Hello and welcome to the MLB DFS Playbook for April 26! We have an 8-game slate on our hands today, so an in-between slate size. We have a 6:35 pm ET start time, so plenty of time to read over the playbook today! Make sure to check out our awesome MLB DFS tools as they are always worth going through before building your lineups. However, as I am sure you have figured out by now, the new playbook will be a one-stop shop that includes everything from easy-to-read player write-ups and suggestions to MLB Weather Reports to lineup construction tips to our best value plays for DraftKings and FanDuel. You will be given core plays around which to build your lineups, DFS stacks to consider for GPP tournaments and key statistics to help you in your DFS research. Let’s dive in! 

 

MLB DFS Playbook April 26

MLB Weather Updates

None. 

Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing out:

Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets (blowing out to LCF) 

Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing in:

None. 

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

Medium sized slates like this one are interesting. There are less players to consider, but still enough players (in comparison to a small slate like 4 games) to where exposure should still be spread out a good bit. I hate the pitching on this slate, but we will make it work! The top-three (price-wise) are Kodai Senga, Sandy Alcantara, and Bryce Elder. We do still have some nice stack options to pick from though, so let’s dive into it all! 

Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options for Strikeouts

Kodai Senga vs. Washington Nationals

Sandy Alcantara vs. Atlanta Braves

MacKenzie Gore vs. New York Mets

Best Odds for a Win

Patrick Sandoval (Los Angeles Angels -232)

Kodai Senga (New York Mets -210)

Bryce Elder (Atlanta Braves -155)

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Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups

I will start by repeating that the starting pitching on this slate sucks. I see a lot of people gravitating towards Bryce Elder and Patrick Sandoval tonight, but neither is super exciting to me. Elder has been lights-out this year… and still hasn’t scored over 25.9 dk points, so his upside bores me (good cash game play though, but I don’t see myself going that route in GPPs) and Sandoval hasn’t been exciting either and the A’s have smashed lefties, so it’s not a good matchup like you may think. Neither feels like a GPP winner to me, and if you’ve followed along with the way I play DFS, it’s not to try and min. cash, it’s to win big. Anyways, let’s get into some options I am interested in.

Kodai Senga, New York Mets

I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to fade Senga at this price tag, which works out great for the people who do choose to use him. Has he been struggling a bit lately? Sure. However, overall he still has a fine 4.29 ERA with 25 Ks across 21 innings of work. Strikeouts are how you win in DFS, so I want someone with strikeout upside. The Nationals lineup is terrible (26th in runs per game) and in Senga’s one game at home he looked great, pitching six innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts. 

Drew Smyly, Chicago Cubs

Smyly could also get overlooked because he is facing the Padres. While the Padres lineup is supposed to be death’s row for pitchers… it simply hasn’t been. They are 27th in runs per game this season… behind the Oakland A’s. Yikes. Smyly was obviously fantastic in his last outing as he came close to a perfect game, but he’s pitched well in three straight now. He has a solid strikeout total too, with 23 sKs across 23 innings of work this year. 

Steven Matz, St. Louis Cardinals

Matz has been bad, but his strikeout rate has been good with 24 Ks across 22 innings of work. More importantly, the Giants rank DEAD LAST in wOBA and wRC+ against lefties this season and have a 31.0% strikeout rate against them, which is just 2nd only to the Brewers. In other words, lefties have had their way with the Giants this season and Matz provides pretty strong upside at an extremely cheap price. 

Recommended DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

5.02 – Los Angeles Angels vs. Luis Medina

4.92 – Tampa Bay Rays vs. Hunter Brown

4.76 – New York Mets vs. MacKenzie Gore

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Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups

Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets

Alonso has gone a bit cold in recent days, but the monster is ready to come out. He has SMASHED lefties this season, slashing .333/.429/.867 against them with FIVE bombs in 30 at-bats. Today he faces Gore, who has pitched well thus far in a small sample, but righties did all of the damage against him last season with a .751 OPS and seven home runs, compared to the .619 OPS mark lefties produced with zero home runs. 

Michael Busch, 1B/2B, Los Angeles Dodgers

Busch made his MLB debut yesterday and had a nice game, going 1-3 with a walk, RBI, and run scored to finish with 9 dk points at the minimum price. He is a lefty and that is important because today he faces Roansy Contreras and lefties have demolished him this year; lefties are slashing a ridiculous .371/.439/.457 against him, compared to the .217/.308/.283 line righties have produced. I also like James Outman today, who would be the next player I would include here today if I bumped the number to six. 

Jeremy Pena, SS, Houston Astros

Pena is hot at the dish right now with four games of at least 14 DK points over his last six games. In fact, he is averaging 11.1 dk points over his last 10 games with two home runs and five steals in that span. He now has four home runs and six steals on the year. I love power/speed combos, especially when they are facing bad pitching like Josh Fleming. Righties have posted video-game like numbers against Fleming this year, slashing .371/.450/.400 against him. The Astros are probably my favorite stack today. 

Jarred Kelenic, OF, Seattle Mariners

Kelenic has been flat-out ridiculous this season and especially as of late. He is now hitting .342 on the season with seven home runs and three stolen bases. He is averaging 11.1 dk points per game over his last 10 games and 10.3 per game on the year, so why is he still so cheap? No clue, but let’s take advantage. Taijuan Walker is a good but not great pitcher, so he doesn’t strike any fear in me to fade away from Kelenic. 

Corey Julks, OF, Houston Astros

 As stated in Pena’s section, the Astros are probably my favorite stack today, so let’s look at another player I love in Julks. There is no reason for him to be this cheap. He is slashing .353/.371/.618 over his last 10 games and averaging 9.1 dk points per game in that span. He has two home runs and a stolen base in that timeframe and we saw a lot of that in the minors from him last season too. 

 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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