We made it to May! Through the first month of the season, the Phillies have the most wins after capturing their 20th with a comeback win against the Angels last night. We, unfortunately, ended the month with the terrible news of Mike Trout having to undergo knee surgery, but hopefully, we will get him back before the end of the season. 

 

 

 

Hopefully, we won’t have to deal with any bee’s nests in today’s games, but getting the unlikely hero to take care of the bee’s nest last night and throw out the first pitch was well worth the delay. Whatever excitement today might bring, let's hope it includes us kicking the month off right by building some more winning MLB DFS lineups!

There is an early 8-game slate this morning that you can get in on, but we will be focused on this evening’s 7-game main slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel that will be getting underway at 6:35 PM ET. 

Plenty of great matchups today, including an AL East duel between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, as well as a clash between the NL West juggernaut of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. So, let’s dive right into today’s playbook and some of my favorite MLB DFS picks for the day.

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, May 1

MLB Weather Today, 5/1

Looks like there are no real weather concerns today!

MLB DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

You can take your choice (or take both) of the new Japanese Aces as two of the top pitchers on today’s slate. While there are two starters (seen below) that I like slightly better, they still make my favorites despite tough matchups. 

Yesterday, I was more interested in some of the cheaper starting pitchers, but today, I like the top end a bit more and am probably trying to find deals on the offensive side. If you need some cheaper options, I am also a fan of Luis Gil, but the Orioles lineup keeps him from making the favorites list today. 

For the offensive side, some of my favorite lineups to target today include the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Washington Nationals.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

Best Odds For A Win

 

 

 

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Corbin Burnes, Baltimore Orioles

The strikeouts have still been lacking a bit for Corbin Burnes, with only 6 strikeouts against the Oakland Athletics, but it was still a quality start with 6 innings, giving up only 3 hits and one run coming off a solo homer. 

The Yankees have a pretty low strikeout rate against righties this season, but I still think this is a better matchup than either Yamamoto or Imanaga have today, and I just trust Corbin Burnes to continue to get better as the season goes on and get back to higher strikeout totals. 

Kutter Crawford, Boston Red Sox

Kutter Crawford was singled to death in his last outing. He gave up 10 hits but only 3 earned runs through 6 innings, still getting a quality start. The drop to only 4 strikeouts, his season low, wasn’t great either, but the Chicago Cubs have a solid offense.

The Red Sox shut out the Giants yesterday and now get to run out their best pitcher, Kutter Crawford. I think he will bounce back from his last outing, getting back to 6+ strikeouts, and provide another great outing today at a discount. 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been pretty much as great as advertised this season. He pitched 6 scoreless innings against the Washington Nationals and still tallied 7 strikeouts despite the Nationals' low strikeout rate.

While the Diamondbacks are a tough matchup, I think that Yamamoto is good enough to go out and shut down anyone. He has the 5th highest strikeout minus walk rate. Since the rough opening day start, he has a 2.00 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. I trust Yamamoto against the Diamondbacks today, even at the high price.

Shota Imanaga, Chicago Cubs

Shota Imanaga was excellent again in his last outing. He struck out 7 through 6.1 innings against the Boston Red Sox, giving up only one earned run. The only thing keeping him lower on this list today is the matchup. In his last outing, he faced the Red Sox with the highest strikeout rate against lefties in the league. The New York Mets are on the other end with the lowest strikeout rate against lefties, only striking out 15.3% of the time. 

While I think Imanaga is talented enough to tally some strikeouts against the Mets, that fact is still concerning and keeping me from having him as one of my absolute top options today.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Core MLB DFS Hitters

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

Josh Naylor, 1B Cleveland Guardians

Josh Naylor hit another homer in yesterday's high-scoring game against the Houston Astros before being walked off by the Astros in the 10th inning. That was Naylor’s seventh homer of the season. Naylor is currently holding a career-high .915 OPS and continues to walk almost as much as he strikes out, with one of the lower strikeout rates in the league.

Justin Verlander isn’t who he used to be, and I think we can expect another high-scoring game in Houston today. 

Rafael Devers, 3B Boston Red Sox

This Boston Red Sox team continues to provide offense despite all of the injuries they have been battling. Daulton Jeffries will start for the San Francisco Giants. In his first start on March 31st, he gave up 9 runs (5 earned) in two innings against the Padres.

I am stacking the Boston Red Sox against Jeffries today, so I want to make sure I get their best hitter in Devers, who has 11 hits in his last 6 games. 

CJ Abrams, SS Washington Nationals

I am back in on CJ Abrams today. The Nationals provide an interesting stack again today, getting to face Andrew Heaney, but Abrams can easily be used as a one-off as well. Don’t shy away from him in the lefty-lefty matchup.

This season, Abrams has a .406/.441/.875 slash line against lefties (1.316 OPS), and three of his four homers have been against lefties despite having less than half the plate appearances compared to righties.

Wilyer Abreu, OF Boston Red Sox

Wilyer Abreu continues to impress for the Boston Red Sox. Last night while facing Logan Webb Abreu was a homer short of the cycle putting up a single, double, triple, along with a walk a run and an RBI. 

Wilyer is slashing .316/.391/.526 this season and has been even better over his last 10 games, slashing .429/.468/.762, good for a 1.230 OPS. Only Mike Tauchman and Alec Bohm have a higher OPS over that stretch. He remains reasonably priced and in a good matchup today; he is hard to ignore, even if you aren’t stacking Boston. 

 

 

 

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