The massive 13-game Tuesday evening main slate gets rolling at 7:05 ET on both DraftKings and FanDuel with a wide range of opportunities both at the plate and on the mound. There is an impressive mix of options available, from ace caliber pitchers to underpriced potentially low-owned sneaky options in good matchups on the mound, to star-studded lineups facing low-end pitching and drawing major home run totals. Spreading out to cast a wide net and capture as many potential outcomes as possible, while still remaining restrained and focused on combinations of the best overall options, is key to building a full suite of lineups for a slate of this nature. With 26 teams in action tonight, the only thing we can expect is that things will not go as expected.
Join us at 3:30 ET for the MLB DFS Lineup Card Show!
Note: All analysis is written utilizing available projected lineups as of the early morning, pay close attention to confirmed lineups and adjust accordingly. This article is posted and updated as it is written, so if a game has not been filled in, check back in a few minutes. Update notes are provided as lineups are confirmed to the best of our ability. Still, lineup changes are not typically updated as lock approaches, so stay tuned to official news for any late changes.
MLB DFS: Game by Game Main Slate Strategy Summary – 5/30/23
Cleveland Guardians (+124/4.00) @ Baltimore Orioles (-135/4.60)
The Guardians are facing veteran righty Kyle Gibson who has not distinguished himself from a typically targetable below-average starter to this point in the season. Gibson has a 3.82 ERA but a 4.62 xFIP and just a 16.2% strikeout rate. Gibson costs $7,500/$8,900, at the DraftKings price he can be utilized as a mix-in SP2 option against this Cleveland team, but the spot is not great with a very low upside for strikeouts. At his FanDuel price there are simply better options than going to Gibson, even if he throws six clean innings there are likely to be similar scores at better values on the blue site. The Guardians’ low-end lineup, however, is not a great opportunity for stacking. Cleveland’s active roster ranks 30th among 30 MLB teams with a collective 78 WRC+ against right-handed pitching this season, six points below the 29th-ranked Marlins, but their 19.8% strikeout rate in the split ranks fifth-best in baseball. If one were determined to roster Guardians hitters, Steven Kwan is a viable starting point at the top of the lineup. Kwan created runs 24% better than average last year but has been lousy with just a 97 WRC+ in 2023. Amed Rosario has been hitting the ball hard but has not seen any positive results, Jose Ramirez has six homers and five stolen bases and a 112 WRC+ but we need far more from the third base star whose prices remain somewhat high for this level of output. Josh Naylor has a bit of lefty power with seven home runs this season, the team-leading mark in Cleveland. Naylor is cheap at $3,000/$2,900, he has not been great this season but his May has been better than March and April. Josh Bell has a 5.02 in our home run model, he has three this season with just a .114 WRC+. Gabriel Arias, Andres Gimenez, Mike Zunino, and Myles Straw round out the projected lineup. Zunino has home run power but has not produced much this season with just three long balls in 113 plate appearances, Straw has speed and has stolen 10 bases but does very little else, Gimenez has been bad at just .220/.289/.352 with a 70 WRC+ in 195 plate appearances, and Arias has a 77 WRC+ in his 99 opportunities.
The Orioles are facing frustrating Cal Quantrill who has a 4.75 ERA and 5.45 xFIP with just a 12.8% strikeout rate but has seemed to have a knack for knowing when he’s being targeted with DFS bats. By all statistical measures, Quantrill should provide the Orioles lineup with excellent opportunities for run creation tonight if nothing else. Quantrill has been OK for limiting power, he has allowed a 2.89% home run rate in 10 starts and 55 innings on a 39.2% hard-hit rate and 88.2 mph of average exit velocity. The righty costs $6,200/$7,400, he is a somewhat viable value option, particularly on the DraftKings slate, but there is a lack of strikeout upside on this side of the game as well and Quantrill projects only in the middle of a deep pitching slate. The Orioles lineup has been productive for DFS purposes this season, they have power and speed throughout and several players have been very good in spurts this season, but they will be without star leadoff man Cedric Mullins, who left last night’s game with a groin injury. The projected lineup opens with Adam Frazier, who is a competent veteran in the leadoff role at a cheap price ahead of the team’s stars. Adley Rutschman is one of the top catchers on any given slate, he will be back in the lineup after a day off yesterday. Rutschman is affordable at $5,000/$3,300 and he is good enough to be played like a first baseman on FanDuel. Anthony Santander has eight home runs to match the catcher’s total, putting them both behind the 11 that have been hit by team leader Ryan Mountcastle in his 236 opportunities. Santander has a 6.91 in our home run model, Montcastle is at 7.11, and rookie Gunnar Henderson slots in behind him at 4.00. Henderson has not hit for a ton of power, he has five home runs and a .171 ISO but his 10.9% barrel rate and 46.7% hard-hit rate are very strong marks on which to build. Austin Hays has been excellent this year, he sits at .315/.356/.511 with six home runs and a 139 WRC+ in 191 plate appearances but costs just $3,800/$2,800. Terrin Vavra, Jorge Mateo, and Ryan O’Hearn round out the projected lineup, the badly slumping Mateo remains the most interesting piece in that group.
Play: Orioles stacks/bats, Cal Quantrill value shares in small doses
Update Notes:
Milwaukee Brewers (+125/4.22) @ Toronto Blue Jays (-136/4.88)
Over the past three seasons, Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi has allowed a 4.05% home run rate (’21), a 5.07% home run rate (’22), and a 6.36% home run rate (current). The lefty is lousy for power, he gives up far too much premium contact as a sustained trait, making him a target for MLB DFS purposes. Kikuchi has been a serviceable strikeout pitcher over time, he had a 27.3% strikeout rate in 100.2 innings and 20 starts last season and a 24.5% mark in 29 starts the season before, but the power crushes any quality he may provide on the mound. Kikuchi has allowed an 11.5% barrel rate and 48.4% hard hits with a 92.4 mph average exit velocity so far this season, all of those awful contact marks are up year-over-year with the exception of his barrel rate which has cut from 14.8%, which would be unsustainable in the long term. The Brewers are not a great lineup, the team is carrying just a 4.22-run implied team total into this matchup, so the approach here may be to draw either secondary stacks or individual hitters for one-off purposes. Owen Miller has been productive in the leadoff role, the right-handed hitter has multi-position eligibility on both sites for just $3,000/$2,800, Miller is a good correlated scoring option with individual upside to boot. William Contreras slots in second and does the catching, he has five home runs and a .160 ISO this season, supported by a 10.7% barrel rate and 44.6% hard-hit rate. Darin Ruf is a platoon specialist who can provide power at a very cheap price in the third spot in the projected lineup. Ruf has zero home runs in 50 plate appearances this year but he has a 12.9% barrel rate and 54.8% hard-hit rate in the tiny sample. Christian Yelich slots into the cleanup spot, the veteran star has seven home runs and 11 stolen bases with a 103 WRC+ but has not hit for a ton of power despite his 53.6% hard-hit rate. Brian Anderson and Mike Brosseau are a pair of playable platoon-based right-handed bats from late in the lineup. Anderson started hot and has eight home runs but has cooled significantly, Brosseau has four home runs in 70 plate appearances and specializes against left-handed pitching. Tyrone Taylor, Joey Wiemer, and Brice Turang round out the projected lineup.
The Blue Jays face inexpensive righty Adrian Houser, who has made four starts and thrown 20 innings with a 2.25 ERA and a 3.76 xFIP this season. Houser made 21 starts last year and put up a 4.73 ERA and 4.64 xFIP with just a 15.2% strikeout rate, which feels a bit more true to who the pitcher is than this year’s short sample does to this point. Houser has a 16.9% strikeout rate in 2023, posting a 7.2% swinging-strike rate and 24.4% CSW% while limiting barrels, launch angle, and home run upside. The righty has allowed just a 1.20% home run rate with a 4.6% barrel rate and 5.4-degree average launch angle in the tiny sample. Last season he cut barrels to just 5.6% and kept home runs to 1.76%, a trait he also had in his 142.1 innings in 2021. Houser is not a bad pitcher, but he is also not a good one and seems unlikely to find a relevant DFS score against the Blue Jays tonight. The Toronto lineup, on the other hand, is pulling in a 4.88-run implied team total and looks like a playable part of the puzzle. The Blue Jays projected lineup opens in its usual form with three star-caliber options in George Springer, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who have a combined 26 home runs this season with Bichette leading the group at 11. Springer started the season slow but is coming on, Guerrero has not hit for his typical massive power with just eight home runs and a .179 ISO in 226 plate appearances but his contact profile is robust and the power will come. Brandon Belt is a strong option in the cleanup role, the lefty slugger is cheap at just $2,500 on both sites, he has two home runs and a 112 WRC+ in 144 plate appearances and the memory of being a major home run force. Matt Chapman is down to just $4,600/$3,600 which makes him a bit of a bargain again, particularly on the DraftKings slate. Chapman hits everything hard with a 60.6% rate but he has been stuck for home runs for a few weeks now and his ISO has dipped to an even .200 for the season. Whit Merrifield has speed and good on-base acumen with a touch of power, he is cheap with multi-position eligibility and talent. Daulton Varsho has eight home runs and a 79 WRC+ in a disappointing start to his first season in Toronto. Alejandro Kirk and Kevin Kiermaier are late lineup options with enough talent to get by as mix-and-match pieces. Kiermaier is having a surprisingly good year at the plate, the defensive star is slashing .319/.366/.511 with four home runs and five stolen bases while creating runs 43% better than average in 154 plate appearances. In a recent interview on MLB Network, Kiermaier credited his first-time use of contact lenses and a greatly enhanced ability to see the ball for the uptick in production…
Play: Blue Jays bats/stacks, Brewers bats perhaps more as secondaries or one-offs
Update Notes:
Cincinnati Reds (+148/4.24) @ Boston Red Sox (-161/5.37)
Boston starter Brayan Bello was quite good at limiting home runs in his 57.1 innings of Major League work in 2022. The righty allowed just a 0.37% home run rate, one home run, in 11 starts last season. This year he has allowed seven home runs in seven starts, posting a 4.46% home run rate on 90.9 mph of average exit velocity with a 48.1% hard-hit rate. Bello’s 2.4-degree average launch angle and 7.5% barrel rate allowed this year and the 5.3-degree mark last year with a 5.4% barrel rate last year suggest that he has made a few big loud mistakes, but his overall profile is that of a pitcher who is good at keeping the ball down. Bello has a 23.6% strikeout rate with a 4.08 ERA and 3.69 xFIP in 35.1 innings this season. His 12% swinging-strike rate and 27.4% CSW% are solid enough that he should be able to find a few points of upside against the lousy Reds lineup, and he looks like a viable option at $7,000/$8,400 if he can keep the opposing power in check. Cincinnati’s projected lineup opens with TJ Friedl, who has been good over 155 plate appearances at .333/.384/.507 with a 135 WRC+, three home runs, and six stolen bases. Rookie Matt McLain has two home runs in his 57 plate appearances and is a good option if going to the low-end Reds, but the overall upside for power and run creation in a stack with this team is fairly light, they have a telling 4.24-run implied total in Vegas tonight. Jonathan India hits third in the projected lineup, he has five home runs and eight stolen bases, Jake Fraley has five home runs from the left side of the plate and is projected to hit cleanup for $4,800/$3,000. Tyler Stephenson has not done a lot at the plate this year, he has two home runs and an 82 WRC+ in 208 opportunities. Spencer Steer has made 216 plate appearances, he has hit seven home runs and has a .201 ISO with a 120 WRC+ as one of the team’s more productive hitters. Steer costs just $3,900/$3,200 late in the lineup. Nick Senzel, Will Benson, and Stuart Fairchild round out the lineup, Senzel has slipped below average with a 95 WRC+, Benson is at the minimum on both sites but has done nothing in 28 plate appearances this year or 61 last year, and Fairchild has just one home run in 129 plate appearances.
The Red Sox have the second-highest implied team total at 5.37 tonight, trailing only the loaded Dodgers lineup in the late game. Boston is facing righty Ben Lively who is a 31-year-old veteran of pro baseball on multiple continents over the last few years. Lively has made two starts and four appearances this season, he has a 27.3% strikeout rate and 4.5% walk rate with a 2.65 ERA and 3.11 xFIP in 17 innings. The righty struck out eight in both of his starts, the first was a 5.2-inning outing in which he allowed two earned runs on two hits while facing the Yankees, and the second was a six-inning start against the Cardinals in which he again allowed only two runs, this time on five hits including two home runs. Lively seems somewhat targetable for power, having allowed three home runs across the two starts, but his surprising strikeout upside against two good teams is at least noteworthy for a pitcher who costs just $7,100/$7,400. Still, it is difficult to see this starter providing much value with the Red Sox so highly projected. Alex Verdugo leads off on the left side, he costs $5,000/$3,300 which is cheap for a player with a good triple slash, reasonable mid-range power, and a 125 WRC+ this season. Mastaka Yoshida has a 10.70 in our home run model, ranking him second on the team tonight. Yoshida has hit six homers this season and has a .171 ISO with a 133 WRC+. Justin Turner is a cheap capable veteran with first and third base eligibility, Rafael Devers is the team’s star at third base with 13 home runs and a .258 ISO on the season, and Jarren Duran has been highly productive but costs merely $3,800/$3,300. Enrique Herandez, Triston Casas, Emmanuel Valdez, and Reese McGuire make up the bottom portion of the lineup. The four players have WRC+ totals of 81, 89, 89, and 73 for the season with 13 combined home runs, they are not a great group but any one of them can provide price, position, and popularity offsets for the better players in the top-half of the lineup.
Play: Red Sox bats/stacks, some value Bello shares
Update Notes:
Philadelphia Phillies (+120/4.04) @ New York Mets (-130/4.56)
The Phillies are in Queens to face the division-rival Mets in a matchup with a bit of wind blowing in toward home plate that should give a minor bump to pitching and slice a thin layer of upside from the lineups on either side. Righty Kodai Senga is a frustrating pitcher to roster for MLB DFS. At $9,700/$9,600 his 28.6% strikeout rate looks highly appealing, and his 3.94 ERA and 3.98 xFIP are both “fine,” though not elite numbers. Senga has an 11.7% strikeout rate and 29.2% CSW% which are both very good, but he has walked an unsustainable 14.6% of opposing hitters so far this season while allowing a 40.5% hard-hit rate. Senga has gotten by with a 2.82% home run rate and 6.6% barrel rate so far, but some of that may be attributable to happenstance. With the Phillies carrying just a 4.04-run implied team total and the wind at his back, Senga has an upside for point-scoring tonight, but he is not going to be a comfortable play. Philadelphia’s lineup opens in the usual form with Bryson Stott ahead of Trea Turner. Stott has surprisingly been the better of the two infielders so far this season, he has five home runs and eight stolen bases with a 99 WRC+ in 228 plate appearances while Turner has five homers and seven steals but just a 78 WRC+ in 236 tries. Turner is clearly the better long-term player, he is a star and Stott is simply a cog in the machine, both are playable ahead of the team’s power core. Bryce Harper costs $5,800/$3,800, he has a 12.91 in our home run model to land second behind Kyle Schwarber, who is projected to hit fifth and has a 14.72 mark in the model. The left-handed mashers bookend righty Nick Castellanos who has five home runs and a .169 ISO but has created runs 20% better than average while hitting the ball hard to all fields. Castellanos is a cheap option in the heart of the lineup at $4,500/$3,400. JT Realmuto slots in as a leading catcher option for just $4,800/$2,900, the veteran star has a 100 WRC+, exactly league-average, over 185 plate appearances with three home runs and seven stolen bases. Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, and Kody Clemens round out the lineup with three viable MLB DFS bats. Bohm has a 99 WRC+ in 212 plate appearances but was producing more a few weeks ago and should return to that level over time, Marsh has a 131 WRC+ with five home runs after a red-hot start, and Clemens has left-handed power with four home runs and a .231 ISO in just 71 plate appearances.
Lefty starter Ranger Suarez has thrown just 11 innings in three starts this season, he has a 23.6% strikeout rate but a 9.82 ERA in the tiny sample. Suarez’s 3.16 xFIP is more in line with his typical production, of course. The lefty had a 3.82 xFIP and 3.65 ERA in 155.1 innings and 29 starts last season. Suarez is capable of above-average starts from time to time, last season he had a 19.5% strikeout rate, but the year before he was at 25.6% in 12 starts and 106 total innings, part of which was bolstered by bullpen innings. At just $5,200/$6,400 the questions at play are depth and matchup, Suarez has the talent to provide value for those prices but he has not pitched deep into games and has been allowing too much run creation. The Mets have the talent to capitalize if Suarez comes out in similar form tonight, wind or no wind. Brandon Nimmo is a premium leadoff hitter who has a .392 on-base percentage and 138 WRC+ as a good correlated scoring option. Francisco Alvarez is projected to climb all the way to the second spot after hitting at the bottom of the lineup for most of the season. The rookie catcher is one of baseball’s top prospects and he has been delivering in big ways after a surprising early call-up to replace injured catchers. Alvarez has eight home runs in 113 plate appearances while slashing .269/.327/.558 with a .288 ISO and 142 WRC+, it may be years before he relinquishes the catcher role in Queens at this point. Francisco Lindor is an underperforming star who is priced down at $4,800/$3,500, he has just a 100 WRC+ in 237 plate appearances with nine home runs and four stolen bases. Pete Alonso leads the slate with a 17.14 in our home run model and he leads baseball with 20 home runs in 232 plate appearances this season. Mark Vientos is another premium prospect playing up with the big club, he has seen 24 plate appearances and has one home run in the books, he costs just $3,100/$2,400 at first and third base on DraftKings with third base eligibility on FanDuel. Starling Marte has been lousy this season, he has just an 80 WRC+ with 14 stolen bases. Jeff McNeil is a slap-hitter who gets by on BABIP but who can be involved when he is getting on base, he has a 113 WRC+ in 219 plate appearances. Tommy Pham and Mark Canha round out the projected lineup with 95 and 93 WRC+ marks and cheap veteran quality.
Play: Mets bats/stacks, Kodai Senga in small doses, Phillies bats in smaller shares
Update Notes:
Kansas City Royals (+164/3.89) @ St. Louis Cardinals (-180/5.22)
The hard-hitting free-swinging Royals are facing soft-tosser Miles Mikolas, an effective right-handed pitcher who projects well in our model today. Mikolas is gaining upside based on the aggressive 26.6% strikeout rate for the projected Royals lineup, he has just a 17.7% strikeout rate in 61.2 innings and 11 starts this season. The veteran has a 4.23 ERA and 4.34 xFIP in the sample, he is not great for strikeouts with just a 6.8% swinging-strike rate and 24.8% CSW%, and has been mostly effective in checking opposing power. At just $7,700/$8,200, Mikolas could be a sneaky-good source of pitching quality on this slate, if he can avoid the Royals’ power there is a path to a strong score on the back of clean innings, a handful of strikeouts, and a good chance for a win, if not a quality start bonus. Vegas seems to agree with that assessment, Kansas City checks in with just a 3.89-run implied team total that does not have them looking like a great option for stacking. When going to Royals bats, one would do well to focus on the top five in the projected lineup. Those hitters include Nick Pratto, who costs just $3,100/$2,900 with outfield and first base eligibility and a 134 WRC+ in 119 plate appearances; Vinnie Pasquantino who has nine home runs and a 118 WRC+ in 233 tries while striking out just 12.9% of the time to lead the team by a wide margin; Sal Perez, the team’s star catcher who has 12 home runs with a .249 ISO and 123 WRC+; Bobby Witt Jr. who has been coming to life after dropping out of the leadoff spot, Witt has 10 home runs and 16 stolen bases in 237 plate appearances; and MJ Melendez who can mash with the best of them with a 13.6% barrel rate and 55.9% hard-hit rate but just five home runs and a .160 ISO with an 84 WRC+. The bottom half of the lineup is not nearly as good most nights, the projected version includes Michael Massey, Nicky Lopez, Drew Waters, and Jackie Bradley Jr. who are mix-and-match options at cheap prices but low levels of productivity.
The Cardinals are drawing the third-highest implied total on the slate in a matchup against veteran Zack Greinke, who may keep pitching until no one lets him anymore. Greinke has a 4.55 ERA and 4.13 xFIP on the season with a 7.9% swinging-strike rate and 17.4% strikeout rate that at least make him look better than poor Adam Wainwright. Greinke has thrown 57.1 innings in 11 starts, he is still good at limiting opportunities with just a 3.4% walk rate, but things have not been pretty for power and the Cardinals’ lineup is loaded with potential tonight. Greinke has allowed a 4.24% home run rate on 89.8 mph of average exit velocity and 39.8% hard hits, he is not a strong option against one of the league’s best teams for creating runs against right-handed pitching. Tommy Edman returns to the leadoff role in the projected lineup with Lars Nootbaar injured. Edman is a killer leadoff option that provides strong correlated scoring and individual upside for just $4,100/$2,700. Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman, and Nolan Arenado are an enviable power core. Goldschmidt costs $5,600/$3,900 with 10 home runs and a .227 ISO this season, Gorman is at $4,900/$3,800 with 13 home runs and a .288 ISO, and Arenado costs $5,300/$3,400 with nine home runs and a 99 WRC+. Gorman’s cheap DraftKings price comes with the bonus of third base eligibility, though that would preclude one from rostering him alongside Arenado. The lineup’s quality continues with catcher Willson Contreras, multi-positional lefty Brendan Donovan, shortstop Paul DeJong, and outfielders Alec Burleson and Juan Yepez, all of whom are capable affordable hitters who can provide quality for MLB DFS action tonight. The Cardinals are one of the best options for stacking tonight, despite landing only around the mid-point of our Power Index. Contreras is a good option behind the plate in the heart of this lineup, Donovan has been a productive hitter against weak righties, DeJong has been on fire for power since his return to the lineup with eight homers in just 116 chances, Burleson hits from the left side with a bit of power for just $2,300/$2,400, and Yepez provides the same from the right side.
Play: Cardinals bats/stacks aggressively, Miles Mikolas
Update Notes:
Tampa Bay Rays (-194/4.72) @ Chicago Cubs (+177/3.37)
Veteran righty Kyle Hendricks will be making his second start of the season after returning from injury last week. Hendricks had not started since early last Summer, he lasted 4.1 innings while striking out five and walking two but coughing up three earned runs and five total on six hits. Hendricks is a soft-tossing righty who has never been a premium option for strikeouts but can provide clean innings in the right situation, in this matchup he does not seem worth even the $6,600/$6,800 that the sites are asking, though it is worth mentioning that the wind will be blowing in toward home plate once again at Wrigley Field tonight. The Rays’ outrageous lineup was held in check by Marcus Stroman last night, but Hendricks is not as talented as his teammate, and the Tampa Bay lineup is pulling in quality projections with a 4.72-run implied total. Yandy Diaz has 12 home runs in 200 plate appearances, exceeding the total he hit in 558 opportunities last year and falling just one short of the total he posted in 541 tries in 2022, yet he costs just $4,700 on DraftKings. Diaz is a playable part on FanDuel with first and third-base eligibility for $4,100, but the price across town is a true discount. Wander Franco has seven home runs and 19 stolen bases as one of the team’s primary everyday stars. Brandon Lowe has eight home runs and a .195 ISO from the left side, he is always a threat and leads the team with a 10.69 in our home run model tonight. Randy Arozarena has a 16.8% barrel rate and 49.7% hard-hit rate for the season, adding up to 11 home runs and a 163 WRC+ with a .222 ISO, he is an affordable star on any given slate. Harold Ramirez has been excellent this season, hitting for his usual quality and creating runs but also adding power with eight homers in just 160 plate appearances. Ramirez is cheap at $3,500/$3,000 in the heart of the projected batting order, assuming he plays he is a good option when stacking Rays. Josh Lowe has 11 home runs and 12 stolen bases already this season in a big leap forward, he is also affordable at $4,900 on DraftKings but is a bit high at $4,000 on the blue site. Taylor Walls, Jose Siri, and Francisco Mejia round out the projected lineup, Walls has been fantastic but is playing somewhat above his head, Siri has nine home runs and an outrageous .320 ISO with a 133 WRC+ in 114 plate appearances and may be in the process of seizing a more everyday role with the matchup-oriented team.
Shane McClanahan will also be pitching with the wind at his back tonight, which helps his already strong case as one of the highest-projected pitchers in our model (which does not account for wind for pitching). McClanahan has made 11 starts and has put up a sparkling 1.97 ERA with a more honest 3.56 xFIP that still looks great. The lefty has a 29.1% strikeout rate in 64 innings, has induced a 16.1% swinging strike rate, and has a 32.9% CSW% to place him among the league leaders for strike-throwing this season. At $11,400/$11,200, McClanahan is a demanding but worthwhile investment on both sites tonight, he has a good chance at capping any upside for Chicago’s lineup, which Vegas has at just a 3.37-run implied total. The Cubs lineup includes Nico Hoerner who has good speed and a bit of pop in the leadoff role for $4,800/$3,300; Dansby Swanson, a star shortstop who has a 119 WRC+ but has lacked his usual power upside so far in 2023; and Ian Happ, who is an underrated run creator in the outfield. Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel provide power in the heart of the lineup, Suzuki has six home runs in 166 plate appearances, and Morel has an absurd nine in 71 opportunities. Patrick Wisdom is the team’s best true power hitter, he has a titanic .329 ISO and 14 home runs in 173 plate appearances, typically from late in the lineup at cheap prices. Wisdom costs just $3,600/$3,100 with eligibility at third base on DraftKings and with an added outfield option on FanDuel. Mike Tauchman, Trey Mancini, and Yan Gomes round out the lineup, Mancini and Gomes are underappreciated veterans with the idea of power upside for cheap prices late in the lineup, Tauchman is a quad-A player.
Play: Shane McClanahan, only moderate shares of either lineup with the Rays greatly preferred between the two
Update Notes:
Los Angeles Angels (+126/4.21) @ Chicago White Sox (-137/4.89)
An appropriately star-studded Los Angeles lineup is in Chicago to face Lucas Giolito who has been slightly below expectations but not to a tragic degree so far this season. Giolito has made 11 starts and thrown 63.1 innings while pitching to a 3.98 ERA and 4.39 xFIP with a 23.9% strikeout rate. He is throwing fewer strikes so far this year, with his CSW% dipping from 29.8% in 2021 and 29.1% last year to just 27.6% in early returns in 2023, and a minor drop in swinging-strikes from 12.2% last year to 11.9% this season, both marks falling well off the 15.3% he induced in 2021. Giolito costs $9,200/$10,000, he projects only in the middle of our pitching board but could reasonably find a bit of additional upside against the free-swinging Angels if he can work a few clean innings. The projected Angels lineup has a 25.3% strikeout rate so far this season but they also have a massive amount of power. Mickey Moniak leads off the projected lineup, he has four home runs in 45 plate appearances in a major outburst from the former first-overall pick who may have finally arrived. Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are who they are, the pricey stars are almost always worth the investment and they land at 12.83 and 11.91 in our home run model for $6,000/$3,700 and $6,200/$3,900, with Ohtani carrying additional first base eligibility on DraftKings. Hunter Renfroe has 10 home runs and a .199 ISO for the season, he is in a minor downswing the last two weeks but will be fine and is very cheap at $3,900/$3,000. Jared Walsh adds needed lefty power to the heart of the lineup, he has made just 25 plate appearances since returning last week so we can forgive the zero home run total, for now. Brandon Drury has nine homers and a .243 ISO in 197 plate appearances at just $4,000/$2,700 with first and second base eligibility on both sites. Matt Thaiss, Gio Urshela, and Zach Neto round out the lineup, Neto is interesting as a wraparound with his solid hit tool and moderate speed.
The White Sox will be facing lefty Tyler Anderson as surprising favorites with a 4.89-run implied team total that has them in the top-half of options on the slate. Chicago’s lineup got a big boost from the return of Eloy Jimenez last week and they are finally in full form which should mean better outcomes for MLB DFS gamers who like playing this team at good prices. The matchup against Anderson is a good one, the lefty has a 4.81 ERA and 6.15 xFIP which tells us he has actually been lucky to pitch as well (poorly) as he has so far. Anderson has struck out just 13.6% over 48.2 innings in nine starts, with that much contact and a 10.5% walk rate he is a very targetable flyball pitcher who should not be utilized even at discounted prices. The Chicago lineup opens with Tim Anderson who is slashing .261/.304/.307 with a .039 ISO and 71 WRC+ over 161 uncharacteristic plate appearances. Anderson is a toolsy star with moderate power, great speed, and an excellent hit tool, he will come around and is currently priced way down at $4,700/$2,800. Jimenez is projected to hit second, the right-handed thumper has a 12% barrel rate and 49.3% hard-hit rate with five home runs in 115 plate appearances but has missed a significant amount of time the past few years. Luis Robert Jr. has carried the team with 13 home runs, a .261 ISO, and 120 WRC+ in 219 plate appearances. Yoan Moncada is another quality hitter who missed time for this team, he has made 103 plate appearances and has two home runs with a 102 WRC+ from either side of the plate. Andrew Vaughn has seven home runs with a 106 WRC+, Yasmani Grandal has a 102 WRC+ in 166 plate appearances, and Jake Burger has 10 home runs in 132 tries, most of which came during an outrageous start to his season in a short outburst that has since cooled. Clint Frazier is a well-past-hype former top prospect who had a run of weird non-structural injuries to derail a career that was also blocked in many ways by high-priced teammates while with New York. Frazier is a talented player with power and speed and he costs just $2,100/$2,200. Hanser Alberto closes out the lineup is a low-end option.
Play: White Sox bats/stacks, Angels bats/stacks, Lucas Giolito
Update Notes:
Minnesota Twins (-112/4.13) @ Houston Astros (+103/3.97)
The Twins are carrying fair power projections tonight and look like a decent option as a value stack with low salaries against righty Brandon Bielak who has a 3.55 ERA and 4.50 xFIP in four starts and 25.1 innings. Bielak has struck out 20.2% while walking 8.3% and allowing too much premium contact. The righty has a 15.4% barrel rate and 44.9% hard hits with 90 mph of average exit velocity amounting to a 5.50% home run rate. Bielak costs $6,800/$8,000 and is carrying a low projection in our model, he does not look like a strong option tonight. The Twins projected lineup has its leading power hitter in our model in the leadoff spot, where Joey Gallo‘s three-true-outcomes upside provides a catalyst or puts the hitters behind him in a hole. Gallo has a 15.9% walk rate and a .317 ISO with a 136 WRC+ and 11 home runs in 151 plate appearances this season and he costs just $4,000/$3,000. Edouard Julien is a cheap prime prospect who has flashed some MLB-caliber power in a small sample, Carlos Correa is a struggling veteran who we still very much believe in as his price drops to highly appealing levels, and Byron Buxton is a star in the outfield who has a 12.02 in our home run model to rank second behind Gallo tonight. Alex Kirilloff has left-handed power at a good price, he has three home runs and a .188 ISO in 78 plate appearances in 2023. Royce Lewis landed in the lineup and hit a home run at the minimum price last night, so of course the former top prospect comes back at the dead minimum on both sites again tonight. Lewis is an outstanding play at $2,000 around the industry if he is in the Twins lineup tonight, but he will also be crushingly popular as the entire industry talks about him. Max Kepler may be a more sneaky option if he is in the lineup, the lefty has excellent power with six homers in just 119 plate appearances this season. Willi Castro has been productive at a cheap price and Christian Vazquez rounds out the projected lineup.
The Astros’ scuffling but star-laden lineup lands at just a 3.97-run implied team total against righty Joe Ryan who has been mostly excellent this season. Ryan lands among our highest-projected pitchers in this matchup, he has a 28.9% strikeout rate and just a 4.1% walk rate in 10 starts and 61 innings this season while pitching to a 2.21 ERA and 3.31 xFIP. Ryan has taken a step forward after a very good 2022 in which he had a 25% strikeout rate and 3.55 ERA over 147 innings and 27 outings. At $11,100/$11,000 the righty is a viable play but does not quite rise to the level of equally expensive McClanahan; popularity would be a good tiebreaker if one is deciding between the two talented pitchers with a lot of salary and a well-built lineup already in place. The Astros side of the equation is somewhat lackluster tonight, Jose Altuve is always an option, he is still cheap for his talent at a weak position, the second baseman has two home runs in 36 plate appearances since returning. Jeremy Pena has eight home runs and six stolen bases with a 98 WRC+. Yordan Alvarez is a star but is priced like it at $6,100/$4,400 against a high-end pitcher, he has a 12.00 in our home run model as the only player in Houston’s projected lineup over the magic number for home runs. Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker are quality options for power in the heart of the lineup, and Jose Abreu finally got on the power board with his first Houston home run over the weekend. Abreu has been struggling badly but is cheap and plays every day. Corey Julks, Chas McCormick, and Martin Maldonado are all capable options but the overall spot for building a lot of Astros lineups is not a good one today.
Play: Joe Ryan, Twins bats/stacks
Update Notes:
New York Yankees (+131/3.47) @ Seattle Mariners (-142/4.11)
The Yankees gave rookie Bryce Miller a big MLB wake-up call in the first shaky outing of his excellent young career last night, they will be hard-pressed to do the same to righty Logan Gilbert in tonight’s matchup, and Vegas has them with just a 3.47-run implied team total. Gilbert has struck out an excellent 29.6% of opposing hitters in a big leap over his first 10 starts this season, last year he had a 22.7% strikeout rate in 185.2 innings and 32 starts. The righty is elite for control and command, he has a 4.3% all rate and a 0.92 WHIP while pitching to a 3.60 ERA and 3.03 xFIP on the season and limiting home runs to 2.58%. Gilbert costs $10,200/$10,600 and projects in the upper-middle of the board with the potential for more, he is a good option tonight who may slip through at lowish ownership. The Yankees lineup features the typical group of playable hitters ahead of the less-than-playable options who litter the bottom of the projected batting order. Gleyber Torres has created runs 20% better than average and has nine home runs this season, Aaron Judge has 17 long balls with a .377 ISO and 191 WRC+ in 196 plate appearances, basically adding a full second power hitter to the lineup, and Anthony Rizzo is a great option at first base if he returns from a bit of a neck injury. DJ LeMahieu has six home runs and a .161 ISO despite a 49.2% hard-hit rate while doubling his strikeout rate in a mismatched combination of outcomes, he needs to hit for more power or strike out less, but he is viable for our purposes with multi-position eligibility at just $2,800. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jake Bauers, and Oswaldo Cabrera are all low-end options who may appear late in the lineup, Kyle Higashioka is the interesting option at catcher, and Anthony Volpe has upside for counting stats and DFS scoring with seven home runs and 13 steals, but has not been great overall with just a 76 WRC+ and .156 ISO.
Lefty Nestor Cortes Jr. has not had the same charmed season that he has posted over his first two years with New York. He has pitched to a 5.30 ERA and 4.97 xFIP over 54.1 innings in 10 starts with just a 23.2% strikeout rate and 4.39% home run rate. Cortes has allowed far more premium contact and power this year and has seen a big dip from 11.1% swinging strikes to just 9.5% with a corresponding dip in his CSW%. At $8,600/$8,300 the struggles are now mostly baked into the pitcher’s price, Cortes has been a better pitcher than those numbers for the past two years, and he projects as a decent option on our pitching board for the cost and the likelihood of low ownership. The Mariners lineup is a good one, their talent warrants hedge shares going back against Cortes is he is utilized in a suite of lineups. JP Crawford is a cheap shortstop in a good spot leading off for this team, he has a 114 WRC+ in 209 plate appearances. Ty France has a 114 WRC+ as well, his comes in 231 plate appearances but he has somewhat underperformed expectations with a dip in his triple-slash and fewer home runs. Julio Rodriguez has been a disappointment over the first third of his sophomore season. The talented outfielder is slashing .247/.311/.451 but he does still have a .205 ISO with a 115 WRC+ and he hit his 10th home run of the season last night. Rodriguez will be fine, take the discount at $5,600/$3,800. Jarred Kelenic, Eugenio Suarez, Cal Raleigh, and Teoscar Hernandez have excellent power as a four-man unit. Kelenic has 10 home runs this season, Suarez has six after a very slow start, Raleigh has eight and a .213 ISO with a 114 WRC+ as an affordable catcher, and Hernandez has nine homers but just a .167 ISO and 86 WRC+. Tom Murphy and Jose Caballero round out the projected lineup.
Play: Logan Gilbert, Nestor Cortes Jr., Mariners bats/stacks, Yankees bats/stacks in that order
Update Notes:
Atlanta Braves (-239/4.94) @ Oakland Athletics (+215/3.17)
Lefty JP Sears has been an effective starter in the month of May and has respectable but not great numbers overall for his 10 starts and 53.2 innings. Sears has a 23.4% strikeout rate and a 4.70 ERA with a 4.80 xFIP while inducing an 11.7% swinging-strike rate, but he has allowed too much premium contact and power and is facing the Braves tonight. Atlanta’s 4.94-run implied team total is one of the higher marks on the board, the hard-hitting lineup is carrying significant upside for home runs and they are heavily favored to run away with this one. Sears has coughed up a 5.41% home run rate and 11% barrels so far, which should play directly into what Atlanta does well. Ronald Acuna Jr. has 11 home runs and 22 stolen bases with a .234 ISO and 159 WRC+, Matt Olson has 17 home runs with a .312 ISO, Austin Riley has 10 home runs and a .195 ISO, and Sean Murphy has hit 11 home runs as one of the best catchers in the game for MLB DFS. If you thought the list of major home run totals ended there, you haven’t been paying attention. Marcell Ozuna slots in fifth in the projected lineup, he has 11 home runs and a .259 ISO and costs just $2,900/$3,200, and Ozzie Albies has 10 home runs and a .207 ISO but has dipped to just league-average WRC+. The final three spots are occupied by Kevin Pillar, who is here for defense, Orlando Arcia, who is an underrated multi-position cheap option, and Michael Harris II who has two home runs and five stolen bases but is slashing .175/.259/.272 in 116 opportunities. The Braves are playable from 1-9 as a strong stacking option tonight.
Atlanta righty Bryce Elder is among the slate leaders in our pitching projections on a deep night in an outstanding matchup with the low-rent Athletics. Oakland is carrying a 3.17-run implied team total and the inept lineup is not a major threat to Elder who has put up strong results despite not having blow-away stuff. Elder has just a 21.5% strikeout rate in his 58.1 innings and 10 starts this season, but he has pitched to a 2.01 ERA and 3.58 xFIP with an 11% swinging-strike rate that supports the idea of an upside, and he has been good at keeping the ball down and checking opposing power. Elder has a good upside to get to a win and a quality start bonus in this contest, he is a good play for MLB DFS purposes and there is not much to like on the Oakland side. Esteury Ruiz has 27 stolen bases in 241 plate appearances but needs to increase the pace slightly if he is targeting 100 for the season. Ryan Noda has six home runs and a .226 ISO with a 150 WRC+ for the season. Brent Rooker has the same 11 home runs he had on May 12th. On the second-to-last day of May, he is slashing .196/.291/.320 with a .124 ISO and 78 WRC+ while striking out 33.6% of the time for the month. Rooker is not a good player, which we have said throughout, sorry if you got your hopes up during his outrageous March/April. Seth Brown and Shea Langeliers are better options with power upside on either side of the plate. Brown adds a bit of speed, he hit 25 home runs and stole 11 bases in 2021 but missed most of this season so far, he has three homers and two steals in 60 plate appearances. Langeliers is a capable cheap catcher in a bad spot. JJ Bleday has a touch of pop on the left side of the plate at a cheap price, and the lineup closes in low-end style with Jace Peterson, Nick Allen, and Tony Kemp.
Play: Braves bats/stacks, Bryce Elder, both with confidence
Update Notes:
Colorado Rockies (+219/3.34) @ Arizona Diamondbacks (-243/5.27)
The lousy Rockies are facing a top-end starter in righty Zac Gallen who is one of our most highly-projected pitchers at a $10,700 price tag on both sites tonight. Gallen looks a bit better than both McLanahan and Ryan, who are both at higher prices, but that will probably push him ahead of both of those talented starters for popularity as well. The matchup against Colorado strongly favors Gallen, who has a 2.97 ERA and 3.15 xFIP with a 28.3% strikeout rate over 66.2 innings in 11 starts. The righty has a 12% swinging-strike rate and 29% CSW% for the season and is a very strong option to chase the win and quality start bonuses tonight. The Rockies’ 3.34-run implied team total should tell you everything you need to know about their chances of making value for DFS purposes, the low-end team looks worse than normal in a road game. Anyone going to Rockies bats in a bad spot should look past Jurickson Profar to Kris Bryant, Ryan McMahon, Elias Diaz, and Randal Grichuk as the primary core of options, with upside potentially coming from later in the lineup with hitters like Nolan Jones and Brenton Doyle, two young low-cost hitters with power. Profar has been bad, Bryant has not been anywhere near who we thought he would be and may still be suffering from last year’s injury with just an 88 WRC+ and .113 ISO, McMahon has eight home runs to lead the team, and Diaz has been their best overall player as a cheap catcher. Grichuk has a 143 WRC+ in 97 plate appearances since returning but has just one home run, Harold Castro is a low-end option at a cheap price with multi-position eligibility on both sites, and the lineup closes with Ezequiel Tovar who has a 60 WRC+ with three home runs and two stolen bases in 187 opportunities.
The Diamondbacks look like the far better option at the plate, they have one of the highest totals on the slate at 5.27 runs and there is talent up and down the projected batting order against limited lefty Kyle Freeland. The southpaw has a 3.86 ERA but a 4.59 xFIP for the season and he allows a lot of contact with a fair amount of upside for power. Anderson has struck out just 17.4% of opposing hitters while giving up a 39.2% hard-hit rate and 3.31% home run rate on 89.6 mph of average exit velocity. At $6,500/$8,800 it is difficult to envision the path to success, though it is far less obscured on the DraftKings slate at an affordable price, FanDuel’s price is simply incorrect for this pitcher. The projected Diamondbacks lineup opens with Ketel Marte, who has seven homers and a 117 WRC+ for the season at just $4,900/$3,000. Marte’s FanDuel price is very low. Emmanuel Rivera is cheap on both sites, he is slashing .343/.370/.471 with a 128 WRC+ in 73 plate appearances but was not great in 359 opportunities last year outside of the 12 home runs he managed. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Christian Walker have combined for 20 home runs – aka one Pete Alonso – they are a sturdy power core at just $4,400/$3,500 and $4,600/$3,300. Evan Longoria specializes at brutalizing left-handed pitching at this point in his career, he has six home runs in 95 plate appearances this season. Corbin Carroll drops in the lineup against same-handed pitching but should see opportunities in this game, he has power and speed with eight homers and 14 steals in the books already this season. Carroll is affordable at $5,100/$3,500. Gabriel Moreno is a good catching option, Nick Ahmed is a mix-and-match piece, and Jake McCarthy has both power and speed that have not come through in big ways so far at the MLB level this season. McCarthy was sent down earlier in the year and came back to the Majors last week after raking for a month in AAA.
Play: Zac Gallen enthusiastically, Diamondbacks bats/stacks
Update Notes:
Pittsburgh Pirates (+128/3.96) @ San Francisco Giants (-139/4.64)
The Pirates are facing John Brebbia, who will throw an inning as the opener and is not a viable option at $8,600/$5,500 despite a 34.8% strikeout rate in 22 innings and three starts. Brebbia threw two innings out of the bullpen five days ago, the most he has thrown in an appearance this season, even if he matches that total it seems unlikely that he will post a relevant score at incorrect prices. The Pirates lineup is not a great option in this contest however, they are carrying an implied total below four runs and they will have limited upside in those early innings against the right-handed opener. The projected Pirates lineup opens with Tucupita Marcano, who has three home runs and three stolen bases with a 130 WRC+ in 100 plate appearances. Bryan Reynolds has seven homers and a .218 ISO in 220 opportunities, Andrew McCutchen has eight homers and five steals with a 117 WRC+ in 194 chances, and Jack Suwinski has 11 home runs with six stolen bases and a 134 WRC+ in 170 opportunities. Suwinski leads the team with a 6.46 in our home run model. Connor Joe and Ke’Bryan Hayes follow with mid-range quality at affordable prices. Joe started the season very hot but is down to .242/.335/.456, he does have a .215 ISO and 115 WRC+ with five home runs. Hayes should be better than he is, given his 46.9% hard-hit rate, but he isn’t so we don’t need him. Rodolfo Castro, Ji-Hwan Bae, and Jason Delay close out the lineup.
The Giants are facing righty Johan Oviedo, who has made 10 starts and thrown 53.2 innings this season, though we are struggling to remember him appearing on a single main slate so far this year. Oviedo costs $6,400/$7,900, he has a 4.70 ERA and 4.62 xFIP with a 1.53 WHIP, a 10.1% walk rate, and just a 19.4% strikeout rate. Oviedo has not allowed a ton of power and he has been good at limiting home runs in small samples each of the last two seasons as well, which puts a bit of a cap on the upside for San Francisco’s hard-hitting lineup. The Giants are in play at value pricing, however, and the idea of a bit of mid-range upside is supported by a 4.64-run implied team total in Vegas. LaMonte Wade Jr. is too cheap at $3,000/$2,900, he has seven home runs and a 141 WRC+ in 197 plate appearances. Mike Yastrzemski has a 5.66 in our home run model, he has six in 147 plate appearances with a .199 ISO and 110 WRC+. JD Davis has nine homers this season, Michael Conforto has 11 and a .220 ISO with a 121 WRC+, and Mitch Haniger has four homers in just 111 plate appearances. The outfielder hit 39 homers in 691 plate appearances two seasons ago, he has monumental power when he is going right. Blake Sabol has provided surprising lefty power and he has catcher eligibility at affordable prices on both sites, Casey Schmitt has been a viable shortstop option over 77 plate appearances, providing two home runs and a 132 WRC+, and the lineup closes with Patrick Bailey and Brett Wisely.
Play: Giants bats/stacks in moderate doses
Update Notes:
Washington Nationals (+272/3.29) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (5.85)
The final game on the giant slate features our premium hitting options, the highest implied team total on the board, and an interesting moderately priced option on the mound, all of which are claimed by the hometown Dodgers. The Nationals do not look like a good option against righty Tony Gonsolin, who has been very good in six starts and 29.2 innings this year. Gonsolin has a 1.82 ERA but a 5.05 xFIP in the small sample, he has not pitched particularly deep into games and he has just a 19.7% strikeout rate for the year. The righty is pulling down a good projection that has him in the top third of the board, but he will need six innings to get there tonight, which is the lone question mark. Gonsolin went 5.2 in his last start, he threw five innings in the two starts prior to that and managed six innings just once, in his third start of the year. Overall, this looks like a quality pitching option who can find a good ceiling score at a fair $8,000 on DraftKings, his ability to reach the quality start will be the deciding factor in making value for $9,400 on the blue site. Nationals hitters are not a great option, they have a 3.29-run implied total and look lousy in projections, even at cost. Lane Thomas is their best player, he has a 117 WRC+ for $4,800/$3,200. Luis Garcia, Jeimer Candelario, Joey Meneses, Dom Smith, Corey Dickerson, and CJ Abrams are the more playable names in the lineup, but all of those options save Candelario are below average by WRC+ for the season, and the switch-hitter is just six percent above average in his 220 plat appearances. This is a bad baseball team and Gonsolin has upside to keep them mostly off the board tonight.
The Dodgers lead the slate with a 5.85-run implied team total and they are also the leading option on our Power Index today, with five hitters in the projected lineup landing above the magic number for home run potential. Righty Jake Irvin is a non-entity on the mound, even at $5,300/$7,000 in this matchup. Irvin has a 5.32 ERA and 6.03 xFIP with a 19% strikeout rate and has allowed an 11.3% barrel rate with 40.3% hard hits while walking 16% in his 22 innings over five starts. This pitcher is a big flashing target for the outstanding Dodgers lineup, which will be popular across the industry but also lands as our top-ranked stack tonight. Los Angeles features star power at the top with Mookie Betts, who is cheap at $5,500/$3,900 with eligibility at second base and in the outfield. Getting Betts at second base is a major boon to lineup construction on both sites, he has 11 home runs with a .245 ISO and 131 WRC+ in 236 opportunities this year. Freddie Freeman is a star first baseman for $5,300/$4,300, he has nine home runs and is slashing .333/.409/.571 with a 162 WRC+, he is too cheap even at the high prices. Will Smith is an outstanding catcher who is extremely difficult to strike out while carrying unfair light-tower power. Smith has seven home runs with a .214 ISO in just 163 plate appearances while slashing .3305/.411/.519 and creating runs 53% better than average, the backstop is walking at an excellent 15.3% while striking out at a microscopic 8.6% rate. The top four hitters in the Los Angeles lineup have double-digit walk rates which plays right into one of Irvin’s primary weaknesses, they should load up on runs early before getting into the Washington bullpen for more. Max Muncy leads Los Angeles with 17 home runs, and we include the Angels lineup when we say “leads Los Angeles”. The power hitter has a 29.6% strikeout rate but walks at a 15.8% clip and has a .321 ISO while creating runs 31% better than average for the season. Righty JD Martinez has a matching .321 ISO with a 139 WRC+ in 169 plate appearances, he has hit 11 home runs in a surprisingly excellent start to the season. Jason Heyward has been another nice surprise at the dish, the veteran outfielder is slashing .214/.328/.414 but he has a .224 ISO with five home runs in 119 plate appearances and has a 44.3% hard-hit rate. James Outman or David Peralta could land in the bottom third of the lineup, or they may both play with Heyward sitting. The Heyward-Outman configuration would be the better option for MLB DFS purposes and home run upside, but Peralta is a capable veteran on the left side of the plate as well. Miguel Vargas and Miguel Rojas round out the projected lineup, Vargas has a 105 WRC+ with five home runs in 199 plate appearances while Rojas has been 60% below the average for run creation with zero home runs in 110 tries.
Play: Dodgers bats/stacks aggressively (they’ll be popular though), Tony Gonsolin
Update Notes:
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