Today's seven-game main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel kicks off at 6:40 pm ET with the Los Angeles Dodgers taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

As you can see from the cover of today's playbook this matchup will feature some of our core lineup components including Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler.

 

 

When it comes to our top hitters of the slate, not only do we look to these Dodgers hitters, but we find the Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres among our favorites teams to build lineup stacks around this evening.

Before building your DFS lineups here today make sure you check out the MLB DFS Preview Show with myself and Howard Bender as we give you a first look at today's DraftKings main slate and break down our top plays, values and fades before building an example lineup at the end of the show.

There are lots of great players to talk about, so let’s just dive right into today’s playbook and some of my favorite MLB DFS picks for the day!

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Thursday, June 6th

MLB Weather Today, 6/6

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Pittsburgh Pirates

  • Some rain will be in the area prior to first pitch; if it lingers, we may get a delayed start but nothing too serious here.

Minnesota Twins vs New York Yankees

  • Similar to the game above, some rain early that could cause a late start but nothing that should put this game in danger of the PPD.

MLB DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

A lot of this was said in the opener but I'm loving the pitching matchup for Walker Buehler here today with the Dodgers big road favorites and the Pirates really struggling against right-handed pitching on the season.

On DraftKings you can go a few different ways with your SP2. Tanner Houck is likely an all-star game representative for the Red Sox this season and draws a solid matchup against the White Sox while we also discussed using Hunter Greene on the preview show given his strikeout upside against the Cubs.

On smaller slates it is sometimes hard to figure out where to go with your lineup stacks, but we definitely have some targets for us today with the Red Sox offense against Jake Woodford among our favorites given the price tags on most of the hitters in their lineup not named Rafael Devers.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

Best Odds For A Win

 

 

 

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers

Buehler has been a bit up and down this season which makes sense given his long layoff from pitching in an actual baseball game due to injuries. That said, he has started to turn a corner a bit and today is a fantastic opportunity for him to look like the top tier starter we know he is capable of being.

The Pirates this season have really struggled against right-handed pitching, ranking 29th in wOBA, 30th in ISO and 28th in batting average with the fifth-highest strikeout rate at 24.7%.

Sonny Gray, St. Louis Cardinals

Gray has been ELITE this season, with a K/9 over 10.0 and great win equity in this matchup against the Rockies. The biggest issue has been the pitch count with Gray often being removed before the 90-pitch mark and even more recently he was removed after 74 pitches despite throwing five innings of one-hit baseball.

Yes, he can still get the win and rack up K's, but it would be fantastic if he could just get a longer leash so some of these 25+ fantasy point games could be 30+ fantasy point games with more innings.

Tanner Houck, Boston Red Sox

He is the top priced pitcher on the slate and for one of the firs times this season the Red Sox are actually a heavy favorite.

Houck has a solid floor for strikeouts, he doesn't walk many or give up a ton of hits which has helped lead to him having four straight starts with at least 19 fantasy points. He hasn't allowed more than one earned run in any of those four starts yet is just 2-1 with a no-decision during that stretch.

With better win equity tonight, if you can fit him in your lineup tonight, he is certainly a great play for all formats.

Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds

Greene is quite the enigma. We know he has electric stuff but when he isn't able to command that stuff, we get the blowup games like we just saw in this same matchup against the Cubs.

In that start he walked five and gave up a home run for five earned runs while only giving up three hits.

In the three starts prior we got three straight games over 20 fantasy points for Greene. 

I'm willing to bank on the arm talent here, especially with the Cubs lineup not at 100% right now.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Core MLB DFS Hitters

*Note: Will Be Updated As Official Starting Lineups Are Released

Rafael Devers, 3B Boston Red Sox

Devers has been on fire since coming back from his injury, hitting .343 with three homers and a 1.157 OPS over the last 10 games.

He homered twice against the Braves on Wednesday and today draws a favorable matchup against the White Sox starter Jake Woodford.

The Red Sox are a low rostered lineup here today so if looking to be a little contrarian here today this is a great spot.

Aaron Judge / Juan Soto, OF New York Yankees

Dealers choice here, whichever play you like most feel free to put into your lineup and if you can make it happen then play them both.

Twins starter Pablo Lopez is having a hell of a hard time right now keeping the ball in the ballpark, having allowed six homers over his last four starts and 11 homers over his last 10.

Having an issue giving up home runs is not ideal when you face this Yankees lineup in Yankee Stadium.

Both plays are elite, Judge has five homers over the last 10 games while Soto has the splits advantage with the short right field as his target.

Nolan Gorman, 2B St. Louis Cardinals

We know that Gorman is a streaky hitter and right now he is hot with six homers over his last 10 games while hitting .289 with an OPS of 1.131.

The Cards face off against Cal Quantrill today who had his run of strong outings end the last time he took the mound.

We've been expecting some regression from Quantrill and if his last start is an indication that he's coming back down to earth a bit then Gorman should be in a great spot.

Pavin Smith, OF Arizona Diamondbacks

Another value play here on this slate, Smith is hitting .409 with an OPS of 1.235 over his last 10 games.

We've gone through these hot streaks for Smith before but he's not much more than a AAAA player. 

He does have some home run upside and this matchup against Randy Vasquez is pretty intriguing for the Diamondbacks left-handed hitters as he's allowing a .549 wOBA and a .778 slugging percentage this year to lefties.

Tune Into Today's MLB DFS Live Show with Howard Bender and Henry Wilson at 4pm ET

 

 

 

Player Pool

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