Happy Thursday! Today we will be focused on the early slate kicking off at 12:20 EST on DraftKings and FanDuel, consisting of 6 games on DraftKings but only 4 games on FanDuel. We will mostly be focused on the DraftKings games for the playbook but be sure to check out the cheat sheet at the bottom for FanDuel-focused plays. Shohei Ohtani takes the mound today against the Oakland Athletics, but his price continues to rise, so if you want to start him, you have to be prepared to keep things cheap elsewhere. The Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, and San Diego Padres are some of my favorite offenses today with the pitchers they are facing. 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 Playbook April 27

MLB Weather Updates

There is some rain in Philadelphia this morning but shouldn’t have much of an impact on the Seattle Mariners v Philadelphia Phillies game.

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

Shohei Ohtani against the Oakland Athletics is a dream come true for fantasy, but his DFS price reflects that, with him being $11,100 on DraftKings. You can try to find some other values to fit him in the lineup still, but there are also some other great places to go for pitching, including my two favorite plays of the day, highlighted below. There are plenty of good options across the hitting pool, with not a ton of aces taking the mound today outside of Ohtani and Julio Urias. I think the best route for construction is to either go Ohtani and one of the cheaper pitching options or go two cheaper pitchers and stack up your offense, but I am not a big fan of the higher-priced pitching options outside of Ohtani. 

Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options for Strikeouts

Shohei Ohtani vs Oakland Athletics

Logan Webb vs St. Louis Cardinals

Julio Urias vs Pittsburgh Pirates

Matt Strahm vs Seattle Mariners

Best Odds for a Win

Shohei Ohtani vs Oakland Athletics

Kyle Wright vs Miami Marlins

Julio Urias vs Pittsburgh Pirates

Seth Lugo vs Chicago Cubs

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Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups

George Kirby, Seattle Mariners

George Kirby has been super consistent so far this year with a 3.57 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP and has thrown three straight quality starts. The only thing that hasn’t quite been there are the strikeouts, with him at a 6.75 K/9 so far this year. However, I think we still see the strikeouts come as he continues to pitch well. He had over a strikeout an inning last year, and even against a strong offense in the Philadelphia Phillies, I think Kirby has ace potential and don’t mind taking him in this matchup with a low price.

Kyle Wright, Atlanta Braves

Kyle Wright had an awesome season last year. He is another low-strikeout guy with career numbers below a strikeout an inning, but that doesn’t stop him from getting results or posting the occasional high-strikeout game. He has a great matchup against the Miami Marlins, and as one of the cheapest pitching options on the slate doesn’t have to be amazing against them to return value. He hasn’t made it through 6 innings yet, but with this only being his 4th start of the season, hopefully, we see him break that mark and put up some strikeouts with great win potential in this matchup.

Recommended DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Los Angeles Angels vs JP Sears

Atlanta Braves vs Braxton Garrett

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Pittsburgh Pirates

San Diego Padres vs Hayden Wesneski

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Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups

Ozzie Albies, 1B/2B Los Angeles Angels

Ozzie Albies is incredible against lefties. He should probably be the most expensive second baseman whenever he gets a lefty on the mound, but he isn’t, so take advantage of the discount and get him in your lineup today. Braxton Garrett will likely have a difficult time with this Braves lineup, and with Ozzie’s career .929 OPS against left-handers, I expect him to be a big part of that. 

LaMonte Wade Jr. Jr. 1B/OF, San Francisco Giants

Lamonte Wade Jr. has been hitting great so far this year, especially against right-handers. The San Francisco Giants are terrible against lefties but have a bunch of great lefty hitters, so are much better against right-handers. LaMonte has an .888 OPS against right-handers this year with a 157 wRC+. Miles Mikolas has not been pitching very well this year with over a 2 HR/9, and I am all over the lefty hitters of the Giants today, with LaMonte being at the top of the list. 

Rodolfo Castro, SS Pittsburgh Pirates

Rodolfo Castro has to face Julio Urias today, who is easily the best pitcher outside of Shohei Ohtani on the slate. Castro is crushing lefties so much, though, that I don’t really care who the lefty is at this point I am willing to take a chance on him. This Pittsburgh team continues to hit well, and Castro has been so dominant against lefties I think he is well worse than his price tag today in this matchup. 

Joc Pederson, OF San Francisco Giants

Joc Pederson continues to do what he has done his entire career and that is dominant right-handed pitching. My second left-hander on the Giants I am highlighting today. While you have to pay quite a bit more to get him compared to LaMonte Wade Jr. Jr., he is worth the price. Joc has been an incredible hitter against righties his entire career, and nothing has changed this year. His price tag is too low for me in this great matchup and I think the Giants put up a fair number of runs against Miles Mikolas today. 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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