Hello and welcome to the MLB DFS Playbook for May 15! We have a 10-game slate on our hands tonight. We have a 7:05 pm ET start time, so plenty of time to read over the playbook today! Make sure to check out our awesome 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 May 15

MLB Weather Updates

None. 

Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing out:

Seattle Mariners vs. Boston Red Sox (blowing out to RF / RCF) 

Games that appear to have a decent wind blowing in:

None.

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

This is an average sized slate, so you’ll see some high-rostered players, but also plenty of low-rostered players, which makes for an interesting day. You can eat some chalk, but it can still work out just fine. Framber Valdez is the most expensive pitcher on DK’s slate and Freddy Peralta comes in as the most expensive option on FD. We do have Coors Field on tonight’s slate as well, so there are a lot of things to consider before setting your lineups today. 

Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options for Strikeouts

Framber Valdez, Houston Astros

Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers

Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds

Best Odds for a Win

Michael Wacha (San Diego Padres -212)

Merrill Kelly (Arizona Diamondbacks -210)

Framber Valdez (Houston Astros -185)

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Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups

Feeling pretty chalky with pitching options today, but it just feels like the right direction to go for this slate. 

Framber Valdez, Houston Astros

Valdez is as consistent as they come. He has logged a QS in every game except his first start and he has scored at least 11 dk points in every start this year. He has scored north of 20 dk points in six of them and has shown an impressive ceiling with his 42.2 point game in his last outing. There’s really nothing to not like about Valdez. 

Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers

Peralta has scored at least 22.5 dk points in three straight starts and has done so in 5 of 7 starts this season. He has a 3.32 ERA on the year with 46 strikeouts across 40.2 innings of work. The Cardinals are not an easy matchup by any means, and Valdez and Kelly are probably the safer choices, but Peralta has electric stuff and can shutdown any lineup when he is on top of his game. 

Merrill Kelly, Arizona Diamondbacks

Kelly has scored double-digit fantasy points in all eight of his starts this year and comes into this game with a 3.18 ERA and 46 strikeouts across 45.1 innings of work. Oakland is much better against lefties than they are against righties and overall on the year they rank 27th in runs per game at 3.79. They are even worse at home, averaging just 3.09 runs per game. The A’s also have the 6th highest strikeout rate in the league this year. 

Recommended DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals

6.16 – Cincinnati Reds vs. Connor Seabold

5.38 – Colorado Rockies vs. Hunter Greene

5.22 – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Jimmy Cordero

5.15 – Seattle Mariners vs. Tanner Houck

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Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups

Alex Kirilloff, 1B/OF, Minnesota Twins

Kirilloff is locked-in right now, hitting .409 with two dingers over his first eight games since being activated off the IL. He has scoed 10, 7, 35, and 12 dk points over his last four starts. Noah Syndergaard is a really terrible pitcher these days as he has a 6.12 ERA and 1.42 WHIP through his first seven starts, so it appears not even the Dodgers (and their elite ability to make any pitcher good) are able to fix Thor at this stage in his career. 

Casey Schmitt, SS/3B, San Francisco Giants

Schmitt finally had a bad game, but he is still hitting .458 with a pair of dingers and three doubles over his first six games in the big leagues. He has the platoon advantage against Bailey Falter tonight and Falter has been terrible this year with a 5.75 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. I expect a bounce back performance from Schmitt today and he is very cheap on DK (very pricey on FD though). 

Christian Yelich, OF, Milwaukee Brewers

Yelich was the cover player for my Playbook yesterday and he came through in a monster way, going 2-4 with a home run and a stolen base. I am going right back to the well. He is insanely hot right now, averaging 13.8 dk points per game over his last 10 games with four dingers and four stolen bases. He has scored 17, 30, and 26 dk points over his last three games, all of which were multi-hit games. 

Jake Fraley, OF, Cincinnati Reds

Fraley is on an absolute tear right now, averaging 10.2 dk points per game over his last 10 games while hitting .357 with three home runs, a steal, and 12 RBI. He has scored 7, 10, 36, and 30 dk points over his last four starts and now he heads to Coors Field and gets to face a terrible pitcher in Connor Seabold. At his price tag, I expect Fraley to be one of highest rostered players on tonight’s slate. 

 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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