Happy Friday! It's hard to believe that August is almost over. We are getting down to the last month of the season, and things are about to get interesting in DFS, with rosters expanding in September and increasing the player pool. Let’s start this Labor Day weekend strong by building more winning MLB DFS picks today! 

 

 

 

We have a nice big 10-game slate in store for us this evening that will be getting underway at 7:05 PM ET on both DraftKings and FanDuel. We have Coors Field on today’s slate, with Baltimore facing the Rockies in Colorado. 

We have some Aces on the mound, and many intriguing matchups with plenty of value plays to help you construct your lineup today. With that, let’s jump into today's MLB DFS projections, the playbook and all my favorite MLB DFS picks for the day! 

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, August 30

My two favorite pitchers today are the two most expensive, but they are the clear best options on the slate. Luckily, with some good value options on the offensive side you can easily pay up for one or both of them today. However, there are a few good, cheaper pitching options today if you want to go that route.

Outside of my favorites that are written up down below, I think the other pitchers worth considering as options today include Framber Valdez, Kevin Gausman, and Ben Lively,

On the offensive side, the Baltimore Orioles and Colorado Rockies provide some excellent options today, especially with some of their cheaper bats in Coors. Outside of those two, the New York Mets are the other top team, and I think they have the best chance of outscoring both Coors teams today. Besides those three, my favorite MLB DFS projections to target today include the Cleveland Guardians, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, and Seattle Mariners.

 

 

 

MLB Weather Today, 8/30

Clear weather for today’s 10-game slate!

MLB DFS Optimizer & Lineup Generator Today

This Playbook is your ultimate resource for crafting amazing MLB DFS picks. Dive into our expert advice and recommendations, and don’t forget to check out today’s MLB DFS projections, MLB DFS ownership projections and our special MLB lineups page! 

You can easily mix all this info with the MLB DFS Lineup Generator, helping you lock in your Core Plays and create winning lineups quickly! Here’s a sample lineup for today’s games:

 

 

 

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

Best Odds For A Win

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Blake Snell, San Francisco Giants

With Blake Snell, you always know you are taking a little risk. If you took him in his last outing against Seattle, you paid over $10,000 to get 3 innings after he gave up 6 walks. In his previous 5 starts, though, he averaged 11 strikeouts a game, and that is what you are paying for here, the insane upside that he has. 

I will be surprised if he has two duds in a row. I think he can easily get you 25-30 points today, with 40-50+ always being in the cards for Blake Snell. If you don’t want to pay this much for someone with the risk of an outing he showed in Seattle, I get it, but I think the likelihood of him being the highest-scoring player on today's slate is too high not to consider paying this price. 

George Kirby, Seattle Mariners

George Kirby has not been returning the value you usually expect from him, with less than 20 points on DraftKings over his last 5 starts. He also doesn’t have quite the strikeout upside as Blake Snell, but George Kirby is still an ace, and this matchup is too good to ignore. 

The Los Angeles Angels have been the worst team against right-handed pitching in August by about every metric. They have a 28.2% strikeout rate and are slashing .190/.241/.313. With those numbers, it is hard to imagine a pitcher as talented as Kirby not dominating them. 

Pablo Lopez, Minnesota Twins

Pablo Lopez should be an over $9,000 pitcher but remains available at great discounts. Over the previous four seasons, Pablo Lopez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, and most of his numbers have been basically exactly in line with what he was doing before, besides one outlier, a 4.26 ERA. He has a 3.52 xERA and a 3.36 xFIP, and given his 21% K-BB% and a 1.14 WHIP, it indicates that a lot of the higher ERA has probably been bad luck. 

He is also coming off throwing 7 shutout innings with 9 strikeouts against the St. Louis Cardinals. While the Toronto Blue Jays can still be a tough matchup, Pablo Lopez is still too talented a pitcher to be this cheap. 

JP Sears, Oakland Athletics

JP Sears is coming off a rough outing against the Milwaukee Brewers. He pitched only 3.2 innings, with only 3 strikeouts, and gave up 7 runs (5 earned). Before that, he had thrown at least 7 innings in 4 straight starts with a 1.57 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP, with all 4 being quality starts and getting the win in 3 of them. 

Today, he faces the Texas Rangers, who have been horrendous against left-handed pitching in August. They have slashed .188/.264/.300 against lefties with a 25.3% strikeout rate. This looks to be an excellent spot for JP Sears to bounce back and have another great outing for MLB DFS picks today. 

 

 

 

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Hitters

New York Mets

If you need a team to target today outside of Coors, the New York Mets should be your first choice. Jonathan Cannon has given up 5 earned runs in each of his last two starts, and this Mets offense is too good not to put up some runs on him today. I think you can go anywhere from a 2-5 man stack of Mets today, with my preferred option targeting the top of the lineup, but you could do any combination of the following:

Ramon Urias, 3B Baltimore Orioles

Ramon Urias went 0-4 in yesterday's game, but before that had hits in 5 straight games, including back-to-back homer games, followed up with 2 hits and a double in the next game. 

He has found himself in the leadoff spot for the last two games, and considering he homered in the first game and then was a triple short of the cycle in the next, they will likely keep him there. He did get a price jump for Coors, but not enough; he should be a lock somewhere in your lineup today (probably 3rd because Colt Keith has to go in at 2nd base).

Masyn Winn, SS St. Louis Cardinals

I still don’t understand why Norby wasn’t in the Marlins lineups the minute they traded for him, but he is there now and thriving. In his first 6 games for the team, he has 9 hits, including 4 doubles and 2 homers. With a 1.133 OPS over his last ten games, being in one of the best lineups in baseball, and facing Austin Gomber in Coors, this feels like a no-brainer.

Whether you are paying the price of the other top bats in Coors or not, Ramon Urias is one of today's MLB DFS picks you want to consider going after with this kind of value in this matchup. 

Brent Rooker, JJ Bleday, Lawrence Butler, OF Oakland Athletics

The outfield provides many great options, but you could feel good about having it consist entirely of Oakland Athletics today. If not, I will likely have at least one of these three in every lineup. Over the last 5 games, these three have combined for 24 hits and 11 homers, and the average price of all three is only $4,600 a player. 

I don’t expect Jon Gray to slow them down much today, and I think this price is way too low for what all three of these guys are doing at the plate right now. Even if you aren’t doing all three, you need to be at least putting one of the cheaper two in your lineup, with Lawrence Butler being my favorite if you are only picking one. 

 

 

 

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