MLB DFS Playbook July 18: Top Plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Published: Jul 18, 2023
Happy Tuesday! Today we have a huge slate with a 14-game main slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel starting at 7:05 PM EST. With 28 different teams on today’s slate, we have endless players to choose from while trying to construct some winning MLB DFS lineups. This large slate gives us no shortage of exciting matchups, including the New York Yankees taking on the Los Angeles Angels, where Shohei Ohtani continues to make history as his days with the Angels may be running out, the Houston Astros a mile high facing the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field, and the red-hot Baltimore Orioles taking on the NL West division leaders in the Los Angeles Dodgers. With so many choices, there are endless ways to construct your lineup today, so let’s jump into today’s playbook to help you make those tough choices and build a winning lineup! 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 Playbook July 18
MLB Weather Updates
Milwaukee Brewers vs Philadelphia Phillies: Some light showers, but they are not likely to cause any delays.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Baltimore Orioles: Same as Brewers vs Phillies.
Chicago White Sox vs New York Mets: Same.
Cleveland Guardians vs Pittsburgh Pirates: Some rain here as well, but should be clear before game time.
Houston Astros vs Colorado Rockies: Might be enough rain to cause a bit of a delay, but not really worried about any postponement.
Arizona Diamondbacks vs Atlanta Braves: Some large storms heading towards Atlanta, but decent chance they miss. Will try to update this one for you all as we get closer to game time.
DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts
For it being such a large slate today, there aren’t many aces taking the mound. Nathan Eovaldi is the top-priced pitcher of the day, and I am avoiding him after he has had a bit of a velocity dip and is having to face the Rays today. There are some solid pitchers to go through across the board, though, with my two favorites down below but some honorable mentions being Tyler Wells, Lucas Giolito, Bailey Ober, and Logan Allen. On the offensive side, some of my favorite offenses to target include the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and the Atlanta Braves.
Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers
Top Options for Strikeouts
Tarik Skubal vs Kansas City Royals
Nathan Eovaldi vs Tampa Bay Rays
Aaron Nola vs Milwaukee Brewers
Best Odds for a Win
Aaron Nola vs Milwaukee Brewers
Tarik Skubal vs Kansas City Royals
Carlos Carrasco vs Chicago White Sox
Nathan Eovaldi vs Tampa Bay Rays
Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups
Tarik Skubal has looked brilliant in his first two starts of the season, going a combined 8 innings with only 2 hits, giving up no runs, and striking out 11. Hopefully, as he continues to get stretched out, he will keep increasing his pitch count and can get more than 4 innings today to hopefully have the chance at a win. Facing the Kansas City Royals is a great matchup for him to continue his dominant pitching as he starts to ramp up for the Tigers.
After a rough first start against the Rangers, Bryan Woo has continued to put together solid innings for the Seattle Mariners. Since then, he has 6 straight starts with 2 or fewer earned runs with 39 strikeouts over 32.2 innings to go along with a 2.20 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. That is incredible production for the price you get him for, and I don’t see why he wouldn’t keep that up today against the Minnesota Twins.
Recommended DFS Hitters
Highest Expected Run Totals
Baltimore Orioles vs Michael Grove
Philadelphia Phillies vs Julio Teheran
Detroit Tigers vs Daniel Lynch
New York Mets vs Lucas Giolito
Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups
Justin Turner, 1B Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox are red-hot right now, playing their way into contention before the trade deadline, and Justin Turner has been a huge part of their offensive production. He is on a 13-game hitting streak over which he has slashed .408/.439/.694 with 3 homer runs, 5 doubles, 12 runs, and 17 RBIs. The Red Sox will be looking to keep the winning going against the Oakland Athletics today, and I expect Turner to keep this production up against Luis Medina
Gleyber Torres, 2B New York Yankees
The Yankees lost another heartbreaker last night against the Los Angeles Angels in extras, but Torres had himself another multi-hit game. That made it six straight games with multiple hits for Torres, as he is very locked in at the plate. While he has only one extra-base hit over that stretch, 13 hits over 6 games is still fantastic, and Torres can provide some power if he continues to put the bat on the ball like this, and gets a decent matchup today against Patrick Sandoval, who has been struggling.
Gunnar Henderson, 3B/SS Baltimore Orioles
Gunnar Henderson has really turned it on as the Baltimore Orioles chase down the Tampa Bay Rays for the lead of the division. Gunnar has slashed .299/.353/.583 since June 1st, along with 9 home runs. He has a homer, triple, and double over the last three games and gets a great matchup today facing Michael Grove of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Should be a great spot for both the Orioles and Henderson today.
Masataka Yoshida, OF Boston Red Sox
Masataka Yoshida has been unreal at the plate recently. Since June 30th, Yoshida has had 9 multi-hit games over 11 starts, 3 home runs, and 4 stolen bases. Over that stretch, he has slashed .438/.449/.708 and only has one game without a hit. Despite this, his price is still one of the lowest we have seen for him all season, and I am certainly taking advantage of that fact today in this matchup.
| DraftKings Core Plays | ||||||
| SP | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
| Tyler Wells, BAL - $9,400 | Adley Rutschman, BAL - $5,200 | Shohei Ohtani, LAA - $6,400 | Mookie Betts, LAD - $6,200 | Manny Machado, SD - $5,100 | Corey Seager, TEX - $6,300 | Kyle Tucker, HOU - $6,000 |
| Lucas Giolito, CWS - $9,300 | Luis Robert Jr., CWS - $5,700 | |||||
| Bailey Ober, MIN - $9,100 | Elias Diaz, COL - $4,300 | Justin Turner, BOS - $4,300 | Gleyber Torres, NYY - $4,900 | Gunnar Henderson, BAL - $4,700 | Ha-Seong Kim, SD - $4,200 | J.D. Martinez, LAD - $5,100 |
| Tarik Skubal, DET - $8,400 | Keibert Ruiz, WAS - $3,300 | C.J. Cron, COL - $4,000 | Adam Frazier, BAL - $3,300 | Jeimer Candelario, WAS - $3,400 | CJ Abrams, WAS - $3,100 | Masataka Yoshida, BOS - $4,300 |
| Bryan Woo, SEA - $7,900 | Anthony Santander, BAL - $4,500 | |||||
| Logan Allen, CLE - $7,700 | Giancarlo Stanton, NYY - $4,500 | |||||
| Mickey Moniak, LAA - $3,700 | ||||||
| Jarren Duran, BOS - $3,600 | ||||||
| Randal Grichuk, COL - $3,400 | ||||||
| Fanduel Core Plays | |||||
| SP | C/1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
| Tyler Wells, BAL - $9,200 | Freddie Freeman, LAD - $4,300 | Mookie Betts, LAD - $4,400 | Manny Machado, SD - $3,800 | Corey Seager, TEX - $4,400 | Shohei Ohtani, LAA - $4,500 |
| Bailey Ober, MIN - $9,800 | Kyle Tucker, HOU - $4,300 | ||||
| Justin Turner, BOS - $3,500 | Jonathan India, CIN - $3,500 | Austin Riley, ATL - $3,500 | Bo Bichette, TOR - $3,600 | Luis Robert Jr., CWS - $4,000 | |
| Tarik Skubal, DET - $8,700 | |||||
| Bryan Woo, SEA - $8,100 | C.J. Cron, COL - $3,000 | Gleyber Torres, NYY - $2,800 | Gunnar Henderson, BAL - $3,000 | CJ Abrams, WAS - $2,800 | Masataka Yoshida, BOS - $3,300 |
| Logan Allen, CLE - $8,500 | Anthony Santander, BAL - $3,300 | ||||
| Randal Grichuk, COL - $3,200 | |||||
| Giancarlo Stanton, NYY - $3,000 | |||||
| Austin Hays, BAL - $2,900 | |||||
| Ryan O'Hearn, BAL - $2,800 | |||||
| MLB DFS Top Stacks | ||||
| Team | Baltimore Orioles | |||
| Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 |
| Gunnar Henderson | Adley Rutschman | Anthony Santander | Ryan O'Hearn | Austin Hays |
| Team | Boston Red Sox | |||
| Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 |
| Jarren Duran | Alex Verdugo | Justin Turner | Rafael Devers | Masataka Yoshida |
| Team | San Diego Padres | |||
| Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | ||
| Ha-Seong Kim | Juan Soto | Fernando Tatis Jr.. Jr. | Manny Machado | Xander Bogaerts |
Player Pool
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.