Happy Sunday! I hope you are up early enough this weekend day to get your MLB DFS lineups set and ready to cash today! We have a relatively early 11-game slate today, kicking off at 1:35 PM EST on both DraftKings and FanDuel. Today’s games have no shortage of aces taking the mound today. Even with both Justin Verlander and Shohei Ohtani, who are pitching today but not on the main slate, there are still a ton of great pitchers on the slate. Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, and Framber Valdez are probably the biggest names pitching today. Still, there are countless other great pitchers taking the mound today that are worth considering in your DFS lineups. There are still a few pitchers worth targeting for the offensive side as well, giving us plenty of different strategies to make some money, so let’s dive into today’s MLB DFS Playbook and 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: May 21

MLB Weather Updates

Great weather across the league today! No games looking to have any rain or wind above 10 MPH. 

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

As I said in the intro there are a ton of quality pitchers taking the mound today. I think there are ways you can fit any of the following pitchers in your lineup that I would trust today: Framber Valdez, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Merrill Kelly, Tanner Bibee, George Kirby, Freddy Peralta, Justin Steele, Josiah Gray, Andrew Heaney, and Lance Lynn. Considering I like so many of the pitchers, my preference is to go with pitchers on the cheaper end with my two favorites being highlighted down below. My favorite offenses to target today are the Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers. 

 

 

Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options for Strikeouts

Kevin Gausman vs Baltimore Orioles

Framber Valdez vs Oakland Athletics

Clayton Kershaw vs St. Louis Cardinals

Freddy Peralta vs Tampa Bay Rays

Best Odds for a Win

Framber Valdez vs Oakland Athletics

Andrew Heaney vs Colorado Rockies

Kevin Gausman vs Baltimore Orioles

Lance Lynn vs Chicago White Sox

See More

Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups

George Kirby, Seattle Mariners

I understand that the Atlanta Braves are not a lineup that you are excited about taking a starting pitcher against, but George Kirby has been proving that he can handle strong offenses. In his last two starts he has had to face the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers who are also strong offenses and in those two starts he has 15 strikeouts and only 1 walk through 13.2 innings while only giving up 1 run. He has also gotten the win in 5 of his last 6 starts, and the game he didn’t win he went 8 innings and only gave up 1 run against the Philadelphia Phillies. If all that doesn’t prove he can be trusted even against the Atlanta Braves, I am not sure what will. 

Andrew Heaney, Texas Rangers

Andrew Heaney delivered in his last start against the Oakland Athletics (as he should have) with 9 strikeouts in 6 innings and only gave up 1 run. Today he gets possibly an even easier task getting to face the Colorado Rockies outside of Colorado. Colorado’s OPS on the road is .641 and they should be an easy target for Andrew Heaney today who always has great strikeout potential as well and will be a fantastic candidate to get a win in this matchup as well. 

 

 

Recommended DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Chicago White Sox vs Kansas City Royals

Texas Rangers vs Connor Seabold

Philadelphia Phillies vs Justin Steele

Atlanta Braves vs George Kirby

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Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups

Ty France, 1B Seattle Mariners

Ty France just had a 13-game hitting streak come to an end on Friday and in the month of May is slashing .299/.347/.403. The Seattle Mariners take on the rookie Jared Shuster for the Atlanta Braves today in what should be a good matchup for the Mariners as Shuster has not looked great in his first 3 starts. France is a great hitter and batting second in this lineup should be priced higher with this matchup today. 

Christopher Morel, 2B/OF Chicago Cubs

What Christopher Morel has done in his first ten games this season is unbelievable. He has 7 homeruns and 16 hits. He has a hit in every single game and has multiple hits in 5 of those games. He has batted 8th and 9th over the last two games, but with him continuing to deliver hopefully the Cubs will move him back up to the top of the lineup today. His price is starting to climb, but if he can keep delivering, he will continue to be worth it. 

Nolan Arenado, 3B St. Louis Cardinals

Nolan Arenado had a painful start to the season along with the St. Louis Cardinals as a whole. He has completely turned it around as has the team. He is currently riding an 11-game hit streak and has hit 7 home runs in May. He does have to face Clayton Kershaw today, but his price is way too low for Nolan Arenado no matter who he is facing. The slow start was never going to last forever, and he has proven that he is still one of the best hitters in the game so take advantage of the low price carrying over from his start. 

Luis Robert Jr., OF Chicago White Sox

Here we have another hitter who is benefiting from a low price being carried over from a slow start to the season. Luis Robert Jr. has been absolutely incredible this month as well. Robert also has 7 homeruns in the month of May along with 8 multi-hit games. Robert is an amazing hitter and his price will be back up soon with the way he is hitting so take advantage while you can especially considering he gets to face Carlos Hernandez who has been pitching fine for the Royals but is still one of the best pitchers to face on the slate as the White Sox hold the highest implied run total of the day.  

 

 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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