Happy Friday and happy Tortured Poets Department Day for those who celebrate! After only four games getting played yesterday, we are back to a full slate of games today. Hopefully, you all survived a day without much baseball. 

I luckily spent it watching Paul Skenes pitch in AAA where he was dominant, hitting 102 MPH and sitting 100 with a good slider and changeup, he had 8 strikeouts in 3 innings; don’t be surprised if he is involved in upcoming MLB DFS picks within the next few weeks. For now, though, we get to turn our attention to today’s exciting slate of games to build some more winning MLB DFS lineups!

 

 

 

We’ve got a 10-game main slate today on DraftKings and FanDuel that will get underway at 7:05 ET, so we're back to our traditional large evening slate after a couple of days of short slates. 

If you have been following along, we have had a great week, and if you are new? Welcome, and let’s keep the good week rolling with some more winning plays. With that said, let’s jump right into today’s playbook and some of my favorite MLB DFS picks for the day! 

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, April 19

MLB Weather Today, 4/19

  • Seattle Mariners vs. Colorado Rockies
    • There is some rain this afternoon that looks to be turning to snow sometime in the evening. Unfortunately, you may want to consider avoiding Coors Field today.

MLB DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

This is an interesting slate. There are a lot of the top pitchers I want to avoid, but I still have quite a few plays that I really like today. I think that Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and Sean Manaea are way too expensive today, and you shouldn’t be paying that much for what they will likely bring today. I would also make sure to avoid Triston McKenzie, who is apparently dealing with a torn ligament, so I want nothing to do with him right now. 

On the offensive side, some of the best lineups to target today include the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, and Milwaukee Brewers.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

Best Odds For A Win

 

 

 

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins

Joe Ryan has been about as dominant as Freddy Peralta has been. He just struck out 12 against the Detroit Tigers and now gets to face them again. I am not guessing the Tigers will fare much better the second time around. 

Ryan is an ace with as much upside as Freddy Peralta and Yoshinobu Yamamoto today, but you get him for over $1,000 cheaper. Joe Ryan is basically an automatic play for me today as the clear best value on today's slate.

Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers

Recycling what I wrote for him before his start got delayed by the weather. Freddy Peralta has been incredible to start the season. Through his first 17.2 innings, he has a 2.55 ERA and a 0.68 WHIP, but more importantly, he leads the league in K-BB% at 36.4%, which is absurd. So far, he has 26 strikeouts and only 2 walks. 

The St. Louis Cardinals aren’t a terrible offense, but he just decimated the Orioles with 11 strikeouts through 6 innings, so I really am not worried about who he is facing. 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Mets have not been good against right-handers this season, and Yamamoto has looked very good. If you throw out that inning he threw in South Korea, Yamamoto has a 0.80 WHIP with a 33% strikeout rate.

He needs to elevate his fastball a little more and avoid those homers he gave up against the Padres in his last outing, but I don’t think it will be long before we see a double-digit strikeout game from Yamamoto, and well I lean to Ryan and Peralta as my favorite duo, I am also willing to pay the top price to get Yamamoto in a lineup today. 

Jack Flaherty, Detroit Tigers

Obviously, I already said Joe Ryan is my favorite value on the slate, and while I don’t love playing two sides of the same game in a tournament, it’s definitely viable in cash games or if your lineup build needs to save money you can pivot from Ryan to Flaherty. 

Minnesota has the second-highest strikeout rate against right-handers and the worst OPS. Flaherty has pitched at least 6 innings in each start and is averaging over 6 strikeouts a game. 

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Core MLB DFS Hitters

*Note: Will Be Updated As Official Starting Lineups Are Released

Josh Naylor, 1B Cleveland Guardians

Josh Naylor has really established himself as a quality clean-up-hitting first baseman for the Guardians. He has the second-best OPS among first basemen this season, behind only the red-hot Michael Busch. Josh Naylor has awesome plate skills, with as many walks as he has strikeouts so far this season. 

He strikes out less than almost anyone in baseball, and the fact that those plate skills come with power as well, with a .569 slugging and 4 homers so far, is even better. This lefty-heavy lineup should cause problems for Joe Boyle today, who has not been good against left-handed batters so far in his handful of starts at the major league level.

Ketel Marte, 2B Arizona Diamondbacks

I’m not moving off Ketel Marte, who was in my last playbook as well, in which he ended up going 3 for 4 with a double and a homer. He was held to only one hit last night, but that was against a right-hander and the Giant's best pitcher, Logan Webb, who is an ace. 

Sure, he is facing the reigning Cy Young today in Blake Snell, but Snell has given up 10 runs in his first 7 innings this season along with a 1.86 WHIP, and most importantly, he is a left-hander. Also, before you come after me for Marte’s poor career numbers against Snell, I really don't care about BvP numbers much at all. It is only 24 at-bats, and it takes well over 10 times that many for most offensive stats to stabilize. 

Willy Adames, SS Milwaukee Brewers

So far, it looks like Willy Adames is having a bounce-back season. With an almost exact .300/.400/.500 slash line right now (.308/.400/.508), he has been fantastic. More importantly, it has come with a reduced strikeout rate and an increased walk rate, both of which are career bests right now. 

Kyle Gibson has given up 5 home runs through his first 19 innings, and Willy Adames is an even better hitter against right-handers. Against Gibson, the Brewers might be a sneaky contrarian stack option, but Adames is also a viable one-off play in this spot. 

Marcell Ozuna, OF Atlanta Braves

Marcell Ozuna still hasn’t gone hitless since opening day. His hit streak is now all the way up to 16, and he hasn’t had a three-game stretch without a home run all season. He is tied for the league lead in homers with Mike Trout and leads the league in slugging percentage. 

The Braves face Andrew Heaney today, who probably belongs in the Rangers bullpen at this point. The hit streak will end eventually, but I don’t think it will happen today. I have, like Marte, also highlighted Ozuna in a playbook earlier this week but don't fix what isn't broken.   

 

 

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