MLB DFS Playbook July 18: Top Plays for DraftKings and FanDuel

Happy Tuesday! Today we have a huge slate with a 14-game main slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel starting at 7:05 PM EST. With 28 different teams on today’s slate, we have endless players to choose from while trying to construct some winning MLB DFS lineups. This large slate gives us no shortage of exciting matchups, including the New York Yankees taking on the Los Angeles Angels, where Shohei Ohtani continues to make history as his days with the Angels may be running out, the Houston Astros a mile high facing the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field, and the red-hot Baltimore Orioles taking on the NL West division leaders in the Los Angeles Dodgers. With so many choices, there are endless ways to construct your lineup today, so let’s jump into today’s playbook to help you make those tough choices and build a winning lineup! 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 July 18

MLB Weather Updates

Milwaukee Brewers vs Philadelphia Phillies: Some light showers, but they are not likely to cause any delays.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Baltimore Orioles: Same as Brewers vs Phillies.

Chicago White Sox vs New York Mets: Same.

Cleveland Guardians vs Pittsburgh Pirates: Some rain here as well, but should be clear before game time.

Houston Astros vs Colorado Rockies: Might be enough rain to cause a bit of a delay, but not really worried about any postponement.

Arizona Diamondbacks vs Atlanta Braves: Some large storms heading towards Atlanta, but decent chance they miss. Will try to update this one for you all as we get closer to game time. 

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

For it being such a large slate today, there aren’t many aces taking the mound. Nathan Eovaldi is the top-priced pitcher of the day, and I am avoiding him after he has had a bit of a velocity dip and is having to face the Rays today. There are some solid pitchers to go through across the board, though, with my two favorites down below but some honorable mentions being Tyler Wells, Lucas Giolito, Bailey Ober, and Logan Allen. On the offensive side, some of my favorite offenses to target include the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and the Atlanta Braves.

Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options for Strikeouts

Tarik Skubal vs Kansas City Royals

Bryan Woo vs Minnesota Twins

Nathan Eovaldi vs Tampa Bay Rays

Aaron Nola vs Milwaukee Brewers

Best Odds for a Win

Aaron Nola vs Milwaukee Brewers

Tarik Skubal vs Kansas City Royals

Carlos Carrasco vs Chicago White Sox

Nathan Eovaldi vs Tampa Bay Rays

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Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups

Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Tarik Skubal has looked brilliant in his first two starts of the season, going a combined 8 innings with only 2 hits, giving up no runs, and striking out 11. Hopefully, as he continues to get stretched out, he will keep increasing his pitch count and can get more than 4 innings today to hopefully have the chance at a win. Facing the Kansas City Royals is a great matchup for him to continue his dominant pitching as he starts to ramp up for the Tigers.

Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners 

After a rough first start against the Rangers, Bryan Woo has continued to put together solid innings for the Seattle Mariners. Since then, he has 6 straight starts with 2 or fewer earned runs with 39 strikeouts over 32.2 innings to go along with a 2.20 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. That is incredible production for the price you get him for, and I don’t see why he wouldn’t keep that up today against the Minnesota Twins.

Recommended DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Baltimore Orioles vs Michael Grove

Philadelphia Phillies vs Julio Teheran

Detroit Tigers vs Daniel Lynch

New York Mets vs Lucas Giolito

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Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups

Justin Turner, 1B Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox are red-hot right now, playing their way into contention before the trade deadline, and Justin Turner has been a huge part of their offensive production. He is on a 13-game hitting streak over which he has slashed .408/.439/.694 with 3 homer runs, 5 doubles, 12 runs, and 17 RBIs. The Red Sox will be looking to keep the winning going against the Oakland Athletics today, and I expect Turner to keep this production up against Luis Medina

Gleyber Torres, 2B New York Yankees

The Yankees lost another heartbreaker last night against the Los Angeles Angels in extras, but Torres had himself another multi-hit game. That made it six straight games with multiple hits for Torres, as he is very locked in at the plate. While he has only one extra-base hit over that stretch, 13 hits over 6 games is still fantastic, and Torres can provide some power if he continues to put the bat on the ball like this, and gets a decent matchup today against Patrick Sandoval, who has been struggling. 

Gunnar Henderson, 3B/SS Baltimore Orioles

Gunnar Henderson has really turned it on as the Baltimore Orioles chase down the Tampa Bay Rays for the lead of the division. Gunnar has slashed .299/.353/.583 since June 1^st, along with 9 home runs. He has a homer, triple, and double over the last three games and gets a great matchup today facing Michael Grove of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Should be a great spot for both the Orioles and Henderson today. 

Masataka Yoshida, OF Boston Red Sox

Masataka Yoshida has been unreal at the plate recently. Since June 30^th, Yoshida has had 9 multi-hit games over 11 starts, 3 home runs, and 4 stolen bases. Over that stretch, he has slashed .438/.449/.708 and only has one game without a hit. Despite this, his price is still one of the lowest we have seen for him all season, and I am certainly taking advantage of that fact today in this matchup. 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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