DFS MLB Lineups for April 5, 2017 at Draftkings.com & Fanduel.com

For the next six months, each day there’s a good slate of DFS MLB games, we’ll be writing up a group of pitchers and hitters that we’re considering for our cash and GPP lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel. We’ll also provide a list of start times, starting pithcers, and game run totals to give you a good idea of where the fantasy goodness might come from on a given night.

Unlike NBA DFS which is generally somewhat predictable from night to night, MLB DFS is a game with a lot of variance. You can make a really solid lineup and still fall short of the cash line. Even the best pitchers have off nights, and the very best hitters can still go 0 for 4. Trust the process and know that if you’re playing quality lineups, you’ll be a winner in the long term.

4/5/17 TOURNAMENT RUNDOWN

DraftKings Fastball: $33 buy-in, $350k guaranteed
DraftKings Moonshot: $3 buy-in, $175k guaranteed
DraftKings Perfect Game: $333 buy-in, $200k guaranteed
FanDuel Rally: $7 buy-in, $100k guaranteed
FanDuel Grand Slam: $33 buy-in, $100k guaranteed
FanDuel Squeeze: $3 buy-in, $50k guaranteed

DFS MLB START TIMES, STARTING PITCHERS & GAME TOTALS FOR TODAY’S GAMES

7:05p: Blue Jays (Happ) @ Orioles (Bundy): 9
7:05p: Marlins (Straily) @ Nationals (Roark): 8
7:10p: Braves (Colon) @ Mets (deGrom): 7
7:10p: Pirates (Taillon) @ Red Sox (Sale): 8
7:10p: Yankees (Pineda) @ Rays (Cobb): 7.5
7:10p: Phillies (Eickhoff) @ Reds (Finnegan): 9
8:05p: Indians (Salazar) @ Rangers (Hamels): 8.5
8:10p: Rockies (Chatwood) @ Brewers (Peralta): 9
8:10p: Mariners (Paxton) @ Astros (Morton): 9
9:40p: Giants (Moore) @ Diamondbacks (Walker): 9.5
10:05p: Angels (Richards) @ Athletics (Cotton): 7.5
10:10p: Padres (Cahill) @ Dodgers (Hill): 7

Best DFS MLB Pitchers for April 5, 2017

**The best pitching play of the night is definitely Rich Hill. I don’t need to sell you on Rich Hill against the horrific Padres lineup. You’ll read about Rich Hill all day long and Rich Hill will be 45% owned. We gave him the cover photo. That should say it all. We’ll focus on some of the other options you can look at today.

Chris Sale vs PIT ($11.2 DraftKings, $11.4k FanDuel)
Oddly enough, Sale might be a contrarian play today given the other top options on the mound. Long proven as one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball, Sale had a bit of a down year last year. However, looking at his career numbers, you find a guy that posted a 30.4% K rate in 2014, only to better than with a 32.1% K rate in 2015. The Pirates are a nice matchup to start the season for Sale as they ranked inside the top 10 in baseball in K rate to lefties. Further, it’s quite likely Sale sees literally half the ownership of Rich Hill (again, a fantastic choice in all formats as well) tonight with every bit the upside Hill possesses. We saw multiple double-digit strikeout performances from Sale last season despite the supposed down year. Tonight could be another. He’s currently a -186 favorite.

Jacob deGrom vs ATL ($10.6k DraftKings, $9.8k FanDuel)
Another guy sure to garner half the ownership of Hill, deGrom enters the night as a massive favorite (-195) to get a win over the lowly Braves. The Braves also sport the lowest implied run total at just 2.8 runs. deGrom isn’t a huge upside strikeout guy, but he’s a pretty solid bet to get you 7 innings, 6-8 K’s, a QS (if you’re playing FanDuel), and a Win bonus tonight. The Braves finished near the bottom in virtually every offensive category last season and did little in the offseason to boost their chances of improving on those numbers this year.

Michael Pineda vs TB ($8.4k DraftKings, $8.2k FanDuel)
If you’re paying up for Hill, Sale, or deGrom (you should be), then you’re going to need someone in this price range to pair up with them on DraftKings. Pineda is the top option considering upside and opponent. The Rays struck out nearly 25% of the time against right handers last season, the most in the AL. Pineda already registers over a strikeout per inning as it is, so couple this with the matchup and the sky is the limit. Pineda gave up a very high amount of homers per fly ball last year, but he’s gets a very nice park bump pitching in Tampa, so hopefully some of those will stay in the park down there where they might have left in Yankee Stadium. He’s not a cash game option, but could be the guy to help you win a GPP tonight.

Other value options to consider: Charlie Morton, Brandon Finnegan

Best DFS MLB Hitters for April 5, 2017

Paul Goldschmidt ($5k DraftKings, $4.3k FanDuel)
If you’re new to DFS MLB, let’s go ahead and get this out there: Paul Goldschmidt crushes left handed pitching. Like, destroys them. If you don’t want to take our word for it, how about the numbers 453 and 229. If we add a decimal before them, they equal Goldy’s wOBA and ISO against lefties. He draws Matt Moore tonight (you guessed it, left handed) who served up 20 bombs to right handed hitters last season. Due to the price tag, my guess is you get to roster the highest upside bat on the slate at sub 7% ownership.

Trea Turner ($5k DraftKings, $3.7k FanDuel)
The entire Nationals roster is in play tonight against Dan Straily who ponied up 31 homers last year, at a rate of 1.46 HR/9. That’s…not good. In his short time as a pro, Turner has shown to be a bit of a reverse splits guy, posting a career .393 wOBA vs RHP, while putting up a .331 wOBA against lefties (again, small sample). Either way, he’s in a great spot tonight with HR/SB upside that can really rack up the points.

Other hitters to consider: AJ Pollock, Eduardo Nunez, Travis Shaw, Greg Bird, Edwin Encarnacion

4/5/17 STACKS

Rockies vs Wily Peralta
Wily Peralta is a guy you are going to find often in this section throughout the season. He’s bad. And he’s bad to everyone. Righties went for a .357 wOBA against him. And lefties? How about a .374 wOBA against him. The Rockies implied team total is 4.7 runs and I anticipate them to get all those and more. This is going to be the chalk stack of the night, so if you want to differentiate yourself, perhaps look at leaving a gap or stacking the bottom half of the lineup. They should all feast.

Dodgers vs Trevor Cahill
The Dodgers disappointed everyone last night. And hopefully all the new DFS MLB players will bail on them, leaving this team in a prime spot for us to grab at low ownership. Trevor Cahill is not good. He’s got a career FIP of 4.27. A career WHIP of 1.35. And he’s only struck out a little over 6 batters per nine innings pitched. Last year with the Cubs, he gave up exactly 1 HR for every 9 innings pitched. The projected Dodgers lineup has a wOBA sitting around .308. And for his career, Cahill has been significantly worse against left handed hitters. The Dodgers will likely roll out 5 lefty bats plus Justin Turner, a guy that is definitely a reverse split hitter.

Other stacks to consider: Giants vs Taijuan Walker, Blue Jays vs Dylan Bundy