MLB DFS Picks & Playbook For Today’s Games: Friday, May 31
Published: May 31, 2024
With 13 games on the MLB DFS main slate for Friday, May 31st, there are a LOT of different directions you can look to go. We don't have Coors Field, elite starting pitching, or many bad weather spots, so being different on this slate is fairly easy. Names like Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Jose Ramirez, and Corey Seager are hitting the diamond and are all in good spots.
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MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, May 31
MLB Weather Today, 5/31
The forecast indicates that there is fairly consistent rain in Kansas City. Not enough to postpone the game, but enough to linger and turn into a delay. A negative for pitchers here.
MLB DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts
This is an interesting 13-game main slate because we don’t have many elite pitching options on tap. There are solid pitchers, but nobody that is likely going to compete for a Cy Young and I’m not sure how many All-Star bids will come from this group. That means we have a lot of elite bats on tap, which is why I’m spending a lot of my salary on expensive bats and living in the mid-tier for pitching.
Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers
Top Options For Strikeouts
- Tanner Bibee, Cleveland Guardians - 6.5 (+130)
- Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners - 5.5 (-160)
- Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers - 5.5 (-150)
- Jose Soriano, Los Angeles Angels - 5.5 (-150)
Best Odds For A Win
- Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers (-300)
- Tanner Bibee, Cleveland Guardians (-225)
- Reynaldo Lopez, Atlanta Braves (-225)
- Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners (-175)
Core MLB DFS Pitchers
Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners
Of all the pitchers up over 9K on DraftKings, Woo is the most appealing. Sure he only struck out one guy in his last outing, but it’s the Nationals. That’s what they do. Woo struck out over one batter per inning last season, so last time out was more of an anomaly. A good offense against lefties, the Angels are not that team against righties. They’re bottom-10 in OPS and wOBA and pair that with a 23.7% K-rate, which is the 11th highest in the league. Woo has a ceiling in this spot.
Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers
I’m not sure many people get to Buehler here but things are trending in the right direction for him. He worked up to 91 pitches last time out and in back-to-back starts has pitched at least 5.2 innings. He faces the Rockies as the biggest favorite on the board and COL is 24th in OPS away from Coors Field. They also have a 25% K-rate on the road.
Reynaldo Lopez, Atlanta Braves
It’s been quite a revitalization for Lopez as a starter this year as he’s posted a 1.75 ERA through his first nine starts. The strikeout numbers haven’t been great lately, but he’s right around one per inning on the year. That could change here against Oakland as they have the third-highest K-rate in baseball vs. RHP at 26.5%.
Jose Berrios, Toronto Blue Jays
It’s been an interesting season for Jose Berrios because he’s been good, he just hasn’t missed a whole lot of bats. That being said, he’s been better in that department at home and just overall great in Toronto. Also, Pittsburgh strikes out a LOT. They have a 25% K-rate vs. RHP on the year, ranking 29th in OPS and wOBA.
Jose Soriano, Los Angeles Angels
Soriano is an interesting play today and one that probably gets a lot of love because of the matchup he has on his plate. Nobody comes close in terms of strikeout rate to the Seattle Mariners against right-handed pitching and they also rank 27th in OPS and wOBA against them. Soriano has five or more punchouts in four straight starts and has put up 18+ DKP in four of five outings.
Recommended MLB DFS Hitters
Highest Expected Run Totals
- Los Angeles Dodgers - 5.3
- Atlanta Braves - 5.0
- Toronto Blue Jays - 4.7
- Boston Red Sox - 4.6
- Cleveland Guardians - 4.6
Core MLB DFS Hitters
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
Dakota Hudson is in a lot of trouble with this matchup. He struggles with lefties pretty badly and Ohtani is as elite a left-handed bat as there is. Hudson has a 16% BB rate, 1.23 HR/9, and .362 wOBA against lefties this year.
Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians
Happy Patrick Corbin day to everyone who celebrates. There are few hitters in baseball hotter than Ramirez as he’s had 12 extra-base hits and 15 RBI over his last 10 games. This is the better side of Ramirez’s split as he’s hitting .323 against Southpaws on the year.
Corey Seager, Texas Rangers
Seager’s hit eight home runs over his last eight games and is riding a 12-game hit streak. He now faces Sixto Sanchez and there’s not much standing in front of a ninth homer in nine games and a 13-game hit streak.
David Fry, Cleveland Guardians
Lefty hurlers simply don’t get David Fry out. Nobody has lately as he’s slashed .467/.600/.867 over his last 10 games while hitting four bombs and 12 RBI. He’s hitting .353 on the year and .419 against LHP. Some of his appeal was lost when they took his C eligibility away on DK, but I love Fry and the spot.
Josh Smith, Texas Rangers
Smith is hitting in the middle of the Rangers lineup these days and will continue to see plenty of pitches to hit wedged in between Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia. He has a .791 OPS and .354 wOBA against righties this year and has an elite matchup vs. Sixto Sanchez.
Adam Duvall, Atlanta Braves
Adam Duvall ONLY hits left-handed pitching. He does hit lefties well, though, notching a .275/.387/.588 with a .314 ISO and a .416 wOBA. All five of his bombs have come off lefties. JP Sears struggles against right-handed hitters as his K-rate cuts in half, his HR/9 is 3x than it is against lefties and the wOBA is 70 points higher.
Mark Vientos, New York Mets
It’s a small sample, but Vientos has raked against left-handed pitching. He has nearly a 1.300 OPS and a ,476 ISO against southpaws on the year. Righties have given Jordan Montgomery hell, batting .305 and an .850 OPS.
Player Pool
| $ Tier | SP | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High |  José Berríos  $9,400 |  José Ramírez $4,500 |  Mookie Betts $4,300 |  Aaron Judge $4,500 | ||
 Reynaldo López $9,000 |  Rafael Devers $3,900 |  Gunnar Henderson $4,400 | Shohei Ohtani $4,400 | |||
 Corey Seager $4,100 | ||||||
| Medium |  Bryan Woo $8,900 | Freddie Freeman $3,600 | Ozzie Albies $3,700 |  Mark Vientos $3,100 |  CJ Abrams $3,300 | Adolis García $3,800 |
 Walker Buehler $8,300 |  Josh Naylor $3,600 | Marcus Semien $3,700 | Willy Adames $3,600 | David Fry $3,500 | ||
| Nathaniel Lowe $3,100 | Andrés Giménez $3,400 |  Tyler Freeman $3,200 | ||||
| Steven Kwan $3,200 | ||||||
| Low |  José Soriano $7,900 |  Brice Turang $2,900 |  $0 | J.D. Martinez $2,900 | ||
 Isiah Kiner-Falefa $2,600 | Adam Duvall $2,900 | |||||
| Blake Perkins $2,800 | ||||||
 Jason Heyward $2,500 | ||||||
 Kyle Stowers $2,400 | ||||||
| Rob Refsnyder $2,800 |
Stacks
| Guardians | José Ramírez | David Fry | Tyler Freeman | Steven Kwan | Josh Naylor |
 DraftKings | 6500 | 4800 | 3700 | 4400 | 5100 |
| Fanduel | 4500 | 3500 | 3200 | 3200 | 3600 |
| Rangers | Nathaniel Lowe | Adolis García | Marcus Semien | Corey Seager | |
| DraftKings | 4200 | 5600 | 5000 | 5500 | - |
| Fanduel | 3100 | 3800 | 3700 | 4100 | - |
| Mets | Mark Vientos | Francisco Lindor | J.D. Martinez |
| DraftKings | 3400 | 4700 | 4000 |
| Fanduel | 3100 | 3100 | 2900 |
| Red Sox | Rob Refsnyder | Wilyer Abreu | Jarren Duran | Connor Wong | Rafael Devers |
| DraftKings | 3500 | 4200 | 5200 | 3600 | 5700 |
| Fanduel | 2800 | 3200 | 3200 | 2700 | 3900 |
| Braves | Orlando Arcia | Ozzie Albies | Adam Duvall | Marcell Ozuna | Travis d'Arnaud |
| DraftKings | 3400 | 5200 | 3800 | 5700 | 4000 |
| Fanduel | 3000 | 3700 | 2900 | 4000 | 2900 |
Player News
Addison Barger had a three-run homer in the first and an RBI single in the eighth to help the Blue Jays hold off the Yankees 11-9 on Wednesday.
The Jays scored seven runs in the first and led 8-0 after four, only to watch the Yankees come all of the way back and tie the game at 9-9 in the top of the eighth. Barger’s fourth RBI came as part of a two-run bottom of the eighth in which the go-ahead run scored on a wild pitch. Barger now has 10 homers and an .818 OPS in 229 plate appearances this season. He had seven homers and a .601 OPS in 225 plate appearances as a rookie last year.
Handed an 8-0 lead, José Berríos couldn’t secure a win against the Yankees on Wednesday, giving up six runs in 4 1/3 innings.
All of the runs scored in the fifth, which started with four straight singles prior to a long 391-foot double from Aaron Judge. After a Cody Bellinger lineout, Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer to end Berríos’s night. Berríos’s last seven starts have seen him given up zero runs three times, one run twice and six runs twice. He’ll probably bounce back next time out against the White Sox.
Jeff Hoffman threw a scoreless ninth with a two-run lead for his 20th save Wednesday against the Yankees.
It was a wild game, but Hoffman avoided a dramatic ninth, giving up only a soft single to Trent Grisham before getting Ben Rice to pop out to end it. Hoffman is the fourth pitcher to reach 20 saves this season, joining Josh Hader, Robert Suarez and Carlos Estévez.
Will Warren was lit up for eight runs in four innings by the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
The Jays had seven runs before Warren got his second out in the first inning, so it’s really rather impressive that he got through four like he did. He didn’t have much luck early, either; while he did give up two homers, he also surrendered four singles on non-hard-hit balls in the first. A nine-pitch walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was awfully rough, too. Warren has been good enough recently that it’s worth sticking with him for his upcoming matchup against the Mariners.
After being brought into a tie game in the eighth, Devin Williams gave up two runs in an inning to take a loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
Williams walked George Springer with one out, intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a 1-0 count after Springer stole second, got a long flyout that allowed both runners to advance, threw a wild pitch to score Springer and then gave up a clean single to Addison Barger that plated Vlad. It’s a bad result, but it doesn’t give away all of the ground Williams has made up these last two months. He hadn’t allowed a run since May 27, and he has only one blown save on the season. He’s still pretty clearly the Yankees’ primary closer for now.
Davis Schneider hit a pair of homers Wednesday to knock in three runs against the Yankees.
Schneider was in the lineup against a right-hander for just the fourth time this season and came through nicely, homering off Will Warren in the first and lefty reliever Tim Hill in the seventh. They were his second and third homers in 71 plate appearances this season. He’s batting .228/.380/.421 while mostly playing versus southpaws.