Welcome to the final value plays of the first half! I hope everyone has had a great first half of the season and made some money with their MLB DFS lineups, and if you haven’t been so lucky, don’t worry, we still have an entire second half of the season to make up for it! Today we have a 10-game main slate starting at 1:35 PM EST on both DraftKings and FanDuel. Zach Eflin comes in as the top-priced pitcher on the board today, and there are plenty of great pitchers to choose from across the slate. Plenty of great offenses to go after on the day as well, with some of my favorites to target including the Cleveland Guardians, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, and the Minnesota Twins. Plenty of different ways to construct a winning lineup, so let’s jump into some of my favorite value options of the day! 

 

MLB DFS Value Pitchers

Chris Bassitt, Toronto Blue Jays (DraftKings: $8,400 / FanDuel: $9,200) 

Chris Bassitt is just one start removed from a 12-strikeout game against the San Francisco Giants, and now he is getting to face the Detroit Tigers for his final start before the break, and we get him for this cheap. There are obviously some more consistent pitchers on this slate, but Chris Bassitt still has strikeout upside and has been a solid pitcher most of the season aside from a couple of starts, so I don’t know why we wouldn’t trust him to go out and put out a great start against the Tigers today. 

Domingo German, New York Yankees (DraftKings: $6,800 / FanDuel: $8,100) 

We know what the upside is with Domingo German. I’m not saying he is going to go and pitch anywhere near a perfect game again, and the Chicago Cubs are a much better offense than the Oakland Athletics, but you still are getting a pitcher who threw a perfect game less than 2 weeks ago at a ridiculously low price. He has had some rough starts as well, so I understand why you should be concerned, but I still think this price is far too low for someone who we just saw throw the first perfect game in over a decade. 

MLB DFS Value Hitters

Luke Raley, 1B/OF Tampa Bay Rays (DraftKings: $4,300 / FanDuel: $3,300) 

Luke Raley has been an absolute beast over June and July. Since June, he has slashed .321/.380/.643, and he has also hit 3 homers over his last 8 games. He has been consistently hitting in the 3 spot of this incredible Tampa Bay offense and is way too cheap for what he has been doing at the plate. Since June, he has had the highest OPS of all first basemen at 1.023 and is the 11th and 13th highest-priced first baseman on DraftKings and FanDuel, respectively. 

Andres Gimenez, 2B Cleveland Guardians (DraftKings: $4,100 / FanDuel: $3,000) 

I feel like I am beating a dead horse here, but Andres Gimenez is really good against left-handers. I will almost never start him when facing a righty, but against a lefty he almost always presents good value. I really like the Cleveland Guardian’s offense as a whole today against Ryan Yarbrough, but Andres Gimenez is worth considering whether or not you play any other Guardian’s bats. 

J.P. Crawford, SS Seattle Mariners (DraftKings: $3,200 / FanDuel: $2,800) 

I have never been a big believer in J.P. Crawford’s offensive ability, but he has been a very solid contributor for the Mariners this season. He is already just one home run shy of his career high for a season and currently holds the best OBP and SLG of his career. He is also on a 9-game hit streak with an OPS of 1.122 and 2 homers. He has also been hitting leadoff for the Mariners every day, and I don’t see why he couldn’t keep up his hit streak and easily return his value today at this price. 

Whit Merrifield, 2B/OF Toronto Blue Jays (DraftKings: $3,800 / FanDuel: $3,400) 

Before Thursday, Whit Merrifield had 2 home runs on the season. He then proceeded to hit 2 home runs in a single game and 3 home runs over 2 days. While I am not saying you should be on this home run production to continue, I am betting that the all-star can return this value today against the Detroit Tigers. He continues to get on base and steal bases just as he has done his entire career, and while he may not have the ceiling of some other guys, I still think he is a great value play today. 

 

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