DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Monday 6/21/21 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 Yu Darvish FD - P 10000 DK - SP 10200 Opponent - LAD (Julio Urías) Park - SD FD - 37.88 DK - 20.96 It's a little odd to invest this much in a pitcher that's just a -116 favorite, but a tiny slate like this is going to bring us out of our comfort zone. Darvish's reputation is unimpeachable at this point. He's not quite the same pitcher he was in last year's abbreviated season, but honestly he had room to regress and still be dominant. He's still topping double-digit Ks/9 with excellent control, and going deep into games. The only issue here is the match-up, with the Dodgers ranking 2nd best in the Majors in wOBA. Still, if you want an ace today, Darvish is your guy. Tyler Mahle FD - P 8800 DK - SP 9800 Opponent - MIN (J.A. Happ) Park - MIN FD - 32.85 DK - 17.21 While no one would call Mahle a true-blue ace, he certainly has the upside of one. He's hit 45+ FanDuel points in each of his last three starts, including a 61 point outing in which he struck out 12 Brewers. Minnesota is no great match-up either, but they are "just" a top 10 offense, and if you want a little savings Mahle isn't an outrageous pivot from Darvish (or more realistically a pitcher 2 on DK). The rest: Kyle Gibson will get some attention today, but he hasn't been nearly as dominant as his ERA suggests. Urias is basically a poor man's Darvish at the same price, so I don't see myself playing him on FD (though you can make a case for playing both on DK). Catcher/First Base Willson Contreras FD - C 2600 DK - C 4100 Opponent - CLE (Aaron Civale) Park - CHC FD - 12.83 DK - 9.64 Anthony Rizzo FD - 1B 3000 DK - 1B 5000 Opponent - CLE (Aaron Civale) Park - CHC FD - 13.64 DK - 10.21 There's a theme running through today that will avail itself to you shortly, but I'll just give it away now: we're stacking this Cubs/Indians game. With a 10.5 run total, this game's number is a full run above every other game on the slate. And with good reason! These are two good offenses, and two sub-par pitchers. We'll start with Civale, who is in the Majors solely due to...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Sunday 6/20/21 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 Hyun-Jin Ryu FD - P 8500 DK - SP 8900 Opponent - BAL (Matt Harvey) Park - BALFD - 32.99 DK - 17.25 The strikeout stuff isn’t anything to write home about for the lefty Ryu, especially considering what some other starting pitchers have done with that stat this season. But he still has very good control and a 4:1 K:BB ratio. His solid 3.79 xFIP is thanks to a nearly 50% groundball rate, a big reason he’s able to keep the runs down and the ball in the park. The Orioles are below-average offense on the season and strike out around 24% of the time. This is a rough main slate for starting pitching with very little in the way of ace-level talent taking the mound. Ryu looks like a solid option. Taijuan Walker FD - P 9400 DK - SP 9400 Opponent - WSH (Patrick Corbin) Park - WSHFD - 31.35 DK - 16.09 Walker’s been a nice surprise for the Mets this season, posting a 2.12 ERA and striking out more then 9.5 batters per nine control still isn’t perfect and the 3.58 xFIP points to plenty of good luck on his side. Some of that has come in the form of a lower .246 BABIP which is likely set to come up over the course of the rest of the season. He’s a slight, -132 favorite on the road against the Nationals but the run line at eight is one of the lowest on the board. The story here is that the pitching on the afternoon slate is just pretty bad so we need to take what we can get. Consider Nathan Eovaldi (FD $8900 DK $8300) against the Royals Catcher/First Base Yuli Gurriel FD - 1B 3000 DK - 1B 4400 Opponent - CHW (Dallas Keuchel) Park - HOUFD - 12.23 DK - 9.38 Gurriel is having a great season at the plate with an OPS sitting right around .900 thanks to a lot of patience and some power as well. He’s walking (11%) more than he’s striking out (9%) and has 10 home runs on the season. That all lines up great facing Dallas Keuchel who’s peripherals are abysmal striking out only 5.26 batters per nine. Sure, he generates a lot of groundballs still, but the xFIP is in the 4’s. This is a good spot for the Astros. After Gurriel, the options are pretty...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Friday 6/18/21 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 Trevor Bauer FD - P 10500 DK - SP 10600 Opponent - ARI (Caleb Smith) Park - ARI FD - 44.03 DK - 24.18 Looking at the top-tier pitchers tonight, both Rodon and Burnes have better xFIP's and K rates but it's Bauer who I like the most tonight and it really comes down to matchup. He gets to face a D-backs team that has dropped 14 straight while averaging just 3.5 runs per game and in terms of wRC+ they are 18% worse against right-handed pitching. All things considered, Bauer is my top payup at pitcher on this slate. José Berríos FD - P 9000 DK - SP 8500 Opponent - TEX (Mike Foltynewicz) Park - TEX FD - 31.97 DK - 17.33 With the other top-priced pitchers in either tough matchups(Rodon vs. HOU) or terrible pitching environments(Burnes in Coors) my choice at SP2 is pretty easy here with Jose Berrios. The Twins are early -160 favorites against a bottom-five offense in the Rangers that has been even worse lately losing 16 of their last 19 games while averaging a league-low 3.5 runs per game during that stretch. For Berrios, he has been very consistent all season with a 3.49 ERA/.340 xFIP and has held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in three of his last four starts. All things considered, Berrios is my top pitcher on this slate.   Catcher/First Base Jared Walsh FD - 1B 3600 DK - 1B 5500 Opponent - DET (Jose Urena) Park - LAA FD - 11.87 DK - 8.9 The decision to release Pujols was in large part to Walsh needing more playing time at first. While the average(.254) has been lower than expected since Pujols departure, Walsh does have nine home runs and 25 RBI in that time. What I like best here is the elite matchup against Jose Urena(5.16 ERA/4.98 xFIP) and had given up a .306 average and .356 wOBA to lefties. Fire up Walsh in all formats. Daniel Vogelbach FD - 1B 3700 DK - 1B 4500 Opponent - COL (Antonio Senzatela) Park - COL FD - 11.44 DK - 8.46 For value at first base, it is hard to ignore the price on Vogelbach as the Brewers continue their series in Coors Field. What stands out more than the park factor is the fact he has been red hot in June with hits in 10 of...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Thursday, 6/17/21 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 Joe Musgrove FD - P 8500 DK - SP 8900 Opponent - CIN (Wade Miley) Park - SD FD - 38.73 DK - 21.21 Musgrove looks fantastic on a slate where a lot of the other big name pitchers have question marks. His team is a -163 favorite in a game with just a 7 run total against the Cincinnati Reds. He's maintained a 12 K/9 after last year's breakout season, and he's posting a career best 1.75 BB/9. If there's one fly in the ointment it's relatively tough match-up with the Reds, but if Vegas isn't scared then I'm not either. Jose Urquidy FD - P 7500 DK - SP 7900 Opponent - CHW (Dylan Cease) Park - HOU FD - 32.66 DK - 16.99 Urquidy is not a conventional cash game play, but he does have a lot going for him here. His excellent 1.6 BB/9 walkrate helps him go deep into games, finishing 7 innings in three of his last six starts. His lack of big time strikeout stuff can get him chased on occasion, though, so there is certainly blowup potential. The White Sox are a tough match-up, but they are considerably better against left handed pitching, and I'm considering rolling the dice with Urquidy in my pitcher 2 slot on DraftKings. Also considered: Stroman and Ohtani. I don't trust Stroman's recent strikeout surge, though, and Ohtani hasn't been going super deep into games when coming off the mound. I prefer the above options as a result. Catcher/First Base Vladimir Guerrero Jr. FD - 1B 4400 DK - 1B 5900 Opponent - NYY (Michael King) Park - TOR FD - 12.84 DK - 9.74 It's amazing how young players can go from struggling to superstar in such a short period of time. I can't remember an explosion like this since Mike Trout went from zero to hero in a single year, but Guerrero seems to be up to the task. He's lapping the field in WAR, leads the league in homers, OBP, and SLG, and all of this at age 22. The bad news is that he'll be facing Michael King today. Just kidding. King is a journeyman type that projects as a long reliever, and Vlad should eat him for breakfast. Gary Sánchez FD - C 3000 DK - C 4800 Opponent - TOR (Undecided) Park - TOR FD - 11.16 DK - 9.12...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Wednesday 6/16/21 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 Early Lucas Giolito FD - P 10000 DK - SP 9900 Opponent - TB (Ryan Yarbrough) Park - CHW FD - 38.24 DK - 20.68 The early slate gives us a choice between two ace pitchers in average-at-best matchups and while the system has Peralta slightly ahead I personally lean Giolito. There have been a few starts that have gotten away from him but he has been consistent lately with a 2.86 ERA/3.55 xFIP while striking out 31% of batters over eight starts since the start of May. While the overall matchups are almost identical, Giolito gets the edge as the Rays strike out 27% of the time overall(2nd most) and 26% vs. right-handed pitching(4th most). Fire up Gioito in all formats. Also Consider: Tyler Mahle(CIN) as a GPP pivot in a plus matchup against the Brewers who have a 83 wRC+ and 26% K rate vs. right-handed pitching Main Gerrit Cole FD - P 11000 DK - SP 10500 Opponent - TOR (Ross Stripling) Park - TOR FD - 46.14 DK - 26.36 The main slate also gives us a big choice to make at the top but I just can't fully trust deGrom will get his max innings after leaving early(80 pitches) in his last start. I also like the fact that Gerrit Cole has dropped below $11K on DraftKings for the first time in close to a month. While the K rate is down some(36.7%) it is still in elite territory and he has been consistent holding opponents to two or fewer earned runs in 11 of 13 starts(1 or less in 7 starts) this season. He has also had the Jays number holding them to just three earned runs over two starts with 16 strikeouts. All things considered, he is my top pitcher in cash games and my exposure in GPP will come down to deGrom status throughout the day. Also Consider: Clayton Kershaw(LAD) as a -150 favorite in a low total(7.5) game facing a Phillies team that strikes out 27.6% vs. left-handed pitching Catcher/First Base Early Matt Olson FD - 1B 3700 DK - 1B 5700 Opponent - LAA (Griffin Canning) Park - OAK FD - 11.98 DK - 8.88 The price is pretty much at its peak on DraftKings but first is pretty thin on the early slate and Matt Olson is not only having a breakout season, but he also gets an elite...