Happy May the 4th, MLB DFS fans—may the Force be with you! As we gear up for the Sunday, May 4th main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel, it’s time to tap into your inner Jedi and craft some stellar lineups. 

The Fantasy Alarm MLB DFS Playbook is your trusty lightsaber, cutting through the clutter to bring you the best picks, sneaky values, and game-plan tips. 

Whether you’re swinging for the fences in GPPs or playing it smart in cash games, let’s have some fun and build lineups that rule the galaxy!

 

 

This season's MLB DFS picks and playbook will consist of a pitcher and hitter core players section with written analysis, player pool grid and core stacks section.

The core player section should be used as a starting point for all lineups, you may not be able to use all players in the same lineup, but those players should be the building blocks for you on a given night.

The player pool grid will feature both players from the core player section along with additional plays to help you build a complete lineup. The grid will be broken into top priced players, mid-priced players and value tier players.

The stacks section will bring you our favorite lineups stacks for the day and which players we would look to include in those stacks based on matchups and pricing.

There will also be a daily MLB DFS Show with a variety of hosts ranging from myself, Jon Impemba, Howard Bender, and James Grande. The MLB DFS Show will give you an initial outlook on the day's MLB DFS slate and should give you a good base for the start of your research each day! 

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.

 

MLB DFS Picks & MLB Playbook

MLB Weather: Sunday, 5/4

Kansas City Royals vs Baltimore Orioles

  • Rain in the morning but shouldn't impact the game, maybe a potential delay to start if storm lingers.

Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees

  • Off and on showers through out the afternoon. These are divisional opponents so they could decide to reschedule for another day or just play through it.

San Diego Padres vs Pittsburgh Pirates

  • Thunderstorms the entire afternoon, will have to monitor closer to roster lock.

Arizona Diamondbacks vs Philadelphia Phillies

  • Maybe a delayed start but rain clears by late afternoon

Houston Astros vs Chicago White Sox

  • Showers throughout the afternoon and into the next morning. Probably just plays wet, maybe some in-game delays.
 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

We've made it back through the rotation for some of these teams which means top starters Garrett Crochet and Freddy Peralta take the mound as the top two priced starters. The last time these two were on the main slate they failed to deliver on their expensive tag. This slate also has some notable returning starters with Lance McCullers taking an MLB mound for the first time since 2022 and Ranger Suarez making his season debut for the Phillies.

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers

That was a quick price bump eh? The last time deGrom took the mound he was just $8,800 but after throwing six shutout innings against the A's in game where he was lifted after 65 pitches due to the Rangers massive lead and now having allowed just three total earned runs over his last 18.1 innings while striking out 20, the price is on the move.

Yes, the Mariners offense has looked good, driven by the power of Cal Raleigh and Jorge Polanco but if deGrom is “Back” then he's still about $1,000 too cheap.

JP Sears, Athletics

Sears has been pretty good this season, going 4-2 with a 2.94 ERA while striking out 30 over 33.2 innings.

The Marlins have some good power bats but they all come from the left side of the plate and with the southpaw Sears on the mound there should be an advantage here, especially with the A's being favorites to win on the moneyline.

Lance McCullers, Houston Astros

Listen, I understand the long injury history. I also understand the Astros will likely have him on some sort of pitch count but McCullers got up to 71 pitches in his final rehab start and he looked really good, striking out 16 over 12.2 innings which included five shutout innings in his final start.

The White Sox have been a popular team to pitch against in DFS and who doesn't love a feel good story?

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Umm, have you seen who is pitching on this slate? Kyle Gibson, Chris Paddack and Erick Fedde and that is just to start. 

There are plenty of elite hitting options today and really only the weather could make a major impact on the matchups we are looking to target here this afternoon.

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Kansas City Royals

Listen, I get that the Royals offense has let us down time and time again this season but did we not just see Kyle Gibson give up four homers to the first five batters he faced in his season debut?

Yes, the Royals are not the Yankees but Kyle Gibson is not a good pitcher and even in his prime days he was at best a middle of the rotation starter.

Load in some Bobby Witt, Vinny Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia here and run it back with the Royals.

Boston Red Sox

Looking for a team to spend up for? How about the Boston Red Sox with a home matchup against Chris Paddack. Alex Bregman continues to mash, Rafael Devers is swinging a hot stick and Jarren Duran is at the top of the lineup setting the table. 

New York Yankees

The last time we saw Taj Bradley against the Yankees as in Tampa Bay and he got knocked around for six runs on nine hits over 5.1 innings.

Aaron Judge homered again on Saturday and while Ben Rice is cooling down, Paul Goldschmidt continues to rake.

Don't sleep on this Yankees squad here this afternoon as Bradley is no stranger to giving up home runs and having the big blowup game.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Mets are calling up Blade Tidwell to make the start here on Sunday and Tidwell has been struggling at Triple-A this season, posting a 5.00 ERA over his first six starts.

Yes, he does have some nice strikeout upside but the Cardinals are not a huge strikeout team and will be sending a ton of lefties to the plate in his matchup.

Brendan Donovan, Victor Scott, Lars Nootbsar and Masyn Winn are my top priorities.

 

 

Player Pool

$ Tier {{pos.alias}}

Stacks

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