DFS MLB Lineups for May 1, 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 if you’re new to DFS MLB 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!

5/1/17 MAIN SLATE TOURNAMENT RUNDOWN

DraftKings Fastball: $33 buy-in, $325k guaranteed  
DraftKings Four Seamer: $4 buy-in, $175k guaranteed (20 entry max) 
DraftKings Fans Choice Single Entry: $40 buy-in, $30k guaranteed 
FanDuel Rally: $7 buy-in, $77k guaranteed
FanDuel Grand Salami: $44 buy-in, $200k guaranteed
FanDuel Squeeze: $4 buy-in, $175k guaranteed

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

7:05p: Blue Jays (Estrada) @ Yankees (Severino): 7.5
7:10p: Indians (Bauer) @ Tigers (Norris): 9
7:10p: Rays (Odorizzi) @ Marlins (Chen): 8.5
7:10p: Orioles (Bundy) @ Red Sox (Porcello): 8.5
7:10p: Pirates (Cole) @ Reds (Garrett): 8
7:35p: Mets (Gsellman) @ Braves (Teheran): 8.5
8:05p: Phillies (Velasquez) @ Cubs (Anderson): TBD
8:10p: Rangers (Cashner) @ Astros (McCullers): 8.5
8:15p: Brewers (Davies) @ Cardinals (Wacha): 8.5
8:15p: White Sox (Covey) @ Royals (Vargas): 8.5
10:10p: Giants (Cueto) @ Dodgers (Kershaw): 6

Best DFS MLB Pitchers for May 1, 2017

Julio Teheran vs. NYM ($8.5k DraftKings, $8.4k FanDuel)
There’s nothing wrong with paying up for Clayton Kershaw every time he takes the hill, but I don’t need to waste your time telling you the best pitcher in baseball is a good play. With that out of the way, I’m looking at Teheran as one of several appealing mid-tier options available tonight. He’s facing a Mets team that he’s owned in the past with a 2.15 ERA and .185 BAA over his last 11 meetings and sure enough, he held the Mets to just 2 runs over 6.1 innings of work to earn a win at Citi Field last Wednesday. Now he’s home, where he’s posted a 2.86 ERA and .221 BAA over the last three seasons and his adversary, Robert Gsellman, is more vulnerable than your average Mets starter.

Luis Severino vs. TOR ($8k DraftKings, $8.5k FanDuel)
After he shut down the Red Sox dangerous offense over 7 stellar innings of work, it’s certainly worth gambling on Severino against a far inferior lineup. Toronto is really struggling to score runs with Edwin Encarnacion gone, Josh Donaldson (calf) injured, and Jose Bautista and Devon Travis both hitting under .180. As a team, they rank 28th in runs scored, slugging percentage, and collective wOBA (.284) this year. Current Blue Jays are 8-for-38 (.21) with 10 K’s in a limited sample against Severino, who is sporting a sparkling 2.17 xFIP and 2.92 FIP to belie his 3.00 ERA and seemed to put it all together in his last outing.

Jason Vargas vs. CWS: ($7.4k DraftKings, $8.7k FanDuel)
He’s facing the White Sox in a second consecutive appearance after giving up 4 runs (3 earned) in a mediocre start at Chicago last Monday. Yet he still produced double-digit FPs for the fourth time in four tries this season and continued to mix in ground balls with K’s as he has all season with a 47% GB Rate and 9.82 K/9 ratio. The White Sox are sporting the ninth-highest K-Rate (22.6%) with a weak .239 batting average this season and represent a relatively easy matchup for Vargas at home.

Other pitchers to consider: Clayton Kershaw, Rick Porcello, Gerrit Cole, Michael Wacha, Wei-Yin Chen, Amir Garrett

Best DFS MLB Hitters for May 1, 2017

Kris Bryant vs. PHI ($5k DraftKings, $4.3k FanDuel)
He seemed to find his power stroke with two homers and a pair of doubles over the weekend at Fenway Park and now Bryant returns to hitter-friendly Wrigley to face a vulnerable pitcher. Phillies RHP Vince Velasquez has given up a homer in all four of his appearances with a 22.7% HR/FB ratio and 6.33 ERA on the year, while depending far too much on swings and misses to get batters out. With a .390/.480/.610 slash line over his last 10 appearances, Bryant is still clearly in MVP form and capable of carrying the Cubbies once again.

Freddie Freeman vs. NYM ($4.6k DraftKings, $4.6k FanDuel)
With a .383 batting average and 1.263 OPS through 22 games this season, Freeman would be an MVP candidate if not for the overall deficiencies of his team. Yet the Braves could come together for a win over a divisional rival tonight and Freeman should maintain his hot streak in a plus matchup against RHP Robert Gsellman, who is sporting a 6.23 ERA and giving up a 25.7% Line Drive Rate so far this season. Lefties posted a 36.5% Hard Contact Rate off Gsellman during his rookie year and Freeman is mashing RHP with a .533 average and .695 wOBA at home against righties this season.

Stephen Piscotty vs. MIL ($4k DraftKings, $3.3k FanDuel)
The Cardinals offense is struggling with some collective inconsistencies, but Piscotty has been hot lately with 3 doubles, 3 walks a SB and 2 RBI over his last 5 appearances. Tonight he’ll face a RHP in Zach Davies, who is struggling with a 6.57 ERA and a somewhat unlucky .386 BABIP, yet he’s giving up a 42.9% Hard Contact Rate while allowing RHB to go 22-for-56 (.440) with 8 XBH so far this season. Piscotty is 4-for-12 over a small sample size against Davies, which isn’t as impressive as the splits of teammates Jedd Gyorko (7-for-10) or Matt Carpenter (5-for-13), but it still indicates that he can tag the young righty.

Other hitters to consider: Anthony Rizzo, Jose Altuve, Francisco Lindor, Eric Hosmer, Matt Carpenter, Willson Contreras, Lorenzo Cain, Aledmys Diaz, Tyler Collins, Jay Bruce, Rickie Weeks 

5/1/17 DFS MLB STACKS

Indians vs Daniel Norris
The Indians posted the sixth-best collective average (.268) with a solid .323 wOBA against LHP last season and draw Daniel Norris and his 1.52 WHIP tonight. With Edwin Encarnacion in the middle of that lineup, they’re far better equipped to tag vulnerable southpaws this year and Norris fits the bill with a 41.9% Hard Contact Rate and 4.71 ERA over 4 appearances. Carlos Santana has been equally dangerous as a RHB while Francisco Lindor has actually been better from that side of the plate this year. Also consider Jose Ramirez and if Brandon Guyer is in the lineup, he provides some very nice salary relief and a history of busting up left handed pitching.

Astros vs Andrew Cashner
Cashner looked pretty vulnerable in his last outing against a relatively shallow Twins lineup and now he’ll have to contend with an Astros team that can really slug. Houston is glad to have ultra dual threat Jose Altuve back in that lineup while George Springer and Carlos Correa also carry tremendous individual upside. Look for Brian McCann to start behind the plate with the potential to go yard off Cashner, who is posting a 6.19 FIP and has generally been lucky to avoid further damage through 3 outings.

Cubs vs Vince Velasquez
Kris Bryant can serve as the heart of a stack and Anthony Rizzo may wind up producing even more with the platoon advantage against Velasquez. The Phillies starter has coughed up 4 homers and allowed LHB to post a .431 wOBA so far this season, so Rizzo is a strong candidate to do some damage along with lefties Kyle Schwarber, Ben Zobrist and Jon Jay (If starting tonight). Willson Contreras could always go yard off a homer-prone pitcher and Javier Baez is another tournament option to strongly consider.

Other Stacks to consider:
Cardinals vs. Zach Davies
Phillies vs. Brett Anderson
Marlins vs. Jake Odorizzi