MLB DFS Picks & Playbook For Today’s Games: Wednesday, May 29th

Welcome to Wednesday! It has already been a great week so far, with some great playbooks and other plays from the Fantasy Alarm team. I plan to keep things going with today’s MLB DFS playbook!

After yesterday's postponement, we get a gift this afternoon by kicking off the day of baseball with Tarik Skubal vs. Jared Jones. This matchup should be fun to watch while we prep for this evening’s main slate of games and build some more winning MLB DFS lineups!

This evening, we get a 7-game main slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel that will get underway at 7:20 PM ET. This slate brings us no shortage of excitement with an AL West duel between the Houston Astros and division-leading Seattle Mariners, the Cleveland Guardians continuing their strong start in Colorado, the Yankees looking to bounce back against the Angels, as well as a few other division matchups with the Nationals vs. Braves, Twins vs. Royals, and Cubs vs. Brewers.   

Plenty of excitement around the diamond, so let’s jump right into today’s MLB DFS playbook and my favorite MLB DFS picks of the day!

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, May 29

MLB Weather Today, 5/29

After some tough weather recently, it looks like we will get a clear day for this evening. 

MLB DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

I think this is the first time I have ever written up both of the top two most expensive pitchers in my favorites, but they are both pitching so great and in solid matchups. I think there is great flexibility for lineup construction today with the four pitchers. You can go with both top-end guys and cheap hitting, pair one of the top two with one of the cheap two (probably my favorite option) or go with both cheaper options and stack your offense. 

I am not giving any honorable mentions for pitching today; that is how much I like the four favorites over the rest of the field. 

On the offensive side, some of my favorite lineups to target today include the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Guardians, New York Yankees, and Colorado Rockies.  

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

• Shota Imanaga vs. Milwaukee Brewers
• Luis Gil vs. Los Angeles Angels
• Justin Verlander vs. Seattle Mariners
• MacKenzie Gore vs. Atlanta Braves

Best Odds For A Win

• Alek Manoah vs. Chicago White Sox
• Luis Gil vs. Los Angeles Angels
• Shota Imanaga vs. Milwaukee Brewers
• Logan Allen vs. Colorado Rockies

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Shota Imanaga, Milwaukee Brewers

Shota Imanaga is not just putting together a rookie of the year season; he is making a run at a Cy Young so far. 53.2 innings into his MLB career, he has a 0.84 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and a 27.8% strikeout rate, and he has gotten better as we get farther into the season. He has at least 7 strikeouts in each of his last 5 outings and has gone 7 innings in 3 of those starts. 

The Milwaukee Brewers are a scary offense against right-handers but are sub-par against lefties with a bottom 10 offense in both strikeout rate and OPS against lefties. I will be shocked if we don’t see another quality start with 7+ strikeouts from Imanaga again today. 

Luis Gil, New York Yankees

We’ve been talking about a lot of the Angels' bats recently because of how well they are hitting lefties, but they are still a very easy offense to attack with right-handed pitchers right now, and Luis Gil has been among the best. 

So far in May, Luis Gil has only given up 2 runs through 30.2 innings, along with 35 strikeouts. He has gone at least 6 innings in each start and has won all 5 starts in May. He is coming off his best two starts of the season: a 14-strikeout game against the White Sox and then 6.1 innings of 1-hit ball against the Mariners with 8 strikeouts. I am guessing we see a similar dominance against the Angels today.

Bailey Ober, Minnesota Twins

Opening day is still haunting Bailey Ober. If you remove that 1.1 innings against the Royals back in March, Ober has a 3.02 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and a 27.3% strikeout rate through 50.2 innings. Those numbers look pretty similar to Shota Imanaga, whom I was just gushing about (okay, not the ERA, but I care much more about the WHIP and K%). 

The Kansas City Royals have the second-lowest strikeout rate against right-handers, which limits the upside in this matchup, but they don’t do much damage against right-handers, either. Ober also struck out 10 against Toronto earlier this month, who is also a top 5 team in strikeout rate vs. righties. He doesn’t need double-digit strikeouts to be worth this price tag.

MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals

Even with the loss of Ronald Acuna, this Atlanta Braves offense is very good, but losing Acuna certainly does make a difference. Regardless, MacKenzie Gore is having an excellent season, and even with a touch matchup, it is worth rostering at this price. 

Gore has gone at least 6 innings in each of his last 3 starts and has 9 and 8 strikeouts in two of those, not to mention two of those starts were against Boston in Fenway and against the Phillies in Philadelphia. The win potential is low, but Gore hasn’t given up more than 3 earned runs in a start all season, and going up against Spencer Schwellenbach, making his major-league debut, and holding plenty of strikeout upside makes him a solid play today.  

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

• Cleveland Guardians vs. Ty Blach
• Colorado Rockies vs. Logan Allen
• Toronto Blue Jays vs. Chris Flexen
• New York Yankees vs. Tyler Anderson

Core MLB DFS Hitters

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

David Fry, C/OF Cleveland Guardians

Are we seeing an age-28 breakout for David Fry or just a hot streak? I am not sure of the answer. I want to guess it is just an insane hot streak, but it isn’t unheard of for guys to break out at this age; it just doesn’t happen often. Either way, through 38 games, David Fry has been one of the best hitters in baseball. 

Nobody in baseball (min 100 PA) has a higher OPS than David Fry, sitting right above Aaron Judge, Kyle Tucker, Marcell Ozuna, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Mookie Betts. Pretty good company. What is crazier than his 1.115 OPS is the fact that he has a 1.432 OPS against lefties, so yeah, I am paying this price tag for David Fry against the lefty in Coors.

Andres Gimenez, 2B Cleveland Guardians

Over his last 15 games, Andres Gimenez has slashed .350/.403/.517, along with 3 homers and 4 steals. This Guardians offense continues to produce, with Gimenez being a big part of it. Ty Blach has been getting fine results recently, but I don’t trust him at all here against the Guardians in Coors Field. 

Andres Gimenez is one of those rare lefties who hits lefties better than righties, and that has continued this season. The price is high for Gimenez, but with the matchup against Blach and being in Coors, I think it is worth paying up for today. If you can figure out a way to include all of Gimenez, Fry, and Jose Ramirez in your lineup, it is a decent move today.  

Anthony Volpe, SS New York Yankees

I don’t really understand why Volpe continues to be this cheap. The Yankees have been arguably the best offense in baseball recently, and you can get the leadoff bat, which is hitting very well, for a very reasonable price.

Volpe is now on a 20-game hitting streak. His last game without a hit was over 3 weeks ago! Over that stretch, he has slashed .337/.376/.535 and is a massive threat, hitting in front of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge (who you should also consider rostering if you can afford them).

Player Pool

• FanDuel
• DraftKings

$ Tier	SP	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	OF
High	Shota Imanaga $10,600	David Fry $5,000	Josh Naylor $5,600	Andrés Giménez $5,400	José Ramírez $6,400	CJ Abrams $5,400	Juan Soto $6,300
	Luis Gil $10,300	Elias Díaz $4,800	Vladimir Guerrero $5,000		Ryan McMahon $4,900		Aaron Judge $6,000
							Kyle Tucker $6,500
							Yordan Alvarez $5,500
Medium	Bailey Ober $8,000	Jose Trevino $3,300	Michael Busch $4,200	Edouard Julien $4,300	Christopher Morel $4,300	Anthony Volpe $4,500	Julio Rodríguez $5,000
				Nico Hoerner $4,000	Josh Rojas $4,000	Ezequiel Tovar $4,600	Giancarlo Stanton $4,800
						Bo Bichette $4,300	Cody Bellinger $4,800
							Daulton Varsho $4,600
							Tyler Freeman $4,100
Low	MacKenzie Gore $7,700	Keibert Ruiz $2,400	Elehuris Montero $3,400	Luis García $4,000	Isiah Kiner-Falefa $3,200	J.P. Crawford $3,000	Ian Happ $3,800
			Gavin Sheets $3,400				Jesse Winker $3,800
							Sean Bouchard $3,700
							Cavan Biggio $3,300

Stacks

Guardians	Andrés Giménez	José Ramírez	David Fry	Tyler Freeman	Josh Naylor
DraftKings	5400	6400	5000	4100	5600
Fanduel	3800	4800	3900	3600	4100

Yankees	Juan Soto	Anthony Volpe	Gleyber Torres	Aaron Judge	Giancarlo Stanton
DraftKings	6300	4500	3800	6000	4800
Fanduel	4300	3200	2900	4600	3400

Rockies	Ryan McMahon	Elehuris Montero	Ezequiel Tovar	Sean Bouchard	Kris Bryant
DraftKings	4900	3400	4600	3700	4400
Fanduel	3600	3000	3400	3100	2800

Blue Jays	Isiah Kiner-Falefa	Daulton Varsho	George Springer	Bo Bichette	Vladimir Guerrero
DraftKings	3200	4600	3900	4300	5000
Fanduel	2600	3500	3100	3500	3800