MLB DFS Playbook August 3: Top Plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Published: Aug 03, 2023
We have a six-game MLB DFS main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel on Thursday, August 3rd, on DraftKings and FanDuel. There's not a lot of star power at pitcher tonight, but Shohei Ohtani is taking the mound and he's going to be an elite option tonight. Outside of him, Cristian Javier, Julio Urias, and Mitch Keller top the elite pricing tier. We have elite offenses in great spots everywhere we look including the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Cincinnati Reds. Be sure to check out all of our tools including the MLB Lineups page, MLB DFS Projections – powered by FanJections –, MLB DFS Ownership, and all of the rest of our tools HERE! Let's dive into today's playbook, core plays, and top stacks of the day!
MLB DFS Weather Center
None.
Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers
Top Options for Strikeouts
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels: 7.5 Ks (-155)
Julio Urias, Los Angeles Dodgers: 6.5 Ks (+125)
Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners: 6.5 Ks (+145)
Best Odds for a Win
Julio Urias, Los Angeles Dodgers: -275
Jameson Taillon, Chicago Cubs: -157
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels: -157
Sonny Gray, Minnesota Twins: -146
Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
Ohtani is coming off a complete game shutout in his last start and looked as good as he ever has. Ohtani has been very dominant at times and this spot against the Mariners is quite good considering how much the Mariners strike out. The Mariners have a 27.8% K-rate since the All-Star break against right-handed pitching, which is the second-highest in the league, and has a 26% K-rate overall against righties. So news flash, they strike out a LOT. Ohtani has a massive ceiling in this spot
Julio Urias, Los Angeles Dodgers
Urias makes me a little weary because his price has risen despite not pitching well lately. On top of that, Oakland hasn’t been as bad against left-handed pitching since the break ranking 15th in OPS with a 20.5% K-rate. Urias has negative fantasy points in three of his last six starts and twice he’s topped 20 DKP. He has a VERY wide range of outcomes here and he’ll be very popular, so I like Urias, but I’m also OK with fading him.
Cristian Javier, Houston Astros
Slowly, Cristian Javier is rounding back into the form that had a LOT of people excited about his upside in 2023. He’s fired off solid outings in three straight starts including his best in some time his last time out against the Rays. The Yankees have been putrid for a few months now and since the All-Star break, the Yankees rank 25th in OPS, 24th in wOBA, and 27th in ISO against right-handed pitching. They also have a 24.8% K-rate over that span. The strikeouts are trending in the right direction too, notching 5+ in three straight and 7+ in two of them. The Yankees' offense obviously had a big night on Wednesday and have Aaron Judge back, but they’re a much better overall offense against lefties.
Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis Cardinals
Liberatore threw 88 pitches in his last start at Triple-A and has been a solid strikeout arm at the minor league level and speaking of strikeouts, he’s facing the Twins. Since the All-Star break, the Twins have a 27.4% K-rate against left-handed pitching and a 26% K-rate against southpaws overall this year. The Twins rank 21st in OPS and 23rd in wOBA since the break against southpaws. Liberatore has 73 Ks in 58 Triple-A innings this year. He’s a very interesting spend down on a slate with very bad pitching options.
Recommended DFS Hitters
Highest Expected Run Totals
Chicago Cubs - 5.46
Minnesota Twins - 4.95
New York Yankees - 4.89
Los Angeles Dodgers - 4.8
Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups
Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
Despite the fact that this is a lefty-lefty match-up, it really doesn’t matter all that much. Freeman has raked against southpaws this season notching a .333 ISO and .450 wOBA against left-handed pitching, which is second and first on the Dodgers respectively. JP Sears in his own regard has allowed a .200 ISO and .361 wOBA to left-handed hitters. Oh by the way, Freeman’s hitting .488 over his last 10 games and is doing literally everything for the Dodgers.
Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers leadoff hitter has been fantastic for an extended period of time and dare I say..back to the MVP-version he’s been in years past? Over the last 30 days, he’s notched a .297 ISO and .424 wOBA against righties and is facing Mitch Keller who’s had his own struggles over that same timeframe. Over the last 30 days, Mitch Keller has allowed lefties a robust .375 ISO and .447 wOBA. Yelich is not someone he can continue to struggle against. He’s one of my favorite spend-up’s of the day.
Christopher Morel, Chicago Cubs
There are a LOT of options we could go to from the Cubs side of things, but Christopher Morel is having a fantastic stretch and is in a great match-up. He gets Luke Weaver who struggles more with right-handed bats. Righties have a .295 ISO and .422 wOBA and that’s been where Morel himself has excelled. He leads the Cubs with a .282 ISO and .406 wOBA vs. RHP. Morel is riding a 10-game hit streak coming into this one.
Jake Fraley, Cincinnati Reds
It’s been a good season for left-handed bats against Jameson Taillon and we have a large body of work to back that up. Lefties have a .274 ISO and a .399 wOBA against Taillon this season. Fraley in his own regard has been great against right-handed pitching. He’s notched a .231 ISO and a .387 wOBA against righties and is batting fourth tonight in the game with the highest O/U. I love the price and spot for Fraley.
Luis Rengifo, Los Angeles Angels
I wish there was a way we could play Shohei Ohtani at the dish tonight to make a real proper Angels stack possible. Lefties are absolutely dominating him this season posting a .390 ISO, .518 wOBA, 3.5 HR/9, and a 54.4% FB. Insert Luis Rengifo who had a fantastic month of July hitting .315 with six home runs, 12 runs scored and 12 more driven in across 22 games, which were all-season highs. He’s definitely been better against LHP this year, but over the last 30 days (60 PA) he has a .192 ISO and .329 wOBA against them. Mike Moustakas gets an honorable mention here.
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Player Pool
| $ Tier | SP | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Shohei Ohtani  $10,400 | Will Smith $3,600 | Freddie Freeman $4,300 | Mookie Betts $4,400 |  Elly De La Cruz $3,700 |  Yordan Alvarez $4,300 | |
 Christopher Morel $4,100 |  Cody Bellinger $4,000 | ||||||
| Medium |  Julio Urías $8,800 |  Carlos Santana $3,300 |  Nico Hoerner $3,300 |  Willy Adames $3,000 |  Christian Yelich $3,600 | ||
| Cristian Javier $9,200 |  Joseph Votto $3,100 | Dansby Swanson $3,200 |  Mickey Moniak $3,300 | ||||
| Will Benson $3,000 | |||||||
| Ian Happ $3,200 | |||||||
| Low |  Matthew Liberatore $6,200 |  Luis Rengifo $2,800 | Jeimer Candelario $2,900 | Chris Taylor $2,800 | Ian Happ $3,200 | ||
| Mike Moustakas $2,700 |
Stacks
| Cubs | Dansby Swanson | Christopher Morel | Cody Bellinger | Ian Happ | Jeimer Candelario |
 DraftKings | 4600 | 5000 | 5200 | 3300 | 4200 |
| Fanduel | 3200 | 4100 | 4000 | 3200 | 2900 |
| Dodgers | Mookie Betts | Will Smith | Chris Taylor | Amed Rosario | Freddie Freeman |
| DraftKings | 6200 | 5600 | 3300 | 3900 | 6400 |
| Fanduel | 4400 | 3600 | 2800 | 2900 | 4300 |
| Reds | Will Benson | Elly De La Cruz | TJ Friedl | Jake Fraley | Joseph Votto |
| DraftKings | 3200 | 6100 | 4200 | 4300 | 4300 |
| Fanduel | 3000 | 3700 | 3200 | 3500 | 3100 |
| Angels | Mike Moustakas | Luis Rengifo | Mickey Moniak |
| DraftKings | 2900 | 3500 | 5100 |
| Fanduel | 2700 | 2800 | 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.