Happy Saturday! As we near the end of Week 9 let’s first take a quick look back at the top fantasy baseball news and headlines from Friday’'s MLB games which included Byron Buxton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Rhys Hoskins, Jesús Aguilar, Brandon Marsh, and Darin Ruf all having two home run games. On the mound, Luis Severino had a 10-strikeout performance against the Cubs while unlikely names such as Jonathan Heasley and Paul Blackburn had shutout performances. Don't forget to check out our updated June fantasy baseball player rankings before setting your lineups. Plus, use the latest MLB Injury Report and the fantasy baseball waiver wire top targets to help win your leagues. Before we start another weekend let’s take a look at some of the top performances and key injuries from Friday night's MLB action. Plus, we'll look ahead to tonight’s slate of games if you're looking to play MLB DFS lineups. Be sure to keep an eye on the MLB lineups and the MLB weather report as well. 

Walker Buehler Leaves With Right Elbow Discomfort

 

While there are plenty of positive performances to highlight from Friday I think we need to start off with maybe the biggest piece of news which centers around Dodgers starter Walker Buehler who was forced from his start on Friday with right elbow discomfort. Buehler is set to have an MRI on the elbow to determine the significance of the injury but either way, this is a blow to both fantasy managers and Dodgers fans alike. 

Buehler had a pretty dominant 2021 season where he went 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA while throwing a career-high 207.2 innings however 2022 has been a bit of a tractor pull. Including his outing last night, Buehler has a 4.02 ERA over 12 starts this season while posting a career-low 8.0 K/9. The lack of strikeouts may have to do with his elbow not being 100-percent healthy.  

Make sure you check out the MLB Injury Report and Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire report this week for updates.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. & Byron Buxton Headline Friday Night Home Run Barrage 

Six players had two home runs on Friday night while a total of 42 players hit home runs last night. If you didn't believe the juiced baseballs were back in play you probably should.  Byron Buxton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Rhys Hoskins, Jesús Aguilar, Brandon Marsh, and Darin Ruf all had two home run games to headline the night.

 

Chisholm has been the center of some recent controversy down in Miami with reports of a team meeting being held that was largely about his attitude on and off the field that some of his teammates were having issues with. Reportedly things got to a point where Chisholm actually left the meeting with other reports saying Chisholm is drawing comparisons to Dennis Rodman when it comes to attitude. While Chisholm may not be the best teammate it is also clear that he is very talented as he launched his 11th and 12th home runs of the season on Friday night which has him tied for the team lead with Jorge Soler. Chisholm also leads the Marlins in runs scored (31), RBI (40) and stolen bases (10). 

 

If you wanna talk about hot players right now then maybe nobody is as en fuego as Byron Buxton is right now at the dish. Over his last 10 starts Buxton is hitting .342 with six home runs and an OPS of 1.267. Five of those six home runs have come over the last three games as Buxton launched two on Thursday as well. Talent with Buxton has never been the question so it will remain to be seen if he can continue to stay healthy as he looks to build his season back after we saw him hit just .169 during the month of May. 

 

Luis Severino Continues To Roll For The Yankees

 

This season could not be going better for those who invested late-round draft picks in Luis Severino this past offseason as the Yankees starter, now healthy, is looking as good as ever on the mound.  Coming into 2022 Severino had made a total of seven appearances over the previous two years due to injury so there was certainly some questions regarding his value but he is answering those questions by going out there and putting forth some excellent performances. Friday's start saw him finish with 10 strikeouts after allowing just one run over six innings against the Cubs. In his previous outing, he also had 10 strikeouts while tossing seven innings of one-hit baseball against the Tigers. Overall this season Severino is 4-1 with a 2.80 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and a 10.5 K/9.

Saturday MLB Best Bets

 

Adam Wainwright Over 4.5 Strikeouts (+105 PointsBet)

The best part about being to odds shop is when you find something like you have over on PointsBet today where Wainwright is sitting at +105 on the over 4.5 strikeouts today where he is anywhere from -110 to -120 on other sportsbooks like BetMGM and Caesars. We love Adam Wainwright when he pitches at home and today he has a good matchup against a Reds lineup that has the 10th highest strikeout rate against RHP this season. Now, I will acknowledge that Waino's strikeout numbers have really been up and down this season evidenced no more than his last two starts where he had 10 strikeouts against the Padres and then zero strikeouts against the Cubs. Let's hope for more of the former today than the ladder.

 

 

 

Framber Valdez Over 5.5 Strikeouts (-127 Caesars Sportsbook)

On DraftKings Sportsbook, BetMGM and PointsBet we see Valdez over strikeout prop sitting at -150 and -155 so why not take advantage of the line over at Caesars where it is just -127? The Marlins have the highest strikeout rate in baseball against left-handed pitching this season at 29.2-percent and Framber has gone over today's total in four of his last six starts. I'll buy into the matchup here and look for him to pitch deep into this game to get it done at good odds.

 

 

 

Zack Wheeler Over 6.5 Strikeouts (-160 BetMGM)

Odds shopping this one was a bit interesting as some books have Wheeler's strikeout prop as high as 7.5 for today while he is a big favorite to hit the over at -160 over on BetMGM. The matchup today is one of the best in baseball for right-handed pitching with the Diamondbacks posting a 26.1-percent strikeout rate over the past two weeks which is the second-highest mark in baseball.  Wheeler has a 10.5 K/9 on the year and has gone over today's total in seven straight starts.

 

 

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