Happy Monday FANation! We've had a great start to the MLB DFS Season and for those of you who are in the Discord: it has been great to see those wining screenshots come through! 

 

 

 

We kick off this new week with a nine-game main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel featuring a notable matchup between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies in Coors Field and the season debut for Blake Snell as a member of the San Francisco Giants as he faces the Washington Nationals.

So, with that said, make sure you check out the playbook below before you get your lineups in on DraftKings and FanDuel as we present to you our MLB DFS picks for today, April 8th.

Editor's Note: Make sure you subscribe to the Fantasy Alarm YouTube channel so you never miss a show! Also, join the Fantasy Alarm Discord to get your DFS lineup questions answered by our MLB DFS team! Plus, as always, be sure to check in with our MLB DFS Tools, with the Daily MLB Projections, MLB DFS Rostership Projections, and our MLB DFS Lineup Generator when building those lineups today to help you decide which players you should be targeting!

Check Out Today's MLB DFS Playbook Preview Show

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, April 8

MLB Weather Today, April 8

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Minnesota Twins

  • Potential for a delayed start given a rain system in the area but more information will be known closer to roster lock as to whether or not this game will actually be impacted by the wet weather.

MLB DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

So, on today's main slate we have Coors Field with a game total set at 10.5 between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies. We also have the Los Angeles Dodgers taking on Bailey Ober and the Atlanta Braves facing off against Julio Teheran. I highlight these matchups specifically because these are the games and teams projected to score the most runs on this slate. 

Looking at ownership, Blake Snell is the highest rostered starting pitcher on both platforms which means, if we follow the chalk, we are dedicating a big chunk of salary to the starting pitching position today.

If you watched the MLB DFS Preview Show, then you saw the lineup that Howard and I built which got us the exposure to the Coors Field game and the top starters. I honestly don't see myself straying too far off of that path but know that it is a VERY chalky build. 

Being different today means limiting your exposure to the Arizona Diamondbacks who are garnering most of the rostership across the board today.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

Best Odds For A Win

 

 

 

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Blake Snell, San Francisco Giants

Snell reached 74 pitches in his final extending spring training outing, striking out 11 over four innings of work. The competition isn't really what I'm taking away from this performance but rather the pitch count as his 74 pitches should be good enough for him to sit around the 90-pitch mark for his debut start against the Nationals here this evening. 

Snell has elite strikeout numbers but can get into trouble with the walks which often times limits how deep he can go into games. The Nationals this season have just a 19% strikeout rate against left-handed pitching, a trend they are carrying over from last season when they posted the second-lowest strikeout rate against southpaws in the league. 

That said, they don't face an elite swing and miss pitcher like Snell all too often so there is a case that can be made for an outlier pitching performance coming against Washington here this evening.

James Paxton, Los Angeles Dodgers

If you feel like fading the chalk tonight in Blake Snell, then take a look at James Paxton. The Dodgers lefty threw 97 pitches in his debut start for Los Angeles, tossing five shutout innings while striking out five and walking five. Yes, the five walks are not great here, but Paxton was otherwise strong in this outing against the Giants. 

We saw last season with the Red Sox some strong stretches of starts where he looked dominant, and the strikeout upside is still very present when he is on the mound. 

Unlike the Nationals who don't strikeout at all, the Minnesota Twins strikeout a ton, currently boasting a 25.9% strikeout rate against left-handed pitching this season which is in line with their mark of last season which sat at 25.2%, good for the fifth-highest team rate in baseball.

The Dodgers are heavy favorites this evening which also puts Paxton in a good spot to get the ever so important points for getting the win.

Zach Eflin, Tampa Bay Rays

Eflin was much sharper in his second start of the season as he tossed 6.1 innings against a strong Texas Rangers lineup while limiting them to just one run on five hits while striking out five. Tonight, he toes the rubber against the Los Angeles Angels, an offense that was just held in check by the Boston Red Sox starting rotation and lacks some punch once you get past Mike Trout and to some extent Taylor Ward.

Again, if you aren't looking to spend all the way up, Eflin and the Rays are -140 favorites on the moneyline tonight which puts Eflin in a good spot to get a win.

Jose Berrios, Toronto Blue Jays

Whelp, we were dead on balls accurate with our call that the top two rostered starting pitchers on this main slate would be Blake Snell and Jose Berrios. It only made sense that if you were spending up for Snell that you needed to pair him up with a value starting pitcher and the Mariners lineup has been one we've attacked this season due to their league high 29% strikeout rate.

Now, Berrios is not a huge strikeout pitcher and we saw what happens when he doesn't get the K's as he finished with just 10 fantasy points in his last outing despite tossing six innings of one run baseball. 

I'm hopeful that given the matchup here against the Mariners that we get a Berrios box score that looks a lot more like his season debut where he picked up the win and had six strikeouts over six innings for 21 fantasy points on DraftKings.

On FanDuel you have to love that he's gotten quality starts in both appearances as you get the QS bonus on that platform. 
 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Arizona Diamondbacks

Listen, yes, we have a stacks section below but I'm just throwing the entire Diamondbacks lineup here in the Core Play section today. They have the highest team implied run total today in the game with the highest game total on the board. No shocker here that Coors Field brings the offense, and they face lefty Kyle Freeland whom they lit up on Opening Day. 

As a team the Diamondbacks rank second in batting average, third in wOBA and third in SLG% against left-handed pitching this season.

Ketel Marte, Christian Walker and Lourdes Gurriel will lead most stacks, but you can also save some money with Randall Grichuk, Blaze Alexander and Eugenio Suarez.

Corbin Carroll can be used as well; he is expensive, and this will start as a lefty vs lefty matchup for him.

Max Muncy, 3B Los Angeles Dodgers

Again, with everyone playing the Diamondbacks we have to look other places to be different and the Dodgers are a team that you can get different with. That said, if you wanted to play the DBacks chalk AND include a one-off play from another team then I do like Muncy here at third base. 

He hits in the middle of this Dodgers lineup, has home run upside and faces a righty in Bailey Ober that was hammered for eight runs over 1.1 innings in his debut start against the Royals. Muncy is coming off a game where he went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.

Michael Harris, OF Atlanta Braves

I was super high on Harris entering this season and when righties are on the mound, he hits in the middle of this Braves lineup that is expected to be among the highest run scoring teams on the slate tonight. Harris is starting to heat up as well, homering yesterday and collecting two hits the day prior to that as well. 

Lefties owned a .452 slugging percentage last season off Teheran who allowed 1.8 HR/9 to lefty hitters while posting an xFIP of 5.11.

Jeremy Pena, SS Houston Astros

Picking and choosing where we are spending our money on this slate, Pena continues to be a great value at the shortstop position. When a lefty is on the mound, we've seen him hit as high as sixth in the Astros lineup and he is already showing some of the power/speed upside that he's shown over his first two seasons in the league. 

Houston is another offense that ranks among the highest when it comes to expected team run total today and a one-off play of Jeremy Pena can help save you some salary while getting exposure to some of the more expensive, chalkier options on the slate.

 

 

 

Tune Into Today's MLB DFS Playbook Live Show At 4pm ET

ROSTER LOCK UPDATES

Framber Valdez: Reports that Framber Valdez has been scratched tonight for the Astros and right-handed pitcher Blair Henley is being called up.  This news obviously puts the Rangers back in play for tonight.

Willson Contreras: Cardinals have scratched Contreras from the lineup and Ivan Herrera is starting and hitting 5th.

Player Pool

$ Tier {{pos.alias}}

Stacks

{{stack.team.name}} {{player.name}}
DraftKings {{player.fantasy.price.value[8]}}-
Fanduel {{player.fantasy.price.value[6]}}-