DFS MLB Lineups for May 2, 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. How crazy is baseball? Clayton Kershaw actually gave up runs yesterday! 4 of them! We might only see that happen once more all year.
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!
5/2/17 MAIN SLATE TOURNAMENT RUNDOWN
DraftKings Fastball: $33 buy-in, $175k guaranteed
DraftKings Four Seamer: $4 buy-in, $75k guaranteed (20 entry max)
DraftKings Crazy 8’s: $8 buy-in, $350k guaranteed
FanDuel Monster: $300 buy-in, $125k guaranteed
FanDuel Grand Salami: $33 buy-in, $125k guaranteed
FanDuel Squeeze: $6 buy-in, $300k guaranteed
Best DFS MLB Pitchers for May 2, 2017
Chris Sale vs. BAL ($12.5k DraftKings, $11.7k FanDuel)
Venue aside, I’ll take Chris Sale over any SP in the game this season and that includes the mythic Clayton Kershaw. While he does pitch at cramped Fenway Park, the Red Sox ace is still an absolutely elite option to pay up for tonight against an Orioles team that posted the second-lowest average (.234) with a 22.5% K-Rate against lefties last season. Current O’s are 23-for-89 (.258) with a 29.2% K-Rate in their careers against Sale, who is turning it up now that he’s pitching for a contender with the second-best ERA (1.19), FIP (1.16) and third-best K/9 ratio (12.42) through 5 outings.
James Paxton vs. LAA ($9.2k DraftKings, $9.3k FanDuel)
Paxton went over a speed bump two outings ago, but quickly got back to cruising speed with a 7-inning, 9-strikeout shutdown performance to blank the Tigers in Detroit. Now he’ll face one of the weakest overall lineups in the Majors with almost nothing to protect Mike Trout and the Angels were generally less effective when facing lefties last season. Paxton has yet to allow a homer this year and is sporting a sparkling 1.17 FIP to go along with his 1.39 ERA, plus he carries plenty of upside with a 10.86 K/9 ratio due in part to a boost in velocity.
Ervin Santana vs. OAK: ($8.6k DraftKings, $9.2k FanDuel)
Surprisingly one of the stingiest pitchers in the MLB so far this season, Santana leads the league with a 0.77 ERA and a 0.66 WHIP through 4 outings. He showed signs of dramatic improvement with a 2.65 ERA and .224 BAA during the second half of the 2016 season and has carried that momentum into a hot start. Now he’ll face an Athletics lineup that posted the lowest wOBA (.302) amongst A.L. teams last season and is currently sporting a collective .302 wOBA through one month of this campaign. Clearly, he’s worth a look at home.
Other pitchers to consider: Jon Lester, Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Carlos Martinez, Alex Wood, Trevor Cahill
Best DFS MLB Hitters for May 2, 2017
Bryce Harper vs. ARI ($5.3k DraftKings, $5.2k FanDuel)
Harper and the league-leading Nationals offense could be primed to explode tonight if D’Backs RHP Taijuan Walker isn’t on his game. The talented young pitcher has been very mercurial over the course of his five-year career, and he’s sporting a 1.38 HR/9 ratio when facing lefties during that span. Walker has given up 6 XBH and 3 HR over 74 at-bats against lefties this year, while Harper is terrorizing RHP with a .546 wOBA, .486 ISO Mark and a 33.3% HR/FB ratio, on top of launching 9 dingers off righties already.
Jose Altuve vs. TEX ($4.7k DraftKings, $4k FanDuel)
Rangers LHP Cole Hamels appears to be in decline at the age of 33 with a 5.16 FIP that belies his decent 3.03 ERA through 5 appearances this season. He’s particularly vulnerable against an Astros lineup that can mash against lefties, led by a lefty-killer in Altuve, who posted a .378 wOBA against the platoon last season. He’s 5-for-15 with a HR in his career against Hamels and has logged multiple hits in consecutive games heading into this plus matchup at home.
Jean Segura vs. LAA ($4.1k DraftKings, $3.6k FanDuel)
He’s one of the most talented players in baseball and Segura clearly draws a superior matchup than the other top SS on the board tonight. Angels SP Matt Shoemaker is also quite talented, but he struggles against lefty-heavy lineups and was lit up by the Mariners for 6 ER over 4.1 IP in his second outing of the season. Segura reached based 3 times and scored 3 runs while adding a stolen base off Shoemaker in that slugfest and he’s due to flash that tremendous upside any night.
Other hitters to consider: Anthony Rizzo, Mookie Betts, Ryan Zimmerman, Brian Dozier, Matt Carpenter, Jedd Gyorko, Miguel Sano, Andrew Benintendi, Aaron Judge, Joey Gallo, Josh Bell
5/2/17 DFS MLB STACKS
Red Sox vs Alec Asher
While the Sawks were stymied by surprise story Dylan Bundy last night, they will almost certainly produce against vulnerable young Alec Asher. The O’s RHP posted solid numbers with the Phillies last year and he’s been good thus far, but life in the A.L. East has a way of taking pitchers down a notch and Boston’s Murderous lineup will do that with Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez and Xander Bogaerts likely to do some damage. Asher is more vulnerable against the platoon, so you can clearly consider ultra-consistent LHB Andrew Benintendi and use Mitch Moreland in GPPs if he starts tonight.
Rangers vs Mike Fiers
Fiers has been tagged with consistency over the last two seasons as he seems to have completely lost the mojo that allowed him to burst onto the scene for the Brewers in 2014. Since joining the Astros, he’s really struggled and he’s sporting a 7.99 FIP along with an absurd 3.72 HR/9 ratio and 38.1% HR/FB ratio this season. Clearly, the slugging Rangers could light him up with the red-hot Carlos Gomez leading the way. Slumping bats Jonathan Lucroy and Mike Napoli might break out in this matchup, while Rougned Odor, Shin-Soo Choo and even struggling LHB Nomar Mazara are in play with the platoon advantage against Fiers.
Cardinals vs Wily Peralta
Every time he faces the Red Birds, it seems to go very poorly for Peralta, as he was recently tagged for 6 ER on 9 hits in a start against the Cardinals. Now he’ll go on the road against a team that’s sporting a collective .314 batting average with 12 XBH and 5 HR over 194 career at-bats against him. Matt Carpenter leads the way with absurd splits (20-for-43, 6 doubles, 3 HR) against Peralta, while Aledyms Diaz, Jedd Gyorko and Randal Grichuk have solid splits over smaller sample sizes. Also consider Stephen Piscotty as a high-upside addition to this stack while Yadier Molina brings some safety to the table as a catcher.
Other Stacks to consider:
Nationals vs. Taijuan Walker
Yankees vs. Mat Latos
Reds vs. Tyler Glasnow
Twins vs. Sonny Gray
