DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 8/22/19 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!   Pitchers Gerrit Cole FD - P 12200 DK - SP 12000 Opponent - DET (Jordan Zimmermann) Park - HOU FD - 54.97 DK - 31.25 Paying up for pitching is a little easier today and that is good news as we are loaded with aces on the bump. My top play of all of them is easily Gerrit Cole who checks every single box imaginable starting with the Astros opening as a massive -475 favorite. That is is in large part due to the matchup against a Tigers team that has scored a league-low 136 runs in the second half with an ugly .293 wOBA, 80 wRC+, and 27% K rate. For Cole, he trails only Charlie Morton and teammate Justin Verlander in ERA(2.81) in the American League and his 2.82 xFIP leads all qualified starters in baseball. Not only has he produced a sky-high floor holding opponents to two or fewer earned runs in five straight and 13 of his last 14 starts but he also has arguably the highest upside in baseball with a 36.8% K rate and 15.6% swinging-strike rate. If you have the salary and can sacrifice the bats tonight, Cole is my top pitcher in all formats. Mike Soroka FD - P 9300 DK - SP 10000 Opponent - MIA (Sandy Alcantara) Park - ATL FD - 34.21 DK - 18.12 While Soroka might not have anywhere near the same upside(19.7% K rate) as Cole, he comes at a huge discount and also has an elite matchup. The Braves open as -265 favorites at home vs. the Marlins who are neck and neck with the Tigers as the worst offense in baseball and rank last or second last against right-handed pitching with a .283 wOBA, 75 wRC+, .124 ISO, and 25% K rate. For Soroka, he has had a few blips on the radar in his rookie season but still offers a fairly high floor(for the price) averaging over six innings per start this season with and enters tonight with a very impressive 2.41 ERA and while it is a bit run-hot the xFIP(3.91) is still in a good spot as he just doesn't walk many batters overall(6.1%). All things considered, Soroka should be considered a top option on this slate from a PTS/$ perspective and is in play in all formats. Aaron Civale FD - P 8500 DK - SP 6200 Opponent - NYM (Noah Syndergaard) Park...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 8/15/19 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! Pitchers Sonny Gray FD - P 9800 DK - SP 9100 Opponent - STL (Michael Wacha) Park - CIN FD - 31.18 DK - 16.41 The options are somewhat limited on Thursday considering our top projected arms in Walker Buehler and Caleb Smith face each other in an afternoon matinee. That has me turning to Sonny Gray who leads all pitchers in raw projected points on the main slate. It makes sense as he has been terrific for the Reds all season with a 3.10 ERA and 3.63 xFIP backing it up. He is also coming off two of his best starts of the season allowing just six combined hits, no earned runs, and 14 strikeouts against the Cubs and Braves. He now gets a plus matchup against a Cardinals team that is really struggling lately with an ugly .292 wOBA, 79 wRC+, and .131 ISO over the last 14 days. All things considered, Gray is my top pitcher in all formats tonight. Andrew Heaney FD - P 6400 DK - SP 9000 Opponent - CHW (Reynaldo Lopez) Park - LAA FD - 31.6 DK - 16.82 Heaney made his return last Sunday after missing almost a month and looked pretty good holding the red-hot Red Sox to just three hits and one earned run over 3.2 innings. The one run also came on two hit batters and a sac fly which had Heaney pulled at 74 pitches. That is good news as we likely see him get over 90 tonight in a plus matchup against the White Sox who are just league average vs. lefties(101 wRC+) but do strike out 24% of the time in the split. Outside of yesterday's outburst, the White Sox have been the league's worst offense in the second with just 113 runs and an ugly .277 wOBA, 71 wRC+, and 27% K rate. Heaney's price seems a bit high on DraftKings which makes him a nice GPP pivot off Gray but FanDuel is where I am concentrating my exposure as he is just $6,400 and gives us an opportunity to absolutely load up on bats. Also Consider: Alex Young(ARI) facing a Giants team that is near the bottom of the league against lefties(.291 wOBA, 79 wRC+) Catcher/First Base Danny Santana FD - 1B 3500 DK - 1B/OF 4900 Opponent - MIN (Devin Smeltzer) Park - TEX FD - 10.03 DK - 7.68 While the Rangers have struck out...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 8/14/19 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! Pitchers Early Wade Miley FD - P 9000 DK - SP 9400 Opponent - CHW (Ross Detwiler) Park - CHW FD - 31.96 DK - 16.52 The early slate is loaded with offensive power so instead of going with one of the top tier options at pitcher, I will be turning to Wade Miley as my top option. He has been a picture of consistency all season as he has allowed more than three earned in a start just twice(both 4 ER) in 24 starts while averaging just shy of six innings per start. He has been even better lately holding opponents to two or fewer earned runs in seven of his last eight starts(2.03 ERA) and now gets another premiere matchup against a White Sox team that has been dreadful since the All-Star break with a .277 wOBA, 71 wRC+, .115 ISO, and 27% K rate, all of which rank dead last. All things considered, Miley is an excellent play in all formats and gives us some need salary relief to fit some top bats in our lineups in all formats. Also Consider: J.A. Happ(NYY) in a plus matchup against the Orioles or Cal Quantrill(SD)  Main Clayton Kershaw FD - P 12000 DK - SP 11800 Opponent - MIA (Elieser Hernandez) Park - MIA FD - 41.36 DK - 22.61 Kershaw comes at a premium price tonight but I will most definitely be paying up as he checks almost every single box. Let's first look at his form as he has held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in six straight starts and has found his swing and miss stuff as well with nine or more strikeouts in four of those six starts. That stretch of elite pitching has pushed him up to sixth overall with 2.77 ERA that is backed up by a 3.57 xFIP. He now gets an elite matchup against a Marlins team who hasn't been as bad as the White Sox since the break but pretty close ranking bottom in wOBA(.294), wRC+(83), ISO(.156), and K rate(24.7%). The Dodgers are huge favorites on the road and Kershaw is easily in the best spot and well worth the spend up tonight in all formats. Also Consider: Marco Gonzalez(SEA) who has held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in three of his last four starts and now gets a plus matchup against the Tigers bottom three offense Catcher/First Base Early...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday 8/11/19Now’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!It's Sunday and that always makes for a fun slate. What really makes it interesting is the fact that we have many divisional games occurring. That makes these finals games of the series imperative, as it will be one of the final times to gain a game on their counterparts. That means all the studs should show out and that's all we can ask for as DFS players. PitchersJustin Verlander FD - P 12500 DK - SP 12400 Opponent - BAL (Asher Wojciechowski) Park - BALFD - 46.89 DK - 27.12Using Justin Verlander is always a good idea, particularly in a matchup like this. Let's start with the Orioles, as they simply have one of the worst offenses in baseball. That's evident by the fact that they rank 21st in K rate, 26th in runs scored, 27th in OBP, 25th in OPS and 28th in xwOBA. That's truly frightening against a stud like Verlander, who's pitching to a 2.68 ERA and 0.81 WHIP while striking out 206 batters. That's why he enters this matchup as a -380 favorite, which is one of the highest money lines all season. Lucas Giolito FD - P 9800 DK - SP 10600 Opponent - OAK (Chris Bassitt) Park - CHWFD - 35.12 DK - 18.12Finding a second pitcher was a tough task on this slate but it's hard to argue with a guy having a breakout season. Giolito is doing just that, as he's generating a 3.44 ERA and 1.13 WHIP while whiffing 158 batters. What's really impressive about Giolito is how much his swing-and-miss stuff continues to improve, with Gio striking out at least seven batters in four-straight games. That's huge against a righty-heavy offense like this, with Oakland throwing out guys like Khris Davis, Matt Chapman, Marcus Semien and Stephen Piscotty. He's a good pitcher two on DraftKings and an interesting upside play on FanDuel as well.Catcher/First BasePaul Goldschmidt FD - 1B 3700 DK - 1B 4000 Opponent - PIT (Steven Brault) Park - STLFD - 14.13 DK - 10.64Goldy has been disappointing for season-long fantasy players but he's too good of a player to be priced this cheaply. We're talking about a guy who has a .426 OBP, .585 SLG and 1.011 OPS against left-handers for his career. Those are simply absurd numbers and his recent form only adds to his intrigue. Over his last 16 games, Goldy has seven homers and 15 RBI en route to a 1.000 OPS. This...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 8/10/19 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! Pitchers Patrick Corbin FD - P 9800 DK - SP 11200 Opponent - NYM (Noah Syndergaard) Park - NYM FD - 37.35 DK - 20.49 Two of the best pitchers on the main slate are unfortunately facing one another tonight, and while Vegas sees this as essentially a pick 'em, our projection system seems to prefer Corbin. It's not too difficult a case to make, as the left handed Corbin strikes out far more batters en route to an xFIP .3 better than Syndergaard's number. In spite of the Mets' recent hot streak, it's still not a terrible match-up. Many of the Mets' best hitters (Cano, Conforto, McNeil) are left handed, and getting them on the worse side of their platoon is meaningful here. Jake Odorizzi FD - P 8000 DK - SP 8800 Opponent - CLE (Adam Plutko) Park - MIN FD - 29.04 DK - 15.45 We're getting some great prices on Odorizzi here, who's become something of a darling for our projection system in the last few months. For starters, he's very obviously affordable, which is often all we really need to run him out there in the pitcher two slot. He also possesses some strong skills for fantasy purposes - he's striking out more batters than ever while walking fewer than ever, and posting a solid 3.61 ERA. xFIP would have you believe he's quite a bit worse than this thanks to his perennial battle to be the league's most fly-ball heavy pitcher, but what it means for our purposes is that he's a high ceiling option with potential blowup risk. The Twins are modest -158 favorites against the Indians here, who present almost exactly a league average match-up for Odorizzi. I think he's a strong option on DraftKings, if too risk to mess with on FanDuel. Also considered: There is no line on this game at the moment, but Charlie Morton is in a great spot against the Mariners, who own the league's 5th highest K rate against right handed pitching. Depending on who starts for Seattle and where this line lands he could very well wind up being the best big money play on the slate. Also considered: Aaron Sanchez, if you believe that the Astros may have salvaged his career. Again, too expensive on FanDuel, but an interesting pitcher two option on DraftKings. Catcher/First Base Yasmani Grandal FD - C 3400 DK - C 4100 Opponent -...