Welcome to Monday, everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend. We have a new best team in baseball after the Dodgers swept the Braves over the weekend claiming the best record in baseball. We also have our first big trade of the season, with the San Diego Padres acquiring Luis Arraez from the Miami Marlins. Let’s start this week strong again and build some more winning MLB DFS lineups!

 

 

 

It is a travel day today for a handful of teams, giving us a smaller slate. Unfortunately, there are no afternoon games, so we will just get dialed into tonight’s 6-game main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel, starting at 7:40 PM ET.

 It should be another great day of baseball, even with the smaller slate of games, and let’s dive right into it through today’s playbook and some of my favorite MLB DFS picks for the day!

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, May 6

MLB Weather Today, 5/6

Some thunderstorms are rolling in starting around 7 PM today. Keep a close eye on this one. It includes some of my favorite plays, so we will be following it very closely. 

MLB DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

Walker Buehler is making his season debut today. While I am a fan of Buehler and excited for him to get on the mound, he isn’t coming in at any discount today. Justin Steele is also making his return, making his second start of the season coming back from the IL. Both are great pitchers, but I am probably avoiding their first start, considering the price they are coming in at. 

The pitching does not run deep today. I am most likely just plugging Luis Castillo and Cole Ragans into every lineup and moving on, but I have also highlighted my favorite cheap options today in Andrew Heaney and Simeon Woods Richardson in case you want to save some money for your offense. I’m still comfortable grabbing some Oakland and Seattle bats today if you aren’t trying to turn to those two for cheap pitching today, though. 

For the offensive side, some of my favorite lineups to target today include the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Kansas City Royals.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

Best Odds For A Win

 

 

 

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Luis Castillo, Seattle Mariners

Luis Castillo continues to be one of the best pitchers in the league. He gave up 4 runs in each of his first three starts (though it still came with an average of 6 strikeouts a game), but since then, he has an over 32% strikeout rate with a 0.77 WHIP and has only given up 4 runs in 26 innings. This has also come with two starts with 7 innings and now earned runs, as well as two starts with 9 strikeouts. 

The Minnesota Twins have been scorching, but their win streak just came to an end. They still strike out over 24% of the time against right-handers. I would likely be playing Luis Castillo at this price against any team, but I think the matchup does favor him as well.

Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals

Cole Ragans is as big of an obvious play, if not bigger, than Luis Castillo. He is a dominant pitcher with an almost 29% strikeout rate and is getting what is probably his best matchup of the season. Likely, the only reason I am not playing Cole Ragans today is if the weather gets in our way. 

The Milwaukee Brewers have a 26% strikeout rate against left-handers and are also batting under .200 with a .198 batting average and a .630 OPS. Cole Ragans should easily shut the down today, and 6 strikeouts feel almost guaranteed, with his first double-digit strikeout game of the season very much in the cards today. 

Andrew Heaney, Texas Rangers

Listen, I don’t love this play, and as I said, I am likely just rolling with Castillo and Ragans and moving on, but Heaney does offer an intriguing punt play today. He hasn’t been awful this season, with a decent 1.10 WHIP, though a less ideal 5.10 ERA. He still has strikeout upside, and against the Oakland Athletics, he might be able to survive enough to get you a handful of strikeouts and secure the win today. 

Simeon Woods Richardson, Cleveland Guardian

Again, I don’t love this. However, if you are pivoting away from Luis Castillo, then you can consider Simeon Woods Richardson. The Twins just won 12 games in a row, and Woods Richardson provides decent strikeout potential in this game against the Mariners, who still lead the league in strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers. 

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Core MLB DFS Hitters

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

Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B Kansas City Royals

I think this is a good matchup for Vinnie P and the Royals today. Vinnie has slowed down a bit after his hot start to the season, but he is still showing great plate skills, striking out less than 10% of the time and drawing a ton of walks. 

He just broke out of a stretch of going hitless for 26 at-bats and is now on a nice little 5-game hitting streak, along with three doubles, 3 runs scored, and 5 RBIs. I see this as likely the beginning of another hot streak, and I am ready to jump back in. 

Josh Rojas, 3B Seattle Mariners

Josh Rojas is coming off a huge performance yesterday. He fell just a homer short of the cycle while also adding a walk and a stolen base. This is also his second straight game with three hits. He has been batting lead-off every day when they are facing a right-hander for over a week now, which really boosts his value.

I am happily going to keep paying for him while he is hitting this well in the leadoff spot and continues to be a very cheap option at third base. 

Bobby Witt, SS Kansas City Royals

Bobby Witt is the poster boy for steady production right now. Over the last 12 games, he has scored at least 10 DraftKings fantasy points in 10 of those games. Over that stretch of 12 games, he has 16 hits, 11 runs, 11 RBIs, and 7 stolen bases. All that production has come without a single homer which we know he will still hit his fair share of. 

Since I am likely playing to more expensive pitchers today, I can’t afford many top-end hitters, but if I can only get one top bat today, I am probably going to make it be Bobby Witt and can find values elsewhere. 

Brent Rooker, OF Oakland Athletics

He has three homers in his last three games, along with six total hits, five runs, and seven RBIs. Brent Rooker is red-hot right now, and Andrew Heaney (while acknowledging I have him in my favorites as a cheap strikeout option) does have a career 1.59 HR/9. Only five players in the majors have more home runs than Brent Rooker, and only seven players have a higher OPS. 

 

 

Player Pool

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