK - 13.74 If looking for a speculative play with some upside, Gore might be the guy. He’s set to make the start for the Padres, replacing Blake Snell in the rotation. The 23-year-old has been one of the top prospects for years and this will be a chance to start realizing some of that potential. He has elite swing and miss stuff in his bag and has flashed it in his limited time in the minors. As always with this, there is real risk...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 4/14/22(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 clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Walker Buehler FD - P 10500 DK - SP 9700 Opponent - CIN (Reiver Sanmartin) Park - LAD FD - 35.36 DK - 18.81 As expected, pitching has been a roller coaster ride early in the season but I am starting to get more confident as teams are now entering the second time through the rotation. Despite being limited to 78 pitches, Buehler looked good on opening day going five innings, allowing two earned runs on just four hits while striking out five. He is now the biggest favorite(-250) on this slate, and by a wide margin, and facing a Reds team that sits second to last in team wOBA(.257) and wRC+(59) early in the season. Buehler is our top projected pitcher on this slate and a core play in all formats. Charlie Morton FD - P 9000 DK - SP 9300 Opponent - SD (Joe Musgrove) Park - SD FD - 33.5 DK - 18.04 Morton's first start of the season was eerily similar to Buehler's as he went 5.1 innings, gave up two earned runs, and struck out five on 78 pitchers. He is a power pitcher who has recorded a 29% K rate since the start of 2019 and backed it up with a 12.5% swinging-strike rate. It aligns well with the matchup as he faces a Padres team that is still without their superstar, Fernando Tatis Jr, and are scoring just 3.7 runs per game while striking out 24% of the time. There is most definitely a path to 90 pitches for both these pitchers so paying up for both on DraftKings is not out of the question but my favorite spot to use Morton is on fanDuel where he the 8th most expensive pitcher on the main slate. Catcher/First Base C.J. Cron FD - 1B 4100 DK - 1B 4500 Opponent - CHC (Justin Steele) Park - COL FD - 15.83 DK - 11.9 The Rockies are off to a hot start winning four of their first five games and they are back home tonight where it comes as no surprise they lead all teams in implied runs. They face a young lefty in Justin Steele who has struggled against power-hitting righties so that is where we will start things tonight. Cron is coming off a very productive first season with the Rockies and has carried it over into 2022 as he comes in...