MLB DFS Playbook April 9: Top Plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Published: Apr 09, 2023
Happy Easter and welcome to today’s MLB DFS Playbook! We have a 10-game slate on our hands today and plenty of intriguing options to choose from. Make sure to check out our fantastic MLB DFS tools as they are always worth going through before setting your lineups. However, as I am sure you have figured out by now, the new playbook will be a one-stop shop that includes everything from easy-to-read player write-ups and suggestions to MLB Weather Reports to lineup construction tips to our best value plays for DraftKings and FanDuel. You will be given core plays around which to build your lineups, DFS stacks to consider for GPP tournaments and key statistics to help you in your DFS research. Let’s dive in!
MLB DFS Playbook April 9
MLB Weather Updates
No rain concerns.
Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing out:
Texas Rangers vs. Chicago Cubs (blowing out LF)
Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing in:
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Milwaukee Brewers (blowing in towards third base)
DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts
We are now over a week into the season and the picture continues to take shape more and more each day. We have more data do base our picks off of and have a better idea of who is hot or cold at the dish. We have a nice sized 10-game slate on tap today with some of the late games being excluded. There are many interesting pitchers to consider, but no clear-cut elite guys with good matchups. We do not have Coors Field on the slate or either Los Angeles team, which have the four highest implied runs totals of the day; that's not a bad thing though and there is a lot to like with this slate.
Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers
Top Options for Strikeouts
Freddy Peralta vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Nestor Cortes vs. Baltimore Orioles
Jon Gray vs. Chicago Cubs
George Kirby vs. Cleveland Guardians
Best Odds for a Win
Drew Rasmussen vs. Oakland A’s (-286)
Taijuan Walker vs. Cincinnati Reds (-182)
Nestor Cortes vs. Baltimore Orioles (-153)
Carlos Carrasco vs. Miami Marlins (-153)
Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups
Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers
Peralta was electric in his first start of the season against a tough Mets offense, firing six innings of shutout baseball with seven strikeouts and picking up the win. Things don’t get any easier this time around as he will have to take on a potent St. Louis Cardinals lineup, but when Peralta is on it doesn’t really matter who he is facing. His stuff is that good.
Nestor Cortes, New York Yankees
Cortes wasn’t dominant or over-powering in his first out, but he got the job done, firing five innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts in a win over the Phillies. He was taken out after 80 pitches as he was a bit behind this offseason, but he should be good to go for at least 90 pitches today. The Orioles offense is improved, but it’s still not that great and has plenty of weak spots in it for a guy like Cortes to exploit.
Drew Rasmussen, Tampa Bay Rays
Rasmussen is your chalk pitcher of the day and for good reason. He looked fantastic in his season debut, firing six shutout innings with seven strikeouts in a win over the Nationals to score 30.3 DK points. He gets to follow that up with the other worst offense in baseball, the A’s. The Rays are as hot as they come right now and there’s just nothing to not like about using Rasmussen today.
Recommended DFS Hitters
Highest Expected Run Totals
4.95 – Milwaukee Brewers vs. Jake Woodford
4.73 – Philadelphia Phillies vs. Connor Overton
4.66 – Chicago White Sox vs. Johan Oviedo
Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups
Francisco Alvarez, C, New York Mets
Alvarez makes his season debut and is the perfect punt at the catcher position. Not only is he just $100 over the minimum, but he has as much pop as anyone at the position. He probably isn’t going to hit for much average yet, but the bomb potential is fully there and I am not at all scared to attack Garrett. Righties have a .841 OPS against Garrett in his career, compared to the .625 mark lefties have produced.
Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets
From one Mets bat to another, how can you not like Alonso today? He has four home runs over his last three games and now has five home runs on the season. He also has 11 RBI and 8 runs scored through nine games. He has torched lefties this season thus far, hitting over .300 against them with three long balls.
Wander Franco, SS, Tampa Bay Rays
Franco has been fantastic this season, hitting .364 with three home runs, two steals, eight EBI, and six runs scored through his first eight games. The Rays offense is rolling right now and that is good news for runs and RBI opportunities for Franco. On top of that, he faces a pretty bad pitcher today in Kaprielian, so there is plenty of upside with the young short stop today.
Jarred Kelenic, OF, Seattle Mariners
Kelenic is coming off a three-hit game and is now hitting .304 on the season with a pair of stolen bases. He still hasn’t found his first home run, but that could happen today. Of his 21 career home runs, 18 have come against righties and his OPS is .200 points higher against them. Left-handed bats have a higher OPS against Plesac in his career than righties do.
Garrett Mitchell, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
If you’ve been following my break downs so far this season, you probably already know that I stan Mitchell. He hasn’t let me down though, as he is hitting .333 with three home runs, six RBI, and six runs scored in 24 at-bats. He hasn’t stolen a base yet, but he has 99-percentile speed, so that is just a matter of time. Until they fix his price and realize that this kid is a stud, I am going to keep rolling with him.
Player Pool
| $ Tier | SP | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Drew Rasmussen  $10,500 |  Pete Alonso $3,900 |  Gleyber Torres $3,900 |  Yoán Moncada $3,200 | Wander Franco $4,000 |  Aaron Judge $4,400 | |
 Nestor Cortes $10,000 |  Trea Turner $3,700 |  Bryan Reynolds $4,000 | |||||
 Julio Rodríguez $3,900 | |||||||
| Medium | Freddy Peralta $9,800 |  Andrew Vaughn $3,000 |  Andrés Giménez $3,400 |  Josh Jung $2,900 | Oneil Cruz $3,400 | Kyle Schwarber $3,400 | |
| Rowdy Tellez $2,600 | Brice Turang $3,000 | Jazz Chisholm $3,200 | |||||
| Garrett Mitchell $3,000 | |||||||
| Low | Jon Gray $9,600 | Francisco Alvarez $2,200 |  Franchy Cordero $2,400 | Ji Hwan Bae $2,600 | Eduardo Escobar $2,200 | Anthony Volpe $2,600 |  Jarred Kelenic $2,400 |
 Will Benson $2,100 |
Stacks
| Brewers | Garrett Mitchell | Rowdy Tellez | Brice Turang |
 DraftKings | 2700 | 3200 | 2600 |
| Fanduel | 3000 | 2600 | 3000 |
| White Sox | Luis Robert | Andrew Vaughn | Yoán Moncada | Oscar Colás |
| DraftKings | 5200 | 3900 | 4800 | 2800 |
| Fanduel | 3800 | 3000 | 3200 | 2600 |
| Mets | Eduardo Escobar | Francisco Alvarez | Pete Alonso |
| DraftKings | 4100 | 2100 | 5900 |
| Fanduel | 2200 | 2200 | 3900 |
| Yankees | Anthony Volpe | Gleyber Torres | Franchy Cordero | Aaron Judge |
| DraftKings | 3100 | 5200 | 2500 | 6500 |
| Fanduel | 2600 | 3900 | 2400 | 4400 |
| Phillies | Trea Turner | Kyle Schwarber | J.T. Realmuto |
| DraftKings | 6300 | 5300 | 5100 |
| Fanduel | 3700 | 3400 | 3300 |
Player News
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Zach Eflin (lat) is likely to return and start Sunday against the Angels
It was assumed that Eflin would be back this weekend, but now we have a concrete date. The 31-year-old may not be at full strength after throwing fewer than 60 pitches in his rehab start, but the Orioles feel confident enough to have the right-hander back on the bump for the series finale against the Angels.
Riley Greene is not in the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Rockies on Thursday.
Greene will get a break and likely return to the lineup for the second game of the twin-billing. Zach McKinstry will get the start in left field while Greene rests.
Yu Darvish (elbow) is facing live hitters on Thursday.
Darvish has been throwing bullpen sessions and traveled to the team’s complex in Arizona to face live hitters on Thursday. It will be his first time facing live batters since a spring training appearance on March 13th. He will likely need a few sessions like this before the Padres can map out a rehab appearance timeline for him.
Adael Amador is starting at second base and batting ninth for the Rockies on Thursday.
Amador has now started three of the last four games at second base for the Rockies. He’s gone just 7-for-43 this season with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He’s just 22 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to adjust to the MLB level, but he doesn’t need to be on redraft radars right now.
Jackson Holliday is playing second base and batting second for the Orioles on Thursday against the Twins.
With Cedric Mullins sitting out on Thursday, Gunnar Henderson will bat lead off, and Holliday will jump up from sixth in the order to second. Holliday is riding a hot streak right now, and the Orioles are taking advantage. This is likely just a one-game sample with no Mullins or Adley Rutschman in the lineup, but Rutschman has been struggling, so perhaps it could become a more permanent spot in the lineup for Holliday moving forward.
Endy Rodriguez (finger) had his splint removed this week.
Rodriguez suffered a lacerated right index finger on April 14th. Now that he is out of his splint, he “is playing catch and doing a slightly modified swing.” Once he can progress to taking full swings, we’ll have a better sense of the timeline for his return.