DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Tuesday 7/28/20 On Monday, things got real weird real fast with the Marlins spiking cases of Covid-19 and having to cancel their game against the Orioles. They've already canceled Tuesday's game as well. But the season pushes on (hopefully) though Tuesday has some issues from a DFS perspective. The pitching situation is suspect at best, a disaster at worst. Let's take a look at some of the plays for FanDuel and DraftKings. Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA 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 11800 Opponent - HOU (Framber Valdez) Park - HOUFD - 31.84 DK - 17.4 Just a heads up that Tuesday is one of the worst pitching slates you’ll see in DFS and the season isn’t even a week old. But this is the part of the the rotation for some teams that comes just before turning back over to the aces. Buehler is, by far, the most talented arm on this slate and it isn’t particularly close. The issue is he draws one of, if not the, toughest matchup against the Astros. He’s a -150 road favorite in Houston with a 9 over/under which is about the lowest for Tuesday’s games. Buehler was magnificent in 2019, striking out 10.63 batters per nine, walking fewer than two and finishing with a 3.37 xFIP. He’s justifiably expensive on both sites and because of that and the matchup you may decide the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. But Buehler has to be at the top of any list for Tuesday because of the talent gap behind him. Patrick Sandoval FD - P 5600 DK - SP 6600 Opponent - SEA (Justus Sheffield) Park - LAAFD - 30.22 DK - 15.54 See how ugly things got and how quickly? Sandoval does have some things going for him on Tuesday though. He’s the slate’s best money line favorite at -170 at home against the Mariners. Seattle is mostly a young, inexperienced and bad lineup putting up two or fewer runs in three of the first four games this season. In nine starts in 2019 Sandoval struck out more than 9.5 batters per nine and his 4.02 xFIP was a run better than the 5.03 ERA mostly because he appeared to run very bad on the HR/Fb rate. He’s coming incredibly cheap on both sites on a day on which you’ll most definitely want to stack some expensive bats. Look, starting pitching on this slate is a moderate disaster....

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday 7/26/20 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! This happens to be my first MLB DFS article of the season and I'm ecstatic to be back at it! We're surely looking at the most bizarre MLB season ever and it's going to cause chaos for DFS. That's why we're kicking things off with a reliable veteran, so, let's get into it! Pitchers Zack Greinke FD - P 9600 DK - SP 10900 Opponent - SEA (Yusei Kikuchi) Park - HOU FD - 36.76 DK - 19.26 The pitching options on this slate are pretty weak and it's just super safe to go with a guy like Greinke. A -305 betting line tells you pretty much everything you need to know, with the Mariners projected to barely crack three runs. We're talking about a lineup whose best hitter is Kyle Seager, ranking 20th in runs scored and 28th in K rate last season. That's brilliant news for Greinke, with the All-Star pitching to a 2.95 ERA and 1.06 WHIP since 2013. Ironically, he faced these Mariners in his final regular start last season, going 8.1 scoreless innings while accumulating nine strikeouts and flirting with a no-hitter. It doesn't hurt that Greinke threw 80 pitches in his last simulated game and looks ready for a full workload. Vince Velasquez FD - P 6600 DK - SP 6900 Opponent - MIA (Jose Urena) Park - PHI FD - 30.6 DK - 16.39 This is certainly a risky pick but Velasquez always keeps me coming back. This dude has all the potential in the world and five one-run innings against the Yankees in his final Spring Training start was certainly a promising sign. Getting to face Miami instead of New York is quite the drop-off in terms of skill level and he should cruise if he pitches the way he did on Wednesday. This is a Marlins club who ranked 29th or 30th in OBP, OPS and runs scored last season. That's why they're only projected for four runs here, with Philly entering this match-up as a -155 favorite. The 4.91 ERA and 1.34 WHIP last season make him risky but paying below $7,000 on both sites nullify a lot of that risk with his K upside and great match-up. Catcher/First Base Ji-Man Choi FD - 1B 2500 DK - 1B 4200 Opponent - TOR (Thomas Hatch) Park - TB FD - 10.53 DK - 7.91 Choi was cheap on FanDuel all year last season and...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday Afternoon 7/25/20 Baseball is fully back and we've got a packed afternoon at the ballpark. Most games are going off between 1-4 EST and we've got you covered with DraftKings and FanDuel picks. Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Mike Clevinger FD - P 10400 DK - SP 9800 Opponent - KC (Brady Singer) Park - CLEFD - 40.43 DK - 22.3 Clevinger was just flat out awesome in 2019, posting a crazy-high 12.07 K/9, getting under control by significantly lowering his walk rate and posting a 3.09 xFIP. He went almost exclusively fastball/ slider, throwing the latter much more and to great effects. On Saturday he enters as a -240 favorite against a very weak Royals team. He's completely mispriced on DraftKings especially considering what he did last season. Luis Castillo FD - P 9800 DK - 8000 Opponent - DET (Ivan Nova) Park - CINFD - 39.02 DK - 21.23 Castillo took a step forward in 2019, getting his K’s from about a strikeout an inning through his first two seasons up to 10.75 per nine. It meant ticking the walks up though and he did allow 3.7 free passes per nine. But the 3.48 xFIP was well above average and he was able to go about six innings per start even pitching in one of the best hitters’ parks in baseball. Detroit is in some lean times right now and barely rosters a major league lineup. Piggy in the middle of the lineup is toast and the rest of the lineup has a propensity to strike out. I love Castillo on DK as a SP2. Originally, we had Julio Urias written up because he was the scheduled starter for the Dodgers against the Giants. That's been changed to Alex Wood (FD $6800 DK $7800) who comes in as a solid SP2 candidate if the expectation is he gets a moderate pitch count load. Lance McCullers Jr. (FD $8000 DK $8500) is a monster favorite today as well, -283 against the Mariners. I'm just a little concerned about how deep he goes in the game because he hasn't pitched in almost two years at this point. Catcher/First Base Carlos Santana FD - 1B 3300 DK - 1B 4500 Opponent - KC (Brady Singer) Park - CLEFD - 13.29 DK - 9.88 Brady Singer is making his major league debut for the Royals on Sunday which puts the Indians in a great spot. They have the second-highest implied...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Opening Day Friday 7/24/20 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB, NBA and NFL optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Justin Verlander FD - P 11200 DK - SP 11400 Opponent - SEA (Marco Gonzales) Park - HOUFD - 41.63 DK - 23.7 Sure, the Astros are cheaters, but that was only around the hitters right? The pitchers are all okay, right? Verlander closed off a second-straight career year after joining the Astros with another 12+ K/9 season with a second consecutive low 3’s xFIP. Dude was just an aces ace and he lines up to start the season as the slate’s best win odds pitcher with the Astros entering the game as -293 favorites over the Mariners. Verlander is a great cash game play especially with mitigating concerns around pitch count considering his workhorse history. Jack Flaherty FD - P 10500 DK - SP 9000 Opponent - PIT (Joe Musgrove) Park - STLFD - 43.81 DK - 24.1 Flaherty is only 24 and settling into a stellar career based on the short term results. Through his first 350 major league innings he’s struck out more than 10.5 batters per nine while walking three per. It’s the latter number that is the only real concern but he got much more in control over the last 200 innings and he’s becoming something of an ace. The Cards enter as -200 favorites against the Pirates and Flaherty is coming in considerably cheaper compared to Verlander. He isn’t in the same K range, but that’s built into the price and should fare well against an undermanned Pittsburgh team. Nathan Eovaldi FD - P 7100 DK - SP 7100 Opponent - BAL (Tommy Milone) Park - BOSFD - 35.36 DK - 18.57 Is he good? Not really. Is he a decent favorite against a bad team? Maybe that’s more like it. With the Red Sox jettisoning David Price, Rick Porcello heading to free agency and Chris Sale starting the season on the DL the team is left with precious few pitching options. Eovaldi is slated as the Opening Day arm and still comes in as a -200 favorite over the Orioles who still very much project to stink. Eovaldi struck out more than a batter an inning last season moving between the starting lineup and the bullpen but still managed to walk every living thing in sight. This is merely a price play based on win odds, some strikeout potential and the Orioles. Catcher/First Base Paul Goldschmidt FD - 1B 3500 DK - 1B...

We’re going to take a different approach here. What we’re going to do is breakdown this series by position. This should be the highest-scoring series of the divisional round, as we have two elite offenses facing two questionable pitching staffs. These teams actually combined for over 600 homers this season, which is simply absurd. I’d actually argue that these are the two worst pitching staffs in the playoffs, so let’s start off with those guys.  Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NFL and MLB optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers  James Paxton (NYY): Paxton got off to a terrible start this season but he’s been much better over recent weeks. Over his last seven starts, Paxton is pitching to a 1.69 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and 10.8 K.9 rate. The only worrisome factor about him is the fact that he left his last start due to lower body soreness but he’s fully expected to pitch in this series, maybe even Game 1.  Masahiro Tanaka (NYY): The Japanese import has had a frustrating season for Yankee fans, posting a 4.45 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. What’s really worrisome is the fact that he’s facing a lineup who set the MLB record for most home runs, with Tanaka allowing at least 25 dingers in three-straight years.   Luis Severino (NYY): This dude may be the dark horse of this series. After posting a 3.18 ERA and 1.09 WHIP between 2017-18, he pitched to a 1.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in his three starts this season. The late-season return from injury limited his pitch count but throwing 72 pitches in his last start indicates that he’s almost ready for a full workload. That’s bad news for a righty-heavy Twins lineup.   Jake Odorizzi (MIN): Odorizzi has been the Twins best pitcher in 2019, posting a 3.51 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. This is a guy who has no playoff experience though and allowed nine runs in his last start against these Yankees.   Jose Berrios (MIN): While Berrios looked like a breakout early on in 2019, he really struggled late. In fact, Berrios pitched to a 5.83 ERA and 1.52 WHIP over his final 10 starts. That’s truly scary against one of the best lineups in baseball.   Twins Third Starter: This may be a bullpen game with guys like Kyle Gibson, Martin Perez and Randy Dobnak filling the void. Dobnak is actually the only one who had a decent year but it’s scary that Minnesota will have to make decisions like these against the Bronx Bombers.   Bullpens: While these are two good bullpens, the Yankees backend simply can't be matched by anyone. These guys are downright scary. That’s why...