DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 7/20/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Clayton Kershaw FD - P 10800 DK - SP 11000 Opponent - MIA (Sandy Alcantara) Park - LAD FD - 41.89 DK - 22.88 Your clear cut high floor option for Saturday night. Kershaw is the biggest favorite on the slate at -310, and he'll be up against the second worst offense against left handed pitching in the Miami Marlins. The Fish are a league average team when it comes to striking out, but they are so bad at scoring runs that you just have to deal with it. While Kershaw isn't the world beater he was in the earlier stages of his career, this late model is still plenty effective. He's pairing pin point control (1.54 BB/9) with an adequate 8.40 K/9, and has a career high 52.1% ground ball rate. Kershaw is plenty affordable on both sites, and is simply a terrific option. Luis Castillo FD - P 10500 DK - 11200 Opponent - STL (Miles Mikolas) Park - CIN FD - 35.22 DK - 19.33 After Kershaw things get a little bit dicier. You almost have to grab a volatile option wherever you look, so why not grab the highest upside on the slate while you're at it? While it's true that Castillo's 4.50 BB/9 isn't ace level, his 10.77 K/9 is. His 55.9% groundball rate helps erase a lot of those walks, and his 3.72 xFIP still paints the picture of a plenty effective pitcher. Castillo is only a -135 favorite, but the Cardinals are a bottom 7 team in the league vs. righties this season, and I'd guess Castillo is the best bet for a 10 strikeout game on this slate. Griffin Canning FD - P 6900 DK - SP 8700 Opponent - SEA (Undecided) Park - SEA FD - 31.79 DK - 16.57 So you need a pitcher two, you say? Griffin Canning is a slightly better bet than most rookie pitchers in that he entered the league as a top 100 prospect on FanGraphs, and he looks like a credible strikeout per inning guy. He's only going a hair over 5 innings per start right now, but the big time K stuff can help get you enough points to make up the difference. Canning isn't a control master with slightly more than 3 BB/9, but his biggest risk factor is the long ball, with his 35.6% walk rate leading to a 1.76 HR/9 so far this...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 7/13/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Chris Sale FD - P 10700 DK - SP 10500 Opponent - LAD (Ross Stripling) Park - BOS FD - 38.36 DK - 22.05 The people who have stuck with us throughout this DFS MLB season aren't going to be thrilled with this one, possibly. Sale's 4.05 ERA is the worst of his career, and he's seen a decline in each of his major stats this year. But this is where stats can be a little bit deceiving. While his strikeouts are down a bit, his 12.87 K/9 is still the second best in the Majors among starting pitchers. While his 2.19 BB/9 is higher than last year, it's still the 23rd lowest among starters. His 3.12 xFIP is worse than last year's, but it's still good for the 5th best in the Majors. All this to say, Chris Sale is still pretty damned good. The match-up with the Dodgers is far from ideal - they have the 9th best wOBA vs. lefties this year and are about league average when it comes to striking out. Still, Sale is a -165 favorite with the 2nd best strikeout stuff in the Majors, and our system sees him as a cash game play particularly because his prices are still too low. Jake Odorizzi FD - P 8900 DK - SP 7700 Opponent - CLE (Trevor Bauer) Park - CLE FD - 34.17 DK - 18.25 I mulled over what to do about this pitcher two slot for a while before deciding on Odorizzi, so let's take a look at why this felt like such a tough decision. First, the good bits. Odorizzi has actually increased his K/9 to an elite 9.74 while bringing his BB/9 down to a respectable 3.05. His 3.15 ERA is a career best. The problem is that he's still rocking a mid-4s xFIP on account of his absurdly low 30.9% ground ball rate, which is good for the second lowest in the Majors. What this means is that you'll get some pretty hit or miss starts with Odorizzi. When those fly balls land in gloves he's going to look incredible, but when they clear the wall he'll look pretty pedestrian. I hesitate to recommend him for cash games for just this reason, but it's hard to argue with this price on DraftKings. The Indians are a stock league average match-up, with exactly the 15th best wOBA against righties and a below...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 7/6/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Gerrit Cole FD - P 11500 DK - SP 11100 Opponent - LAA (Andrew Heaney) Park - HOU FD - 41.23 DK - 23.15 Well, we're looking at back to back days where we have to consider a right handed ace against a team we'd really rather not run right handed pitchers against. Cole is every bit the ace Verlander is, if not more. His 13.21 K/9 and 2.68 xFIP are both the very best in the Majors, and he's truly looking unstoppable right now. The only issue I have with this play is those pesky Angels. They own the 8th best wOBA against right handed pitching, and while a lot of that is bottled up in Mike Trout, they also strike out at the lowest rate in the bigs against northpaws. Still, when you have the best strikeout pitcher in the Majors, you don't sweat that sort of thing. I'd be content running Cole in any format. Kenta Maeda FD - P 6700 DK - SP 7700 Opponent - SD (Chris Paddack) Park - LAD FD - 32.84 DK - 17.42 It's a clear step down talent wise from Cole, of course, but it's a big jump down in price as well. And hey, you have to run two pitchers on DraftKings, am I right? I am not a big fan of Maeda's underlying skills this year. While he's still striking out more than a batter per inning, he's striking out two fewer guys per nine than he was last year. He's also seen a decrease in his ground-ball rate, and his 4.41 xFIP is below league average. All that being said, the match-up and park are good enough here that you're not just going to turn your back. The Padres have gotten some inspired performances from Tatis Jr. and Machado (since June), but they still own the league's highest strikeout rate against righties with a bottom 10 wOBA. Maeda just can't have as much upside as Cole based on their profiles, but he's a fine option in a world where there's no such thing as a sure thing. Also considered: Robbie Ray, for upside. Catcher/First Base Wilson Ramos FD - C 2500 DK - C 4200 Opponent - PHI (Jake Arrieta) Park - NYM FD - 9.91 DK - 7.61 I'm not fan of having to play catchers, but if you absolutely must you can run Ramos. He's posting a career...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 6/29/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Justin Verlander FD - P 11500 DK - SP 11500 Opponent - SEA (Yusei Kikuchi) Park - HOU FD - 45.97 DK - 26.63 Well it's a six game slate with a Coors game, so we're happy to get any aces we can find. And Verlander? He certainly qualifies. He's shaved a strikeout per 9 off last year's ridiculous rate, but his 11+ K/9 with a sub 2 BB/9 is really all you need here. Verlander's extreme fly-ball tendencies mean you're going to get some variance when you play him, but I don't think you can worry too much about that on such a small slate. The Mariners are a polarizing match-up as well, with a top ten wOBA against righties but a top ten strikeout rate as well. Verlander is by far the biggest favorite on the slate at -265, and is a great option for cash game or big tournaments. Zack Greinke FD - P 9500 DK - SP 9500 Opponent - SF (Drew Pomeranz) Park - SF FD - 35.26 DK - 18.73 The decision as to whom to write up second at pitcher tonight was a tough one, and a classic DFS decision: do we chase a big ceiling, or settle for a high floor? In Greinke we're doing the latter. With a sub 8 K/9, he doesn't look the part of an ace, but a career best 1.25 BB/9 almost makes up for it. The issue with running low strikeout pitchers is that you really need them to go deep into games, but the good news is that Greinke does just that. His 6.35 innings pitched per start this year are excellent, and facing the Giants in San Francisco should give him the opportunity to keep that trend going. Oracle Park is one of the best pitcher's parks in the majors, and the Giants have combined a league average strikeout rate with a dismal .290 wOBA that is good for the third worst in the Majors. If you don't feel like you need to chase upside, Greinke should be an excellent option. Brandon Woodruff FD - P 9100 DK - SP 8100 Opponent - PIT (Jordan Lyles) Park - MIL FD - 36.83 DK - 19.83 And here's your upside option. Woodruff has essentially replicated his success as a reliever last season in a starting role this year, trading a few ground balls for strikeouts and exactly matching...

DraftKings and FanDuel MLB Picks for Saturday 6/22/19 Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our MLB and NBA optimizers and our new player lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! Pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu FD - P 10600 DK - SP 11500 Opponent - COL (Peter Lambert) Park - LAD FD - 41.47 DK - 22.87 On the main slate we could see cash game ownership pushing 100% tonight. With three games pushing totals over 10 on a five game slate, you really don't have a lot of palatable options. Me? I'm going with the herd and playing Ryu. While he's not a household name, Ryu has been every bit of an ace this season. His sub 9 K/9 isn't anything to write home about, but his .48 BB/9 is the stuff of legends. If math isn't your thing, that's a single walk every 18 innings. He just doesn't let people get on base for free. This incredibly efficient approach has yielded a delightful 6.64 innings pitched per start, which is a beautiful thing for both his fantasy point totals and his ability to snag a win. I love grabbing pitchers against the Rockies when they are on the road, and the nice pitcher's park here is just icing on the cake. Like I said, this is one of the easier plays in recent memory. Mike Foltynewicz FD - P 7700 DK - SP 6400 Opponent - WSH (Anibal Sanchez) Park - WSH FD - 24.89 DK - 12.77 There's no way to sugarcoat it, this year has been an incredible disappointment for Foltynewicz. That stands in stark contrast to last year's dream season, where he added 1.6 K/9 and shaved almost a full run off his xFIP. He ran hot with a .251 BABIP allowed, but he was still very much an above league average pitcher. This year it's all gone sideways. The K rate is back under 8 per 9, and his HR/FB rate has more than doubled, which is why his ERA and xFIP are both dramatically suffering. It's weird, though, because his fastball is still averaging 95.2 miles per hour, and his walk rate has actually decreased. I don't know that he'll get back to 10 Ks per 9, but I do believe he can at least be a league average pitcher, and on this slate? That means something. The Nats have a below average wOBA against righties this season, and even though they're a little healthier that's about as good as we can hope for in the pitcher two slot tonight. Also considered: Masahiro Tanaka, if you don't trust Folty....