Welcome to the Fantasy Alarm MLB DFS Playbook for Wednesday, April 2nd!

We’re diving into the action with a 10-game main slate on DraftKings and a split slate on FanDuel, kicking off at 1:00 PM ET. With a packed day of baseball ahead, our expert analysis is here to guide you through the top pitchers, value plays, and stackable offenses to target.

Whether you’re hunting for GPP glory or locking in cash game success, we’ve got tailored insights to help you conquer today’s matchups. Let’s dive into the key plays and strategies to dominate the slate!

 

 

 

This season's MLB DFS picks and playbook will consist of a pitcher and hitter core players section with written analysis, player pool grid and core stacks section.

The core player section should be used as a starting point for all lineups, you may not be able to use all players in the same lineup, but those players should be the building blocks for you on a given night.

The player pool grid will feature both players from the core player section along with additional plays to help you build a complete lineup. The grid will be broken into top priced players, mid-priced players and value tier players.

The stacks section will bring you are favorite lineups stacks for the day and which players we would look to include in those stacks based on matchups and pricing.

There will also be a daily MLB DFS Show with a variety of hosts ranging from myself, Jon Impemba, Howard Bender, and James Grande. The MLB DFS Show will give you an initial outlook on the day's MLB DFS slate and should give you a good base for the start of your research each day! 

Make sure you subscribe to the Fantasy Alarm YouTube channel so you never miss a show! Also, join the Fantasy Alarm Discord to get your DFS lineup questions answered by our MLB DFS team! Plus, as always, be sure to check in with our MLB DFS Tools, with the Daily MLB Projections, MLB DFS Rostership Projections, and our MLB DFS Lineup Generator when building those lineups today to help you decide which players you should be targeting!

 

 

MLB DFS Picks & MLB Playbook

MLB Weather: Monday, 4/2

Los Angeles Angels vs St. Louis Cardinals

Trouble spot for today. It's going to rain a lot for most of the day and afternoon. The only potential benefit of this game going is that it's the only trip for the Angels to St. Louis so they may just delay and wait this one out.

Minnesota Twins vs Chicago White Sox

Rain in the area that could cause a delayed start in this one but these are also divisional opponents so the league could opt to PPD and schedule a matchup down the road when they meet again in Chicago.

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

So, here's the deal. We have 10 games on the DraftKings main slate and over on FanDuel they are giving us just five games with an EARLY start time with two of those games potentially having big delays or outright PPDs.

The DraftKings slate is easy. You pick Paul Skenes or Tarik Skubal to start your build then find the SP2 of your liking to pair with. On FanDuel, you are pretty much forced into Paul Skenes for the Early Slate given the options and the weather concerns so expect Skenes to be UBER chalk.

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates

On FanDuel he's a no brainer and honestly on DraftKings he makes a lot of sense on most slates as well as the top priced pitcher. He has elite elite strikeout upside and he got to 94 pitches in his opening day start.

IF there was anything to consider here it would be the venue. Tampa Bay is in a minor league stadium and playing outdoors in Florida leads to some favorable hitting conditions. 

The Rays lineup hasn't had too much trouble scoring runs so far this season but this will be the first time facing a pitcher of this caliber. Again, on FanDuel you don't really have a choice but on DraftKings……

Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Well, on DraftKings you can just go here. Yes, Skubal was a bit shaky in his opening day start but this matchup against the Seattle Mariners continues to be elite for opposing pitchers.

Casey Mize held is own against Seattle last night, striking out six over 5.2 innings.

Seattle once again ranks among the league leaders in strikeout rate and we know Skubal can rack up the strikeouts as much as Skenes can and Skubal is currently projected to be the slightly more rostered pitcher on the slate.

Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals

If you watched the MLB DFS Show last night then you saw myself and Grande come to the realization that maybe we should go back and give Cole Ragans another look as the Brewers tend to have a lefty heavy lineup and will be up against the Royals powerful southpaw here this afternoon.

Ragans stumbled a bit in his opening day start against the Guardians, allowing three runs over five innings while striking out only three but he is coming off of a season where he had a 3.14 ERA with 223 strikeouts over 186.1 innings.

I'd expect a bounce back here today.

MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals

I'm sorry but it doesn't really matter who his opponent it, we aren't going to leave off a guy who had 13 strikeouts over six shutout innings in his season debut.

Gore is a big strikeout pitcher that has dealt with inconsistencies at the major league level but it was never due to his stuff. His sabermetric stats always suggested his underlying performances were pretty strong and if he could just harness his aresnal a bit with better control he could really take off.

He dominated a good Phillies lineup but will be tested again here today in a start against a revamped Blue Jays lineup that hasn't had any trouble scoring runs so far this season.

If Gore shuts down the Blue Jays today then we could be in for a break out season.

Ryan Pepiot, Tampa Bay Rays

The only downside to Pepiot today is going to be his win equity as he toes the rubber opposite Paul Skenes this afternoon. From a matchup standpoint this spot is pretty elite as the Pirates offense has been abysmal to begin the season and Pepiot is a pretty good starting pitcher, a key piece in the deal between the Dodgers and Rays that featured Tyler Glasnow getting sent to Los Angeles.

Pepiot was good in his debut start against the Colorado Rockies and I'd expect similar success here today. Even without the win equity, it wouldn't  shock me to see him finish with 15-18 fantasy points today.

Sean Burke, Chicago White Sox

I mean, they didn't even touch his price tag after he went and blanked the Angels in his opening day start over six innings.

Burke was really good in his four appearances for the White Sox last season, boasting a 10.4 K/9 while going 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA.

He then went out and had a really strong spring which carried over into his season debut.

If this kid is for real, this price tag is just way too low.

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Hitting is all going to depend on what your pitching selections will allow for you to do today.

If you are double spending up on DraftKings you are going to need to find those super value plays to plug into your lineup to help get you the power exposure needed on this slate. 

Of course you can spend down at catcher to help with the cost reduction and the outfield is always full of cheap plays that you can throw in so it shouldn't be too difficult to do.

The one notable target today has to be the matchup between the Cubs and A's where that Sacramento ballpark has been playing as we all expected with a ton of offense and runs being scored.

An afternoon game today in a bit higher temps will only help the offense a bit more so getting exposure to that game seems to make some sense.

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Juan Soto, New York Mets

Gotta love some Mets today in this matchup against Connor Gillispie who has never really put anything together at any level consistently.

Enter the New York Mets who have a strong offense led by Juan Soto in a matchup where they have the highest implied team run total in the board today.

Brent Rooker, Athletics / Kyle Tucker Chicago Cubs

You can honestly play both if you want but I don't think you go wrong here today. It's clear the ballpark in Sacramento is going to be a hitters haven after both teams have put up runs all series.

The A's have the better matchup today against Jameson Taillon who is a notorious flyball pitcher which gives Rooker a lean but Tucker has also homered in four straight games.

Jackson Merrill, San Diego Padres

Payday narrative. The man got a big contract extension today and the Padres have a really nice matchup against Ben Lively. Stacking Padres today won't be too difficult to do today either thanks to a value play that we will touch on momentarily.

Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics

Yes, he's cooled off since his opening weekend home run barrage against the Mariners but we can still run it back here today with a righty in Jameson Taillon on the mound. Again, this is a ballpark that should favor power hitters and the afternoon game is a bump to offense as well with the warmer weather and wind.

Gavin Sheets, San Diego Padres

My favorite value play on the board today. Sheets earned his spot on the Padres lineup by smoking six homers during spring. He then continued to hit homers during the opening weekend.

With a righty in Ben Lively on the mound we should see Sheets in the lineup and in the middle of that lineup.

 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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