Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Victiv 8/29/15 Happy weekend, everyone! Well, it's a massive day of games today. Like we often do on multi-slate days, we'll give 1 play per position for the early slate, and 2-3 for the late slate depending on who's jumping off the page. If you want projections for every single player going today? Go ahead and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks. Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel, DraftKings, Victiv, and Yahoo.   Pitchers Corey Kluber - FD 11700 DK 12900 Victiv Opponent- LAA (Richards) R Park- @Cle All the big name pitchers today have a fairly tough match-up today, but the one I like best is Corey Kluber. Lester's got the Dodgers, who have the fourth best wOBA in the majors against LHP. Lance Lynn's got the Giants, who rank 6th in wOBA against righties. So, there's Kluber. Perennially underrated by casual fans, Kluber's ~2.70 xFIP over the last two seasons is phenomenal, and his 2.92 number for this year ranks 9th in the majors. He's a true ace, whatever his ERA suggests. And then there's the Angels. Did you know that, even including Mike Trout's ridiculous year, the Angels are 20th in the majors in wOBA against right handed pitching? That's just terrible. It also means the Angels are more reliant on Trout for scoring runs than you might realize - they can put up some bad games when his hits find gloves. I don't think there's a ton of upside here, but I'll play him in all my 50/50s. Jordan Zimmermann - FD 8700 DK 9500 Victiv Opponent- Mia (Koehler) R Park- @Was The boring, cheap answer if you don't think Kluber quite justifies the price tonight. Zimmermann's a tick above league average, but he plies his trade in a way that's not exactly exciting for fantasy purposes. He's got great control, below average put-away stuff, and really gets by on his consistency. But hey, if you're in a 50/50, consistency probably sounds pretty good! He'll also be facing the team against whom it's easiest to be consistent. The Marlins are dead last in the league in wOBA this season, and that number is buoyed by the 3 months they got out of Stanton. I'm not sure there's incredible upside here, but there actually might be if he just goes deep and gets the W against Koehler and the Marlins. Jeff Samardzija - FD 8600 DK 8300 Victiv Opponent- Sea (Iwakuma) R Park- @Cws If you want to take a shot on a little off-beat upside, I find Samardzija pretty intriguing....

Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Victiv 8/24/15 Happy Monday! A nice, small slate today. While this limits our options to some degree, we find short slates to be some of the very most profitable. The reason? The difference between the good plays, mediocre plays, and bad plays is that much bigger. Even still, I'll not be able to give every single good play on even a small slate like this. So, I'll do my best in highlighting whom I believe to be the elite plays. If you want the rest? Go ahead and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks. Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Victiv.   Pitchers Jacob deGrom - FD 11700 DK 12000 Victiv Opponent- Phi (Morgan) L Park- @Phi If there's a day to take off if you're looking for straight safety at the pitcher position, today might be the day. It's no slight to DeGrom - he's an excellent pitcher. His 2.98 xFIP, while it is a run higher than his 1.98 ERA, is still good for the 9th best in the majors. He's got a sparkling K rate, a stingy walk rate, and he's good at preventing the long ball. to make matters better, the Phillies really stink. Their .297 wOBA against right handed pitching is the 2nd worst in the majors. Also! Adam Morgan, the Phillies starter, really is pretty lousy. There's not a lot to complain about here... except the price. This is a lot to pay for a non Kershaw/Sale type, and really limits roster options elsewhere. Still, DeGrom is the clear 50/50 and double-up play from where I'm sitting, and I'll try to dig around for value elsewhere. Julio Teheran - FD 8500 DK 8100 Victiv Opponent- Col (de la Rosa) L Park- @Atl A huge step down from DeGrom in terms of absolute ability, but he's got some pretty solid points per dollar upside games on his track record. Teheran's taken a step back this season to be sure, but the 24 year old can still dial it up in the right match-up. I'd say this is that. While Colorado has the highest wOBA against right handed pitching in the majors this season, a lot of that has happened at home. On the road, they've got the second highest strike out rate in the majors (24.3%) and the league's 2nd lowest wOBA. Teheran can collapse on you, don't get me wrong, but there's also a chance he's the highest scorer at the position today, and he's priced in such a way that you can fit some nice...

Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, Victiv, and Yahoo 8/23/15 Full disclaimer - this is a massive slate, and there's no way I could ever possibly list every decent play today. So, I'll do my best in highlighting whom I believe to be the elite plays. If you want the rest? Go ahead and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks. Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel, DraftKings, Victiv, and Yahoo.   Pitchers Michael Wacha - FD 9200 DK 11000 Victiv Opponent- SD (Rea) R Park- @SD So, to be clear, we obviously like Clayton Kershaw best in terms of raw points projected for today's slate. And he's probably the safest option as well. But if you can't make a good lineup around Kershaw's incredibly high salary, I'd take a long look at Michael Wacha. Now, Wacha isn't a classic huge upside play. His 7.74 K/9 is nothing special, and he hasn't gone more than 7 innings in ages. So what gives? Well, first of all, the San Diego Padres give. They've got the 5th lowest wOBA and the 6th highest K% against right handed pitching this season, and are even worse than that at home. They also happen to be starting Colin Rea today. Rea had an xFIP over 4 in A+ ball last season, and was just OK in the minors in 2015. Great chance for a win, great chance for Wacha to pitch for a while, and do well along the way. I like him for any format. Clayton Kershaw - FD 13000 DK 14800 Victiv Opponent- Hou (McCullers) R Park- @Hou Yup, the big old elephant in the room every time he starts. The question is always whether or not you can afford him. I'll give you the pros and cons, and let you decide. The Astros strike out a lot against left handed pitching - their 22.9% rate is the 4th highest in the majors. They've put together the 10th highest wOBA against left handed pitching this season, but their .315 wOBA isn't terrifying or anything. Lance McCullers is a good pitcher, and a win isn't a forgone conclusion or anything. Still, the Astros' strike out rate and Kershaw's general awesomeness make him a fine cash game play, even if he's too expensive for big tournaments. Taijuan Walker - FD 6700 DK 7700 Victiv Opponent- CWS (Danks) L Park- @Sea Ah, your big tournament relief. Walker has a couple of monster starts under his belt this season, including a 23 FanDuel fantasy point performance against the Twins four starts ago. He's also got some average/bad starts. So,...

Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Victiv 8/22/15 Happy weekend, my friend. If you're new to DFSR, here's how the Saturday picks work. It'd be silly to give you a full set of picks for the tiny slate and the bigger later slate, so here's what I'll do. I'll go ahead and give you one guy to target in the early slate for each position, and a couple of top guys from the late slate. If you want the rest? Go ahead and have a free three day trial of our exclusive projection system that produces these picks. Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Victiv.   Pitchers Early Slate Danny Salazar - FD 9200 DK 11400 Victiv Opponent- NYY (Severino) R Park- @NYY Oy, the early slate is not pretty for top tier pitching. Both Salazar and the other top price option (Gerrit Cole) are up against very good offensive teams, so let me explain why I went with Salazar for my 50/50 games. Let's actually compare him straight up to Cole. The Giants are have a higher wOBA against right handed pitching and strike out less against RHP than the Yankees do. Chris Heston is a better pitcher than Luis Severino. On the other side, Cole is probably a better pitcher than Salazar straight up (though the gap is smaller than you think), and Yankee Stadium is a tougher place to pitch than Pittsburgh. Really, the likelihood that Salazar can get the W and his higher K rate are what push him to the top of the heap for me, here. He also scored 18 FanDuel fantasy points against the Yankees two starts ago. But no one will blame you if you just flip a coin. Late Slate Sonny Gray - FD 10700 DK 11600 Victiv Opponent- TB (Ramirez) R Park- @Oak If safety is your game, I'm all over Sonny Gray, here. The Rays have struck out at the 4th highest rate in the majors against right handed pitching, and have managed just the 3rd worst wOBA against righties. Oakland is a fantastic place to pitch, and while Erasmo Ramirez has improved, his 4.05 xFIP is still below league average. Gray isn't an ace's ace or anything - far from it. His 2.06 ERA is largely luck driven, but this is one of those cases where the excellent match-up makes up the difference between Gray's ERA inflated price and his true value. Let's be clear, though - this is strictly a 50/50 and double-up play. Carlos Rodon - FD 6800 DK 7100 Victiv Opponent- Sea (Nuno) L Park- @Sea Oh man,...

Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, Victiv, and Yahoo 8/17/15 Happy Monday, y'all! If you're new to this column, I'm going to give you a few plays at each position that you can consider in your daily fantasy baseball contests. Even though it's a short slate, I still won't be able to hit every acceptable play for the day. If you want the rest? Go ahead and get access to the exclusive projection system that produces these picks. Sign up now and get a free 3 day trial to our lineup construction tool for FanDuel, DraftKings, Victiv, and Yahoo.   Pitchers Gerrit Cole - FD 10200 DK 11200 Victiv Opponent- Ari (Hellickson) R Park- @Pit Alright, on a short slate, you're going to need to try and find some safety at the pitcher position in your double-ups and 50/50s. On Monday, that's going to mean grabbing the Pirates' ace at home against the Diamondbacks. Cole's a strike-out per inning guy with the 13th best xFIP in the major leagues, and he should have a good match-up with the perennially below league average Jeremy Hellickson. Today he'll be facing the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are one of those blessing/curse teams. The D-Backs have struck out at the 9th highest rate against opposing righties this season, but they've also put together the 10th highest wOBA. Worth noting, however, is that they'll be away from their friendly home hitter's environment and in the less friendly PNC Park. I'll take my chances with Cole on a day really lacking a pristine ace match-up. Andrew Heaney - FD 7100 DK 8600 Victiv Opponent- CWS (Rodon) L Park- @ana Alright, this one clearly lands strictly in big tournament punt territory, but if you want a cheap guy who could flash some upside, I'd take a look at Heaney. Heaney himself isn't a whole lot to look at. His sub 7 K/9 doesn't scream "high upside" or anything, so I'll need to explain a bit. When we're thinking about upside at the pitcher spot in daily fantasy baseball, we're thinking strictly in terms of points per dollar. If Heaney were to go 7 innings of shut out ball with 4 Ks and get a W, he'd score 15 points. This would be a great result on a $7,100 FanDuel salary. Not only is he cheap, he's also facing a team that really can't hit. The White Sox are dead last in the majors in wOBA against left handed pitching (an awful .276), and have struck out at the 11th highest rate. Like I said, a guy who gives up this much contact can't be said to be safe, but for big tourneys? Worth a shot....