Hello and welcome to the MLB DFS Playbook for August 13! We have a medium sized 8-game slate on both DK and FD on our hands today. We have a 1:35 pm ET start time, so don’t waste time getting those lineups made! Make sure to check out all of our amazing MLB DFS tools as they are always worth going through before building your lineups as are the Vegas Odds. 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 August 13

MLB Weather Updates

None! – Have to love this! 

Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing out:

Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (blowing out to LCF)

Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing in:

None.

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

We have a nice medium sized slate on our hands, which provides some chalk, but also still plenty of ways to be unique. I love not having to worry about any weather issues and just freely getting to set lineups. Starting pitching is headlined by Gerrit Cole and the Pittsburgh Pirates come in as the team with the highest implied run total. Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge are the two most expensive hitters at our disposal today and with the Braves not being on this slate, we don’t have to worry about getting Ronald Acuna Jr. or Matt Olson in lineups. Let’s dive in! 

Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options for Strikeouts

Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers

Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox

Best Odds for a Win

Zach Eflin (Tampa Bay Rays -191)

Mitch Keller (Pittsburgh Pirates -159)

Jose Urquidy (Houston Astros -153)

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Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups

Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

Cole is the clear play on FD as his price isn’t far from the rest. Things get a little trickier on DK as he is VERY expensive, but it doesn’t come without good reason. He had scored at least 24 dk points in four straight prior to his last outing. He has a 2.75 ERA on the year with a 1.04 WHIP and 160 Ks across 150.1 innings of work. He has been better on the road this year too with a 2.59 ERA and 1.02 WHIP (2.88 and 1.05 at home, respectively). 

Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers

Peralta has been going OFF lately with 37.1, 20.7, and 43.2 dk points over his last three starts. He has had two starts with 13 Ks in that span and has had at least 5 Ks in 11 straight outings (also pitching at least 5 innings in all 11). He has a mediocre 4.28 ERA on the year, but a solid 1.19 WHIP and 151 Ks across 122 innings of work. The White Sox lineup is far from a scary one. 

Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox

His last outing was hilarious as he had SEVEN walks, but pitched 5.1 shutout innings with 6 Ks and picked up the win to finish with 23.2 dk points. It’s been a season filled with negative regression for Cease, but he has still been solid in DFS because of his ability to strike people out with 150 Ks across 126.1 innings this season. His ERA at home (3.92) is over a full run less per game than on the road (4.98). 

Recommended DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

5.21 – Pittsburgh Pirates

5.18 – Washington Nationals

4.95 – Houston Astros

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Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups

I like the idea of spending up on pitching today, which works well because I like a lot of the hitters in the mid-tier today anyways. 

Jeimer Candelario, 1B/3B, Chicago Cubs

Candelario is hitting .371 with a 1.021 OPS over his last 10 games. He has a home run, a steal, and four doubles in that span. He now has 17 home runs and 7 steals on the year with 122 total R/RBI across 110 games of action. Hyun Jin Ryu is still working his way back, but over a limited sample since the start of 2022, righties have really put a hurting on Ryu. 

Zack Gelof, 2B, Oakland Athletics

Gelof is locked-in right now, hitting .306 with a 1.042 OPS over his last 10 games, including three home runs and a stolen base. He now has 6 home runs and 6 stolen bases through his first 24 games in the big leagues. His DFS price is on the rise, as it should be, but he still comes in at the mid-tier range and I like what he is doing right now, especially in a spot against a bad pitcher like Trevor Williams. 

Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates

In yesterday’s value article I wrote “Hayes is scorching right now, scoring 25, 24, 19, and 14 dk points over his last four games. He has three home runs, 10 RBI, and 8 hits in that span. He has been incredible at home this season, hitting .329 with a .914 OPS, compared to hitting just .183 with a .512 OPS on the road.” Well that game got PPD, so there’s not much to change, and I really like him today in this spot against Luke Weaver. 

T.J. Friedl, OF, Cincinnati Reds

 Friedl also comes into this game hot, hitting .281 with a .980 OPS over his last 10 games. He has three home runs and four steals in that timeframe and he now has 10 home runs and 21 stolen bases on the season. Today, he faces Mitch Keller, who may have started the season off in a great way, but he’s been abysmal lately with a 5.88 ERA and 1.52 WHIP over his last 10 starts. 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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