MLB DFS Playbook August 2: Top Plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Published: Aug 02, 2023
Welcome to Wednesday! The dust is settling from the trade deadline, players are traveling to join their new teams, fans are waiting to see if their teams did enough to get them to the postseason, and we are focused on today’s games and building some winning MLB DFS lineups! We have a full day of baseball with plenty of day games happening and some great games to watch all throughout the day. We are focused on this evening’s games with an 8-game main slate starting at 7:05 PM EST on both DraftKings and FanDuel. There are multiple AL East showdowns, with the Tampa Bay Rays taking on the New York Yankees as well as the Baltimore Orioles facing the Toronto Blue Jays. We have a good NL Central matchup as well between the Chicago Cubs and the division-leading Cincinnati Reds. Also, a good NL East matchup with the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants facing off each trying to chase down the Los Angeles Dodgers, who get to face the Oakland Athletics today. Plenty of great games and great players to choose from to build a winning lineup, whether you are playing cash games or gpp tournaments, so let’s dive into today’s playbook! 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 August 2
MLB Weather Updates
Minnesota Twins vs St. Louis Cardinals: Scattered thunderstorms all throughout the day; definitely keep an eye on this one as the day progresses.
New York Mets vs Kansas City Royals: Isolated thunderstorms around game time could cause slight delays but nothing serious.
DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts
Gerrit Cole is clearly the best pitcher on today’s slate, but he comes with the top price as well. It is a price I am willing to take as Gerrit Cole is easily one of the best pitchers in the game, and while the price is high, it isn’t as outrageous as some pitcher prices we have seen (looking at you, Spencer Strider), and I am certainly willing to pay up for him today if you can afford to. There are some other great pitchers to target today as well, with my favorite’s found down below, and some other honorable mentions that I like include Joe Ryan, Logan Webb, Kodai Senga, Tony Gonsolin, and Dane Dunning. On the offensive side, some of my favorite lineups to target today include the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, and Minnesota Twins.
Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers
Top Options for Strikeouts
Shane McClanahan vs New York Yankees
Joe Ryan vs St. Louis Cardinals
Best Odds for a Win
Tony Gonsolin vs Oakland Athletics
Kodai Senga vs Kansas City Royals
Logan Webb vs Arizona Diamondbacks
Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups
Shane McClanahan, Tampa Bay Rays
He hasn’t quite been his normal dominant self since his return from the IL, but it really looks like most of that has been luck and not his skills. He is still an ace, and I think we see a little more dominance out of him today in a pitchers’ duel against Gerrit Cole. The Yankees do have Aaron Judge back, but they still aren’t the scariest offense and can certainly strike out plenty for me to trust McClanahan to put up a great line against them today, even with it being in New York.
Grayson Rodriguez, Baltimore Orioles
Grayson Rodriguez has been solid over his last two starts going 5.2 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays with 6 strikeouts and only 2 earned runs and then 6.1 shutout innings against the New York Yankees with 4 strikeouts. Don’t be too scared by the 6.21 ERA, he has had some tough matchups, and most of that ERA is driven by a couple of bad games (8 earned runs against both the Angels and the Rangers) before being sent down back in May. He has looked more stable since his return to the majors, and while the strikeouts haven’t been very high, he could easily spike back up to 8 or 9 strikeouts as he did earlier in the season.
Recommended DFS Hitters
Highest Expected Run Totals
Chicago Cubs vs Brandon Williamson
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Hogan Harris
Minnesota Twins vs Dakota Hudson
Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups
Wilmer Flores, 1B San Francisco Giants
Since July 1st, Wilmer Flores has the 6th best OPS in the league at 1.118, just behind Shohei Ohtani with a 1.122 OPS. He hit another home run in their last game and continues to provide stable levels of production for an offense in desperate need of it. It looks like Slade Cecconi will be making his MLB debut for the Diamondbacks today, and considering he has a 6.38 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in AAA this season (granted, it is the Pacific Coast League), I think Wilmer will be able to have another solid day of production.
Nico Hoerner remains red-hot at the plate. He had another 3 hits, a home run, and a steal in last night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds. That now has him at a .372/.426/.628 slash line over his last 10 games with 2 homers and 5 steals. Another big game against Cincy today for the Cubs, and I don’t think Brandon Williamson is good enough to keep Hoerner down today and would bet on another productive day for Hoerner.
Jeimer Candelario, 3B Chicago Cubs
Jeimer Candelario wasted no time in proving his worth to his new ball club, putting up 4 hits in his debut for them yesterday. Jeimer has been a solid hitter all season with an .835 OPS, his highest since the shortened 2020 season in Detroit. He is already on pace for a career year, and with a new team that has a much better offense, I expect him to easily keep it up, if not step it up another notch even, and I certainly expect him to return value today.
Matt McLain, SS Cincinnati Reds
Elly De La Cruz may be the flashier prospect and be getting more of the attention in Cincinnati, but Matt McLain has certainly been the more impressive rookie for the Reds so far. McLain is leading Elly in almost every single hitting category outside of steals. He is still hitting over .300 on the year with a .305/.376/.527 slash line, along with 11 homers and 8 steals through 67 games. He has been especially impressive against lefties with a 1.068 OPS against them, so should have no problem continuing to impress today against Drew Smyly.
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