DFS MLB Lineups for May 8, 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.
We’ve got two top line aces on the hill tonight in Jacob deGrom and Carlos Martinez, but some pretty solid middle tier starters that will give us a choice to make tonight when it comes to roster construction. As a reminder, 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!
5/8/17 MAIN SLATE TOURNAMENT RUNDOWN
DraftKings Mega Crazy 8’s: $888 buy-in, $800k guaranteed
DraftKings Medium Crazy 8’s: $88 buy-in, $250k guaranteed
DraftKings Crazy 8’s: $8 buy-in, $175k guaranteed
FanDuel Grand Salami: $44 buy-in, $200k guaranteed
FanDuel Squeeze: $4 buy-in, $175k guaranteed
FanDuel Rally: $9 buy-in, $99k guaranteed
DFS MLB START TIMES, STARTING PITCHERS & GAME TOTALS FOR TODAY’S GAMES
7:05p: Nationals (Gonzalez) @ Orioles (Gausman): 9
7:07p: Indians (Bauer) @ Blue Jays (Stroman): 8.5
7:10p: Royals (Karns) @ Rays (Snell): 8
7:10p: Yankees (Tanaka) @ Reds (Davis): 9
7:10p: Giants (Moore) @ Mets (deGrom): 7.5
7:10p: Cardinals (Martinez) @ Marlins (Conley): 8
8:40p: Cubs (Arrieta) @ Rockies (Senzatela): 11
10:05p: Angels (Nolasco) @ A’s (Graveman): 8
10:10p: Pirates (Williams) @ Dodgers (McCarthy): 8
10:10p: Rangers (Martinez) @ Padres (Cahill): 8.5
Best DFS MLB Pitchers for May 8, 2017
Carlos Martinez @ MIA ($9.8k DraftKings, $9.5k FanDuel)
After a stellar season debut, Martinez cooled off considerably. Yet he showed signs of returning to dominance with 14 ground ball outs without allowing an earned run over 7.1 IP in his last outing. Tonight he faces a Marlins team that’s bottom 10 in terms of wOBA (.309) and has struggled to score runs lately in a massive ballpark, so he can get away with some mistakes if he doesn’t continue to cut the grass with a parade of grounders.
Gio Gonzalez @ BAL ($8.7k DraftKings, $8.9k FanDuel)
Gonzo is in the midst of a bigtime comeback year and he draws a decent matchup tonight against an Orioles team that very much prefers to face righties. Baltimore posted the lowest batting average (.234) against LHP amongst A.L. teams last year and current O’s are 22-for-99 (.222) with 28 K’s in their careers against Gonzalez. He’s sporting a 1.64 ERA with a 1.25 WHIP on the year and is a solid GPP option given the perceived difficult matchup and likely low ownership.
Blake Snell vs. KC ($7.4k DraftKings, $6.9k FanDuel)
Snell is showing signs of putting it all together, but hasn’t quite been able to control the zone and avoid putting men on base in the middle innings. Yet tonight he faces a Royals team that is dead last in run scored (82) by far this year and is sporting a collective .212 batting average. The Royals are also dead last by far in collective batting average (.183) against LHP this season and may have a tough time picking up the ball off the left hand of a talented young southpaw. To pile one, they’re also dead last in slugging and have knocked in 50 fewer runs than league average (and 20 fewer than the 29th ranked Giants).
Other pitchers to consider: Jacob deGrom, Trevor Cahill, Brandon McCarthy, Alex Wood, Nate Karns
Best DFS MLB Hitters for May 8, 2017
Trea Turner @ BAL ($5.2k DraftKings, $4k FanDuel)
Hopefully Turner is lightly owned after going 0-for-10 over his last 2 appearances, because he could blow up as the head of a Nationals stack this evening. Washington’s league-leading offense faces a vulnerable RHP in Kevin Gausman, who is sporting the second-worst ERA (7.55) in the Majors along with a 1.94 WHIP so far this year. He’s allowing RHB to post a .429 wOBA with a troublesome 23.8% HR/FB ratio so far this season and Turner is an elite righty with more pop in RvR matchups. Game log slaves are going to run from Turner, so this is a prime opportunity to get on a high upside play when everyone else opts for Lindor, Russell, or Story.
Aaron Judge @ CIN ($4.6k DraftKings, $4.5k FanDuel)
Judge slugged another XBH with an RBI triple during Sunday night’s extra innings marathon against the Cubs and he’s one of the hottest hitters in the game right now with a .389/.522/1.000 slash line and 7 homers over his last 10 appearances. The big man will look to keep it going against rookie RHP Rookie Davis, who is sporting a 7.36 ERA and 2.18 WHIP over 4 appearances this year. Davis was lucky enough to avoid any trouble over 5 innings and earn a win against the depleted Pirates lineup his last time out, but he’ll be hard pressed to sit down a Yankees team that leads the A.L with a collective .361 wOBA so far this year, led by a .487 wOBA from Judge.
Ryon Healy vs. LAA ($3.3k DraftKings, $3.2k FanDuel)
He remains a fantastic bargain on DK and Healy could pay off as a fantastic GPP play if he’s able to connect for an XBH or HR off Angels SP Ricky Nolasco tonight. The veteran RHP is sporting a weak 4.68 ERA with a 5.61 FIP and 2.48 HR/9 ratio so far this season along with a career-low 35.9% Ground Ball Rate. Clearly, he’s vulnerable to the long ball and he’s also dealing with a calf injury, so look for one the A’s few power hitters in Healy to do some damage. He’s 5-for-12 with a HR in his career against Nolasco and has slugged 5 homers through 29 games this year.
Other hitters to consider: Anthony Rizzo, Ryan Zimmerman, Gary Sanchez, Corey Seager, Jon Jay, Aledyms Diaz, Cody Bellinger, Kevin Pillar, Jed Lowrie
5/8/17 DFS MLB STACKS
Dodgers vs Trevor Williams
We always like to pick on converted relievers because they’re unlikely to last long and can frequently struggle while trying to make adjustments the second or third time through a batting order. Williams will be forced into a spot start with Jameson Taillon (groin) on the shelf and he faces a dangerous Dodgers lineup on the road. Corey Seager and Yasmani Grandal are power hitters with the platoon advantage against the young righty, while rookie RHB Cody Bellinger should be starting with Adrian Gonzalez out. Justin Turner is better in RvR matchups and Andrew Toles could emerge as a value if he draws the start.
Nationals vs Kevin Gausman
Gausman’s last outing was strangely cut short after being ejected for hitting Xander Bogaerts with a breaking ball. Maybe it was for the better as he’s been bad. Real bad. His 7+ ERA is backed up by a 6+ FIP. To make matters worse for him, Bryce Harper is expected to return from a groin injury, and would be an obvious addition to an already potent stack. Also consider red-hot Ryan Zimmerman in a RvR matchup and if Matt Wieters is behind the plate he could produce against a homer-prone pitcher at familiar Camden Yards.
Blue Jays vs Trevor Bauer
He struggled very badly in his last outing and Bauer could go through more missteps at hitter-friendly Rogers Centre this evening. While he was solid against the Blue Jays over a lengthy relief appearance in extra innings last year, Bauer doesn’t match up particularly well against a righty-heavy lineup that can line his fastball all over the field. Kendrys Morales is doing a good job of carrying the load with Josh Donaldson (calf) on the shelf and Kevin Pillar is also pretty hot for Toronto. Devon Travis and to an extent, Jose Bautista are both breaking out after prolonged slumps and Russell Martin is another addition to consider.
Other Stacks to consider:
Cubs vs. Antonio Senzatela
Athletics vs. Ricky Nolasco
Yankees vs. Rookie Davis
Cardinals vs. Adam Conley
