While there’s more than just a bit of excitement in the air with Wednesday’s return of MLB DFS, it feels like that moment in Wedding Crashers when Vince Vaughn discusses playing a little game called “Just the Tip – just to see how it feels” with only one game on the slate and nothing more than a Showdown contest available to play. The real DFS action doesn’t start until March 28th, but frankly, I’ll happily take two days of Showdown contests than to not have baseball at all.

With the abbreviated series, we’re not going to go into full Playbook mode, but what we’ll do is go over some of the favorite plays you may want to consider using on both Draft Kings and FanDuel.

Right off the bat, I will say that I am going to avoid both starting pitchers tonight. I’m a fan of Seattle’s Marco Gonzales , but not quite yet for DFS purposes. I think he’s got a strong skill-set and exceptional command over three pitches, but I’m not ready to put my money behind him in the Tokyo Dome where the deepest part of the ballpark is just 400 feet and it’s just 329 feet down both the left and right field lines. Same with Mike Fiers who is notorious for giving up the long ball. You’ve got some big sluggers on both sides here and I’m thinking the over on the 8.5-run line.

Favorite Hitters to Use:

Khris Davis , DH OAK – He’s the top-priced bat on both sites and for good reason as he’s hammered at least 42 home runs with over 100 RBI in each of his last three season. Yes, he’s prone to the strikeout, but he’s got a career .345 wOBA with an .815 OPS against lefties and those numbers have gradually increased over the past couple of seasons.

Matt Chapman , 3B OAK – Obviously not a lot of stats to go with here, so I’ll look to an advantageous BvP moment with Chapman against Gonzales. He’s 4-for-10 with three doubles in his career against the southpaw and while he’s not exactly lighting the world on fire this spring, he’s still slashing .261/.393/ .565 with one home run and three other extra-base hits over 23 at-bats.

Mitch Haniger , OF SEA – He’s been quiet all spring, batting just .182 over 22 at-bats, but it’s still really tough to ignore somebody who posted a .362 wOBA against rightanders and is now facing a guy who has a career HR/9 of 1.41. Haniger enjoyed a career-best season last year and consistently produced with a .362 wOBA and .219 ISO mark.

Jay Bruce , 1B/OF SEA – The first baseman/outfielder has a nice match-up against Fiers who has been giving up a ton of medium and hard contact to lefty-swinging hitters. Bruce has clearly slowed down in recent seasons, but he’s still sporting a career .230 ISO against right-handed pitching with a .346 wOBA and a strong 115 wRC+. Well rested from the offseason and looking to impress his new owners, Bruce could have himself a big game.

Domingo Santana , OF SEA – He’s just one year removed from his 30-homer season and is looking to impress his new team. When he was receiving regular playing time back in 2017 and smacked all those dingers, he was rocking a .370 wOBA against right-handed pitching and managed to deliver a .230 ISO. The power is 100-percent real and I expect him to shake off the dismal 2018 season.

Stephen Piscotty , OF OAK – I’m a huge fan of Piscotty this season and expect at least 30 bombs out of him. He’ll get things going early with this match-up against Gonzales and flaunt that .337 wOBA and .205 ISO he posted against left-handed pitching last year. He can spray the ball to all fields, but he’s been known to get a little pull-happy at times. Given the park dimensions, that should make things very interesting.

Ichiro Suzuki , OF SEA – You’ve got to just throw out all the numbers and forget about the age. Is he the Ichiro of days past? Of course not. But the mariners signed him for the short-term so he could play in front of his home crowd one more time before walking off into the sunset. He’s a legend in Japan and should be crazy-pumped to give it one last go.