Saturday, May 29, has wall-to-wall baseball — there are three doubleheaders along with more weather situations to monitor. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks for hitters and stacks for Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel.
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MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Hitters and Stacks, Saturday, May 29th
Yahoo Stack of the Day: Los Angeles Dodgers — 4.4 implied runs
Turning to the Dodgers once again as a recommended stack seems like a savvy strategy. They have a nice matchup against Logan Webb and there are no precipitations concerns. Though this game is on the main slate, it is a late afternoon start in Los Angeles. It will be in the low-70s at game time with a 5 to 10 mph breeze blowing out to centerfield in Chavez Ravine.
Webb is coming off the injured list after missing his last turn in the rotation with a strained right shoulder. Today will mark the 30th start in The Show for Webb, who is approaching that elite 50% groundball rate while limiting home runs. The combination of safe weather, below average strikeouts and above average walks have me comfortable looking to the Dodgers as a key building block tonight.
Cody Bellinger is slated to return from the injured list after missing nearly two months with a hairline fracture in his left fibula. There were no setbacks in his rehab starts and he should once again be in the outfield for Los Angeles. Focusing on the top half of the Dodgers order should prove fruitful with Max Muncy, Gavin Lux, Justin Turner and Will Smith being the prime targets. Oh yeah, 2018 American League MVP Mookie Betts is worth a look as well. Enjoy!
Early Slate
Chicago White Sox vs. RHP Matt Harvey — 4.4 implied runs
Just a quick note on this game. While this is Game 1 of today’s doubleheader, which means it is scheduled for just seven innings, the matchup against Matt Harvey could bear fantasy goodness. While the Baltimore bullpen got a day of rest with Friday’s postponement, that alone does not improve their talent level. Look to the key batsmen from the ChiSox with Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, Yermin Mercedes, Andrew Vaughn and Yoan Moncada leading the way. It will be interesting to see how gamers approach this shortened game which could provide for an intriguing tournament gambit. Remember, fortune favors the bold.
Afternoon Slate
Oakland Athletics vs. RHP Alex Cobb — 4.7 implied runs
After facing Shohei Ohtani Friday, the matchup against Alex Cobb should seem like a walk in the park. This has been a decent start to the season for the 33-year old veteran of 10 MLB campaigns. Cobb has allowed just one homerun in 26.1 innings and his 11.96 K/9 rate is nearly double what it has been over the last five seasons. The only real change is in his pitch mix with a 40% fastball usage, which is down nearly 10% from recent years while his changeup is at 44% which is up nearly 10%. He continues to mix in his knuckle-curve at a similar rate to the last few seasons. It seems that this adjustment in his offerings has hitters off balance through his first half dozen starts with a 13.8% swinging strike rate and a 39.8% swinging rate at pitches outside of the zone. The last two years those figures have been in the 8 to 10% and 30 to 31% range.
Historically Cobb has been a low strikeout, high homerun rate pitcher. That is what makes the Athletics intriguing options today. Collectively their projected lineup has compiled a 10.6% walk rate with a .220 ISO against right-handed hurlers over the last two plus seasons. Ramon Laureano is dinged up and if he is out of the lineup, that will likely provide a promotional boost to Matt Chapman or Mitch Moreland in the batting order. Matt Olson and Mark Canha are priority targets at the top of the lineup and Seth Brown is far to cheap on DraftKings ($3,200) and FanDuel ($2,600) particularly if he is batting cleanup. Jed Lowrie, Elvis Andrus and Sean Murphy are fine MLB DFS picks to sprinkle in for some differentiation on the afternoon-only action.
Late Slate
St. Louis Cardinals at RHP Set Frankoff — 4.5.2 implied runs
The Chase Field roof is scheduled to be open tonight, which generally provides a boost to the offense. Tonight 32-year-old rookie Seth Frankoff will be making his sixth ever big league appearance. After spending four seasons for UNC Wilmington, Frankoff embarked on a globetrotting adventure that took him to 13 different MiLB cities for four different franchises, half a dozen winterball seasons between the Venezuela and Dominican leagues plus two years pitching for the Doosan Bears in the KBO. With the barren Arizona rotation, Frankoff is merely a placeholder tasked with just eating some innings. In his two outings this season he has 8.2 combined innings with five walks, six strikeouts and two homeruns culminating in a 7.27 ERA while allowing 1.73 baserunners per inning.
Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are primary targets in all formats on all slates Saturday. Tommy Edman will be leading off which will all but assure the switch-hitter of getting five plate appearances. The venerable Yadier Molina is still chugging along and he is a fine option on the DFS sites that require us to roster a backstop. Finally, we can look to Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson for some cheap power upside.
Final Thoughts for the Saturday, May 29th MLB DFS Slate
Once again there is precipitation risk for nearly every game in the Midwest and East Coast. Additionally we have three doubleheaders which adds an additional degree of difficulty since they are also in the dicey weather cities. As always, be mindful that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a home run play on Yahoo may be a below-average MLB DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.
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