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

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 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 Clayton Kershaw can have a horrible start, and Mike Trout 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!

5/5/17 MAIN SLATE TOURNAMENT RUNDOWN

DraftKings Cinco de Mayo Special: $5 buy-in, $300k guaranteed  
DraftKings Cinco de Mayo 5 Entry: $50 buy-in, $100k guaranteed (5 entry max) 
DraftKings Home Run: $400 buy-in, $300k guaranteed 
FanDuel Cinco de Monster: $555 buy-in, $300k guaranteed
FanDuel Cinco de Cinco: $55 buy-in, $235k guaranteed
FanDuel Squeeze: $4 buy-in, $150k guaranteed

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

7:05p: White Sox (Gonzalez) @ Orioles (Miley): 8.5
7:05p: Brewers (Nelson) @ Pirates (Kuhl): 8.5
7:05p: Nationals (Strasburg) @ Phillies (Pivetta): 8
7:10p: Marlins (Koehler) @ Mets (Montero): 8.5
7:10p: Blue Jays (Liriano) @ Rays (Archer): 7.5
7:35p: Cardinals (Lynn) @ Braves (Foltynewicz): 8.5
8:10p: Red Sox (Rodriguez) @ Twins (Hughes): 9
8:15p: Indians (Salazar) @ Royals (Hammel): 8
8:40p: Diamondbacks (Greinke) @ Rockies (Marquez): 10.5
10:05p: Tigers (Fulmer) @ A’s (Triggs): 7.5
10:07p: Astros (Keuchel) @ Chavez (Angels): 8
10:10p: Dodgers (Maeda) @ Padres (Chacin): 7.5
10:10p: Rangers (Darvish) @ Mariners (Gallardo): 7.5

Best DFS MLB Pitchers for May 5, 2017

Dallas Keuchel @ LAA ($10.4k DraftKings, $10.7k FanDuel)
The Astros lefty is back in the mix for CY Young consideration through the first month of the season with a pristine 1.21 ERA due in part to an excellent 62.8% Ground Ball Rate through 6 outings this season. He’s 7-2 with a 2.91 ERA and .241 BAA over his last 10 starts against an Angels team that is ranked 25th in collective wOBA (.296) so far this year and offers very little in terms of dangerous hitters outside of Mike Trout (who sat out Thursday’s game with a tight hammy). While he’s been better at home in the past, Keuchel is 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA over 2 road starts this year and he should do just fine in the spacious confines of Angels Stadium.

Danny Salazar @ KC ($10k DraftKings, $10.2k FanDuel)
Salazar is a flamethrower and that gives him fantastic upside, as he’s sporting a league-best 13.03 K/9 ratio through 5 starts this season. He’s more of a GPP play so long as he keeps walking people (11% walk rate in 2017), but Salazar seems more comfortable at home with a .159 BAA and 34% K-Rate this year. Tonight he’ll face a Royals team that’s scored the fewest runs (75) in the Majors by far and is dead last in batting average (.214) as well so far this season. The current Royals are a combined 48-for-203 (.236) with 54 K’s in their careers against Salazar.

Kenta Maeda @ SD ($9.8k DraftKings, $8.4k FanDuel)
It’s hard to go wrong with a heavily favored pitcher at spacious Petco Park and Maeda is probably in line to earn a win with a Quality Start against the lowly Padres (3.4 implied total). San Diego sends mediocre RHP Jhoulys Chacin to the bump, which is part of the reason why the Dodgers (-155) are road favorites and Maeda is certainly capable of containing an offense that ranks 29th in collective batting average (.221) and 28th in wOBA (.288) so far this year. The Padres are also sporting the third-highest K-Rate (24.9%) in the Majors thus far and current Pads have 15 K’s compared to just 11 hits over 50 career plate appearances against the Dodgers hurler.

Other pitchers to consider: Stephen Strasburg, Francisco Liriano, Michael Fulmer, Chris Archer, Eduardo Rodriguez, Wade Miley, Chad Kuhl

Best DFS MLB Hitters for May 5, 2017

Jake Lamb @ COL ($5.1k DraftKings, $4.6k FanDuel)
Rockies RHP German Marquez just pitched well at Chase Field against this very same D’Backs lineup, but shutting them down at Coors is an entirely different proposition. The young righty struggled with a 4.42 ERA and .316 BAA against LHB at the minor league level two years ago and has allowed lefties to go 9-for-25 with 2 XBH (.500 slugging percentage) so far this year. Lamb is one of the clear-cut candidates to tag him at the ballpark with the highest Run Factor in the Majors. You can also consider David Peralta and of course, Paul Goldscmidt and A.J. Pollock, the obvious candidates for any Diamondbacks stack.

Ryan Zimmerman @ PHI ($4.7k DraftKings, $4.1k FanDuel)
Tonight we have a 24-year-old graduate of New Mexico Junior College making his second career start against the hottest lineup in the Majors. Nick Pivetta held the Dodgers to just 2 ER, but coughed up 9 hits over just 5 innings and clearly looks vulnerable, which makes sense considering he posted a modest 3.86 ERA at the AA level last season. Pivetta was worse in RvR matchups during his Minor League career and Zimmerman is one of the hottest righties in the game with a .488/.511/.1.024 slash line and a whopping 17 RBIs over his last 10 appearances.

Nelson Cruz vs. TEX ($4.1k DraftKings, $4.3k FanDuel)
Even though he’s facing a true ace tonight in Yu Darvish, it’s really hard to bet against Cruz right now, especially at that modest price tag on DK. He’s sporting a .457/.528/1.348 slash line during his current 13-game hitting streak and has homered 5 times during that span. Cruz may be 0-for-6 in a limited sample of at-bats against Darvish, but the Rangers RHP has shown cracks in his armor over the last couple of years and Cruz is very much capable of coming through to burn his former team as a high upside contrarian option.

Other hitters to consider: Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Dee Gordon, Hanley Ramirez, Jay Bruce, Mark Reynolds, Matt Wieters, Elvis Andrus, Josh Bell

5/5/17 DFS MLB STACKS

Marlins vs Rafael Montero
Miami is an easy lineup to target because the main guys are almost always relatively cheap and almost always the ones to produce in plus matchups. It begins with premier leadoff man and speed threat Dee Gordon, while Giancarlo Stanton and slugging catcher J.T. Realmuto are always worth GPP consideration. Tonight the Fish could be all over a RHP in Rafael Montero, who posted an 8.05 ERA with a 22.2% HR/FB Ratio over 9 appearances last year and is sporting a 9.45 ERA over 6 relief appearances this year. He’s allowed lefties to hit .338 with a .425 wOBA throughout his career and that also makes Christian Yelich and Justin Bour great additions to this stack.

Dodgers vs Jhoulys Chacin
The Padres RHP has been much better at home, but he doesn’t match up very well against a lefty-heavy Dodgers lineup considering he’s allowed LHB to go 18-for-65 (.310) with 5 doubles and 3 HR (.561 slugging percentage) so far this year. Current Dodgers are a combined 26-fot-78 (.333) with GPP candidates Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal both serving up homers in their careers against Chacin, while RvR specialist Justin Turner also has positive splits. Don’t ignore Corey Seager despite his modest numbers in the past against Chacin and consider Yasiel Puig and/or Cody Bellinger depending on their placement in the lineup.

Giants vs Bronson Arroyo
Arroyo takes the mound once again in what is a weekly source of excitement for DFSers everywhere, because he’s been a walking disaster at the age of 40 with his 7.20 ERA and 2.16 HR/9 ratio through 5 appearances this season. The Giants aren’t your typical slugging offense, but they do move to Great American Ballpark, which has a very high HR Factor and that makes Buster Posey and Hunter Pence decent options with the potential to go yard off Arroyo. Eduardo Nunez carries some upside because of his speed/power combination while Gorkys Hernandez is quietly sporting a five-game hitting streak while filling in at the leadoff spot for the Giants.

Other Stacks to consider:
Nationals vs. Nick Pivetta
Orioles vs. Miguel Gonzalez
Diamondbacks vs. German Marquez
Red Sox vs. Phil Hughes