Welcome to another edition of Thursday Baseball! There are a lot of teams getting the day off today which leaves us with 4 early games and then a 4-game main slate this evening which will be our focus. The 4-game main slate will start at 6:40 PM EST on both DraftKings and FanDuel with St. Louis Cardinals vs Tampa Bay Rays, Washington Nationals vs Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals vs Boston Red Sox, and Colorado Rockies vs Los Angeles Dodgers. This slate is highlighted by Aaron Nola and Clayton Kershaw taking the mound as the two top-priced pitchers. On the offensive side, some of the best offenses to target on this small slate include the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, and the Philadelphia Phillies. With such a small slate, it can be extra hard to build a roster, so let’s jump into some of my favorite value options of the day to help build a winning MLB DFS lineup!  

 

MLB DFS Value Pitchers

James Paxton, Boston Red Sox (DraftKings: $9,300 / FanDuel: $9,700) 

I get that this value play isn’t necessarily cheap, but I still consider him a value play because he should be the top-priced pitcher today, in my opinion. He hasn’t been quite as dominant over his last couple of starts, with quite a bit of a hiccup in his last outing against the Toronto Blue Jays, giving up 4 earned runs and 9 hits, including 3 homers. That doesn’t deter me from him today; he has been great more often than not this season, and the Kansas City Royals are one of the weakest offenses in all of baseball. 

Zack Littell, Los Angeles Angels (DraftKings: $6,900 / FanDuel: $7,200) 

While we want more strikeouts than the 1 that he got against the Detroit Tigers in his last outing, he still went 6 shutout innings, only giving up 3 hits, and got his second straight win for the Rays. He has been getting stretched out the last couple of starts as he becomes more of a traditional starter for the Rays with all their pitcher injuries. I think he might be able to add some more strikeouts as he gets used to the increased role, and against what has been a struggling St. Louis Cardinals team, he should have a great chance of at least giving another quality start along with a win even if the strikeouts still stay low, which they likely will. 

MLB DFS Value Hitters

Alec Bohm, 1B/3B Philadelphia Phillies (DraftKings: $4,400 / FanDuel: $3,200) 

Alec Bohm is off to a scorching August. Over his last ten games, he has slashed .405/.444/.690 with 3 homers and a steal. He has 5 multi-hit games over that stretch as well and has been batting 2nd every day in a strong Phillies lineup. Patrick Corbin continues to give up plenty of homers as well, giving up 5 over his last two starts, so this should be a great place for Alec Bohm to continue his strong August and possibly add another long ball.

Kike Hernandez, 3B/OF Los Angeles Dodgers (DraftKings: $3,000 / FanDuel: $2,400) 

Kike Hernandez was having a dreadful season for the Boston Red Sox but seems to have found new life back with his old team. Since joining the Dodgers Kike has slashed .317/.341/.537, along with 6 extra-base hits, and over his last 3 games has 5 hits with 3 doubles and a homer. Kike almost every year has small stretches where he is the hottest hitter in the league, so maybe this is the start of that kind of stretch for him, and I am willing to take the chance on it continuing today against Ty Blach and the Colorado Rockies.

Alec Burleson, 1B/OF St. Louis Cardinals (DraftKings: $2,600 / FanDuel: $2,300) 

I usually try to avoid including hitters that are facing my value pitchers, but on small slates, it can be hard to avoid. I would still try to avoid doing that in your lineups as much as possible, but usually, having one hitter won’t kill you. In August so far, Alec Burleson has an OPS of 1.131 with two doubles and two homers. He isn’t the flashiest pick with not much power or speed, but at a super low price, it is easy for him to return value even without any homers or steals, but we are just expecting solid value here, not a slate-breaking type of outcome. 

Lane Thomas, OF Washington Nationals (DraftKings: $4,500 / FanDuel: $3,700) 

Lane Thomas has been held hitless over his last two games, but in the previous 4 games, he had 8 hits, including 4 homers. I know it is against Aaron Nola today, which is tough, but I am still willing to bet on a bounceback after two games out of the hit column. Lane Thomas is easily the National's best hitter, and as a power-speed threat with great plate skills, he has the opportunity to put together huge games at times. 

 

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