DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 6/1/19 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 Jacob deGrom FD - P 9900 DK - SP 9400 Opponent - ARI (Zack Greinke) Park - ARI FD - 40.24 DK - 22.93 Justin Verlander FD - P 11900 DK - SP 11900 Opponent - OAK (Brett Anderson) Park - OAK FD - 41.09 DK - 23.09 If two DFS plays have ever been cut from such a similar cloth, it doesn't exactly spring to mind. Let's give you the tale of the tape. This year, Justin Verlander has averaged 6.58 innings pitched per start with a 10.78 K/9 and a 1.93 BB/9. His xFIP is 3.62 thanks to generating ground balls on just 35.7% of the balls put into play against him. Jacob deGrom has averaged 5.72 IP per start with 11 K/9 and a 2.57 BB/9, but his xFIP is slightly lower at 3.40 thanks to a slightly higher 43.3% ground ball rate. He's arguably the slightly better pitcher overall, but he's not going as deep into games. And then there's match-ups. The D-Backs have a .313 wOBA against righties this season, and the A's trail with a .312 wOBA. The Diamondbacks strike out slightly more with a 23.0% K rate as opposed to the A's 20.2%. Things slightly point deGrom here, but the extra distance Verlander has been able to go really does matter for both the raw points and the likelihood of snagging a win. We've made it this far and not discussed their respective prices, though. By now you've realized that when two plays are this similar, price is going to often win the day. I'll go ahead and take deGrom and the savings, but I wouldn't mind running both on DraftKings. Zack Greinke FD - P 10000 DK - SP 9200 Opponent - NYM (Jacob deGrom) Park - ARI FD - 37.15 DK - 20.18 You're pretty unlikely to run Greinke alongside deGrom, but is this really a crazy play for big tournies? The 35 year old Greinke is pretty much the same (excellent) pitcher he's been over the last two seasons. The K's are down slightly, but he's walking exactly no one, and he's going deep into games as a result. His 3.37 xFIP is actually better than his career numbers, and he just looks terrific. And then there's his match-up. The Mets own the league's 19th best wOBA against righties with the 12th highest strikeout rate, which puts them squarely in the "solid match-up"...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday 5/30/19 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 Mike Minor FD - P 9200 DK - SP 10300 Opponent - KC (Jake Junis) Park - TEX FD - 31.87 DK - 16.56 Minor is an excellent case study of a pitcher who went from being targeted against for stacking to a no doubt ace all in one season. The biggest change was the approach as he is throwing fewer fastballs(49-42%) and more curves(11-16%) and changeups(19-24%) which have generated a 12% and 15% swinging strike rate respectively. Through 11 starts, he has held opponents to two or fewer runs eight times leading a very impressive 2.55 ERA and while the xFIP(4.07) is higher leading us to believe regression is coming, I don't think there is much as his expected stats suggest(.349 SLG/.349 xSLG, .282 wOBA/.288 xwOBA). The matchup also stands out tonight as the Royals have really struggled against lefties with a .277 wOBA(27th), 69 wRC+(28th), and .122 ISO(27th) while striking out 24% of the time. All things considered, Minor is my top pitcher in all formats. Hyun-Jin Ryu FD - P 11000 DK - SP 11200 Opponent - NYM (Jason Vargas) Park - LAD FD - 42.73 DK - 23.55 Ryu has been one of the most efficient pitchers in baseball this season leading the league with an elite 1.65 ERA that is also backed up by a tidy 2.81 xFIP. While we usually associate the Dodgers with "pitch count risk", that just hasn't been the case for Ryu who is averaging 96 pitches and seven innings per start(excluding the start he was pulled with a groin injury). The Mets have been better against left-handed pitching(.335 wOBA, 113 wRC+) but Pete Alonso has cooled off as of late and Brandon Nimmo is on the 10-day IL. Those are two of the leaders in the split. The Dodgers open as -225 home favorites in this one and Ryu is most definitely in play in all formats. Also Consider: Chris Sale(BOS) as a GPP pivot in a tougher matchup in Yankee Stadium. The good news is that he has found his rhythm and has posted a 2.44 ERA/2.81 xFIP with a 41.8% K rate over his last seven starts. Catcher/First Base Roberto Perez FD - C 2500 DK - C 3700 Opponent - CHW (Manny Banuelos) Park - CHW FD - 9.85 DK - 7.44 The Indians are in a terrific spot tonight facing Manny Banuelos who has really struggled lately. He has...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 5/29/19 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 Blake Snell FD - P 11800 DK - SP 11300 Opponent - TOR (Trent Thornton) Park - TB FD - 44.75 DK - 25.31 Snell stumbled a bit when he returned from a foot injury allowing nine earned runs to the Royals across two start but since then has been back to his elite self. He has allowed just 15 hits and four earned runs in his last four starts(24.1 IP) while striking out 37(40.2%) and walking just six(6.5%). Even with those couple bad starts, he still sits with a 3.07 ERA and much better 2.58 xFIP and while the wOBA against(.268) is very impressive, the xwOBA(.242) is even better. To top it off, he gets an elite matchup tonight vs. a Blue Jays team that ranks 27th in wOBA(.277) and wRC+(71) against left-handed pitching with a 26% K rate. Paying up for pitching has been a dicey proposition this season but I am fully confident in Snell in this spot and he is easily my top pitcher in all formats. Madison Bumgarner FD - P 9700 DK - SP 9900 Opponent - MIA (Pablo Lopez) Park - MIA FD - 35.59 DK - 18.48 He doesn't exactly have the best offense behind him which has limited his wins in 2019but outside of that he has been a very consistent fantasy producer. He has gone at least 5 2/3 innings in each of his 11 starts, is striking out over a batter per inning(25%) and walking just 4.6% of batters. Like Snell, MadBum also gets a plus matchup against a team who struggles against lefties ranking dead last in wOBA(.259) and wRC+(62) in the split. The only concern here is that the Marlins K much less(20%) against southpaws but all things considered, Bumgarner is my top PTS/$ value at pitcher on this slate. Catcher/First Base Rhys Hoskins FD - 1B 4400 DK - 1B 4900 Opponent - STL (Genesis Cabrera) Park - PHI FD - 14.2 DK - 10.58 The Phillies are in a great spot tonight as they will be facing rookie Genesis Cabrera making his major-league debut. Never heard the name? There is likely a reason as he posted a 4.00+ ERA through AA, and through seven starts(nine appearances) in AAA this season he has posted a 6.35 ERA/6.37 xFIP while walking over 10% of batters he faces. That won't equate well in the majors and especially not against a Phillies...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday 5/26/19Now’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!The first thing we need to check before any slate is the weather and we have plenty of questionable forecasts here. In fact, we need to key in on Washington, Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City and Los Angeles. All of those teams have rain projected in the forecast and you need to keep an eye on that prior to lineup lock. PitchersZack Wheeler FD - P 9500 DK - SP 8600 Opponent - DET (Spencer Turnbull) Park - NYMFD - 38.91 DK - 20.56Wheeler hasn't been the most consistent pitcher for the Mets this season but we absolutely love him against an offense like this. Let's start with Wheeler, as his 4.74 ERA and 1.37 WHIP is not indicative of how good he's been. In fact, Wheeler is posting a .299 xwOBA, 3.20 FIP and 26 percent K rate. Those numbers tell us that he has some positive regression headed his way and facing the Tigers is a good way to start that. So far this season, Detroit ranks 29th in both K rate and runs scored while ranking 28th in wOBA. That's why Wheeler enters this game as a -190 favorite. Kenta Maeda FD - P 9200 DK - SP 9500 Opponent - PIT (Chris Archer) Park - PITFD - 33.53 DK - 17.96Maeda is personally one of my favorite pitchers in the league and he's hard to fade in a stellar matchup like this. The Pirates are simply one of the best matchups in baseball, with Pittsburgh sitting 27th in runs scored and 22nd in wOBA. That's really no surprise when you consider the fact that PNC is one of the best pitcher's parks in the Majors. That means you always have to target pitchers against the Pirates, especially guys like Maeda. In three of his last four starts, Maeda hasn't allowed a single run while collecting 27 Ks across 23.2 innings. You'll want to tread cautiously since he is coming back off of the IL here, but the Dodgers were already cautious with him, so I doubt it changes too much. Still, he isn't going to be as safe as Wheeler.Jack Flaherty has been inconsistent so far this season but he has too much potential to be priced at just $8,100 on FanDuel. Catcher/First BaseMax Muncy FD - 1B 3400 DK - 1B/2B 4600 Opponent - PIT (Chris Archer) Park - PITFD - 12.48 DK - 9.29Muncy has been making minced meat of righties since joining the...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 5/25/19 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 Hyun-Jin Ryu FD 11000 DK 11200 Opponent - PIT (Joe Musgrove) Park - PIT FD - 39.61 DK - 21.77 There's no way to put this delicately: Hyun-Jin Ryu is now one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues. It's very rare to find a pitcher who can walk fewer than a single batter per 9 innings, and even more rare to find one that can pair that with striking out more than a batter per inning. Ryu is doing both right now. And even with the Dodgers conservative approach, this hyper-efficient approach is letting him stay in games for 6.5 innings per start as well. This also happens to be basically a perfect match-up for his skill set as well, with the Pirates holding the league's 3rd lowest wOBA vs. left handed pitching this season thanks to their league lowest 5% walk rate. Ryu should cruise here once again. Tyler Skaggs FD 7400 DK 7300 Opponent - TEX (Mike Minor) Park - TEX FD - 29.78 DK - 15.58 So let's get one thing out of the way before we even write these guys up. This is a tough slate to find a second pitcher on. Instead of paying more for only slightly better options, our system is throwing up its hands and suggesting that we should potentially chase solid pitchers in very difficult circumstances. We'll start with Skaggs. He's undoubtedly been worse this season, and after last year's mini-breakout Angels fans have to be at least a little bit disappointed. Still, he's pitched just 40 innings so far this season, and most of his bad ERA can be attributed to one truly terrible start against Detroit. He actually managed these Rangers well in the one time they faced this season, putting together 6.1 innings of 1 ER ball on 5 Ks and 1 BB. You don't want to trust a one game sample any more than you want to trust a 40 IP sample, but it's something. Pitching in Texas is different than pitching in Anaheim, of course, and this is far from a 'safe' play. But at these prices? You can make a case for it. Kyle Freeland FD 6000 DK 5500 Opponent - BAL (Andrew Cashner) Park - BAL FD - 29.6 DK - 15.09 And then there's Freeland. After a season where Freeland dodged bullets like Neo in the Matrix to a 17-7 record and a 2.85...