Saturday’s main slate consists of six games, which normally narrows things down quite a bit for DFS purposes. However, there are a lot of borderline aces starting on Saturday, which means it’ll be critical to nail our starting pitcher selections. Of course, hitting on SPs is always the most important aspect of playing DFS. We’ll also look to supplement our high-priced arms with some cheaper bats in good lineups. Let’s dive in.
Remember to reach out on Twitter with questions anytime @toomuchtuma.
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Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
My core philosophy when it comes to playing DFS is to build my lineups around high-end starting pitchers. It’s the most important position to get right when it comes to daily fantasy, and it’s nearly impossible to overcome a situation where your SP falls short of expectations. Innings pitched and strikeouts are just worth too many points, which is why I only consider aces when they’re available on a given slate.
Cash Game Recommendations:
Dustin May (LAD) @MIL
It’s admittedly tough to nail down who the best option is between the four names above. However, May’s price is reasonable on both sites, and he has a great matchup going against the Brewers sans Christian Yelich. Furthermore, the young right-hander has completely reinvented himself as a pitcher this year. His “stuff” has always been good, which leads to a lot of GIFs from Pitching Ninja on Twitter. However, it never really led to the amount of strikeouts you’d expect. In 2021 May’s K% has increased from 19.6% to 37.2%, and this figure is backed up by his whiff rate. The matchup, chances for a win, and the potential for strikeouts make May a fantastic cash game option tonight.
Saturday’s main slate consists of six games, which normally narrows things down quite a bit for DFS purposes. However, there are a lot of borderline aces starting on Saturday, which means it’ll be critical to nail our starting pitcher selections. Of course, hitting on SPs is always the most important aspect of playing DFS. We’ll also look to supplement our high-priced arms with some cheaper bats in good lineups. Let’s dive in.
Remember to reach out on Twitter with questions anytime @toomuchtuma.
Import your team to My Playbook for instant Waiver Wire advice
Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
My core philosophy when it comes to playing DFS is to build my lineups around high-end starting pitchers. It’s the most important position to get right when it comes to daily fantasy, and it’s nearly impossible to overcome a situation where your SP falls short of expectations. Innings pitched and strikeouts are just worth too many points, which is why I only consider aces when they’re available on a given slate.
Cash Game Recommendations:
Dustin May (LAD) @MIL
It’s admittedly tough to nail down who the best option is between the four names above. However, May’s price is reasonable on both sites, and he has a great matchup going against the Brewers sans Christian Yelich. Furthermore, the young right-hander has completely reinvented himself as a pitcher this year. His “stuff” has always been good, which leads to a lot of GIFs from Pitching Ninja on Twitter. However, it never really led to the amount of strikeouts you’d expect. In 2021 May’s K% has increased from 19.6% to 37.2%, and this figure is backed up by his whiff rate. The matchup, chances for a win, and the potential for strikeouts make May a fantastic cash game option tonight.
Zac Gallen (ARI) vs COL
We always want to attack the Rockies on the road, and similar to May, Gallen has a reasonable price on both sites. He has a plus matchup and similar strikeout upside. Since he’s cheaper than May I’d expect him to be slightly less rostered in cash games, so Gallen could be the option if you want to go a little contrarian. However, May is the superior straight up play in my mind.
GPP Recommendations:
Brandon Woodruff (MIL) vs LAD
Milwaukee’s co-ace is a particularly strong FanDuel option for GPPs since he comes in a lot cheaper than on DK. There isn’t anything negative to say about Woodruff’s season thus far. He is coming up some hard-hit balls when batters make contact, but overall the right-hander is continuing to miss bats at an elite rate. The Dodgers matchup is what makes him more of a GPP option. He has the upside to be the best starter on tonight’s slate, but I imagine facing LA will scare others off.
Eduardo Rodriguez (BOS) @TEX
The inverse of Woodruff, E-Rod is a better value on DraftKings tonight. Texas isn’t an imposing matchup and Boston’s ace could go overlooked with all the other high-end SPs starting on Saturday. Globe Life Park has been friendly to pitchers in its brief existence, and Rodriguez’s strikeout/ground-ball combo gives him a high floor with the upside for more.
View the best player prop bets for today’s slate with our MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
Top Lineup Stacks
Boston Red Sox Projected Lineup
There are two low-end pitchers to attack tonight — Jordan Lyles and Austin Gomber. We’ll start with Lyles, who has the misfortune of facing Boston’s resurgent lineup. I’ll admit that the role players on the Red Sox have been cold as of late, which is why I only gave the team a “medium” value. Still, any of their bats are worth paying up for. I’ll note that Xander Bogaerts, in particular, looks like an outright steal on FanDuel.
Now this is where we can fit the cheap bats into our lineups, which makes it easier to pay up for aces and some of the Boston hitters. I expect that everyone will be attacking Gomber tonight, especially after his disaster of a start on Monday. Therefore, it makes more sense to use Arizona hitters in cash games, and then get some differentiation into our GPP lineups. Carson Kelly has been the Diamondbacks’ best hitter so far this season, so I’d love to use him with the platoon advantage. Otherwise, pay attention when Arizona releases their lineup later today. There could be the potential of cheap hitters atop the order.
Core Studs
Value Plays/Punts
Saturday’s Hitter Strategy
As always, I’m spending up for pitchers tonight. This means that I’m going to have to cut costs with my hitters. The easiest place to do so in cash games is with Arizona bats, especially given the matchup with Austin Gomber.
If you’re able to get enough cheap hitters into your lineup then I support surrounding them with high-priced options from the Red Sox and Angels – Bogaerts, JD Martinez, Anthony Rendon, and Shohei Ohtani. ATL/TOR is the other game I’d look to pull some low-priced batters from, such as Austin Riley and Teoscar Hernandez (particularly on FD).
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Brendan Tuma is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Brendan, check out his archive and follow him @toomuchtuma.