DFS MLB Lineups for April 29, 2017 at Draftkings.com & Fanduel.com
For this baseball season, 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 stacks to consider, MLB start times, starting pitchers, and game run totals to give you a good idea of where the fantasy goodness might come from on a given night. As with any DFS sport, the advice below is relevant for fantasy purposes. A player or team might be better or worse from a fantasy perspective than they are in real life due to matchup, price, park factor, etc. This is important when constructing a roster.
The best advice we can give this early in the season is to remember that baseball is a game of variance. You can make a really solid lineup and still fall short of the cash line. Even the best pitchers have horrible starts, and the best hitters in the game can still go 0 for 4. Baseball is funny like that. Trust the process and know that if you’re playing quality lineups, you’ll be a winner in the long term.
Another thing to remember outside of making sure your guy is in the lineup, is to always check the weather. Always. Make this something that is part of your basic routine. Baseball games can get postponed! Your players receive no points from postponed games!
4/29/17 MAIN SLATE TOURNAMENT RUNDOWN
DraftKings Saturday Slugfest: $40 buy-in, $250k guaranteed
DraftKings Four Seamer: $4 buy-in, $110k guaranteed
DraftKings Fastball (Early): $33 buy-in, $110k guaranteed
FanDuel Rally: $7 buy-in, $77k guaranteed
FanDuel Grand Slam: $44 buy-in, $100k guaranteed
FanDuel Squeeze: $4 buy-in, $150k guaranteed
Best DFS MLB Pitchers for April 29, 2017
Yu Darvish vs. LAA ($11.9k DraftKings, $10.3k FanDuel)
Darvish will clearly be a pitcher that you’ll want to pivot away from if the weather looks extremely concerning in Texas, but right now it looks like storms should delay the start and then dissipate for the most part (as always, check the report closer to game time). If he gets a full workload against the Angels lineup, we should see more lofty K numbers from Yu after he struck out 10 over 7 scoreless innings in Anaheim earlier this month. He’s been up and down depending on the matchup, yet it’s hard to imagine him struggling against a team that’s sporting the fourth-lowest wOBA (.288) with a 20.7% K-Rate on the year and current Halos are 33-for-142 (.232) with 44 K’s in their careers against Darvish.
Dan Straily vs. PIT ($9.2k DraftKings, $8.3k FanDuel)
He followed up a no-hit bid with a surprising 14-strikeout performance against the lowly Padres and Straily is definitely worth a look at home tonight against a struggling offense. Pittsburgh has scored the second-fewest runs (71) with a collective .233 batting average so far this year and just lost top hitter Starling Marte to an 80-game suspension. Straily’s K/9 ratio has jumped to 10.45 with that uncharacteristic outing against San Diego and even if he doesn’t post a lot of K’s, he should be able to twirl another Quality Start at home against a depleted lineup.
Jimmy Nelson vs. ATL: ($7.3k DraftKings, $7.7k FanDuel)
You should feel alright about going out on a limb with Nelson after he was roughed up in consecutive outings against N.L. Central mainstays in the Cardinals and Cubs. Yet now he faces a relatively weak Braves lineup at home and his ability to succeed against the platoon (.248 BAA and 17.1% Line Drive Rate against LHB last year) should help him limit a lefty-heavy lineup. The Brewers meanwhile, should be all over vulnerable LHP Jaime Garcia and provide ample run support for Nelson, who is holding batters to a career-best 13% LD Rate through 4 appearances and seemed poised to figure things out at the start of his 2017 campaign.
Other pitchers to consider: Zack Greinke, Brandon McCarthy, Ivan Nova, Andrew Triggs, Matt Cain, Danny Salazar
Best DFS MLB Hitters for April 29, 2017
Paul Goldschmidt vs. COL ($5.2k DraftKings, $4.6k FanDuel)
The schedule has been extremely kind to Mr. Goldschmidt as he faces a LH starter for the third time over his last four starts. He’s been red hot with 8 hits, including 2 doubles, a HR, 2 walks and 2 SB during that span and now the lefty-killer faces another vulnerable southpaw in Tyelr Anderson, who is posting a 7.11 ERA with a 20.7% HR/FB ratio and troublesome 39.2% Ground Ball Rate so far this year. Goldschmidt is hitting a scorching .438 with 6 doubles, 4 HR and 10 walks over 59 plate appearances at home this year and hit .352 with the third-best wOBA (.449) against LHP last season.
Jonathan Villar vs. ATL ($4.5k DraftKings, $3.4k FanDuel)
With a vulnerable lefty on the mound, the Brewers righty-heavy lineup is certainly worth stacking tonight and their two most dangerous batters in RvL matchups stand out. Along with Ryan Braun, Villar crushed lefties last year with a .309 batting average and .236 ISO mark against the platoon and he went 16-for-17 on stolen base attempts against LHP as well. Garcia struggled mightily with a 4.67 ERA last year and righties are 18-for-76 off him with 4 homers to post a .359 wOBA so far this season.
Jedd Gyorko vs. CIN ($4.2k DraftKings, $3.1k FanDuel) – Afternoon
Gyorko is the type of batter who swings out of his shoes at most appealing pitches and that’s led to a very low career average, but also creates plenty of upside when considering GPP plays. This afternoon the Cardinals face one of the most homer-prone pitchers out there in 40-year-old Bronson Arroyo, who is sporting a 6.86 ERA with a 2.57 HR/9 ratio through 4 appearances this year. Gyorko is 3-for-7 with a double over a small sample against Arroyo, but something tells me he’s going to leave the yard today.
Other hitters to consider: Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Jean Segura, Matt Carpenter, Rougned Odor, Lorenzo Cain, Aaron Judge, Manny Pina, Joey Gallo, James McCann
4/29/17 DFS MLB STACKS
Nationals vs Zack Wheeler
The fourth pitcher in the Mets rotation has plenty of talent, but does he have enough to limit a Nationals team that leads the Majors with a collective .360 wOBA and 139 runs scored so far this season? It’s unlikely that he deals with early MVP candidate Bryce Harper or former Mets LHB Daniel Murphy, who both could crush with the platoon advantage in this matchup. Jayson Werth returned to action with a bang in Colorado and he’s extremely cheap at $3.4k on DK, while Ryan Zimmerman is also red hot with a .441/.500/.971 slash line over his last 10 appearances.
Brewers vs Jaime Garcia
We mentioned Jonathan Villar as a relative value on FanDuel and a solid addition to a Brewers stack against Garcia, who posted a league-worst 20.2% HR/FB ratio last season. That makes Ryan Braun a more appealing play as the RHB with the most power in Milwaukee’s lineup while breakout star Eric Thames is also capable of adding to his league-leading homer total in this matchup. Manny Pina has become one of the easiest options behind the plate when looking for salary relief and Domingo Santana and Hernan Perez could both enter the fray as mid-tier options if they start with the platoon advantage this evening.
Cardinals vs Bronson Arroyo
It’s almost worth playing the early slate this Saturday just to attack Arroyo, who has been a punching bag with at least one homer and 2 ER allowed per outing this year. He’s been more vulnerable against lefties throughout his career and Matt Carpenter is still the most complete hitter in the Cards lineup, yet that doesn’t mean you should overlook right-handed thumpers in Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty. Aledmys Diaz has 2 HR in just 3 at-bats against Arroyo and coincidentally, big lefty Matt Adams has 2 HR over just 6 at-bats against the veteran RHP.
Other Stacks to consider:
Rangers vs. Jesse Chavez
Cubs vs. Steven Wright
Yankees vs. Ubaldo Jimenez
Dodgers vs. Zack Elfin
Diamondbacks vs. Tyler Anderson
