Monday, May 2, gets the work week rolling with a six-game featured slate starting at 6:40 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. Yahoo has selected the five games starting at 7:05 p.m. ET or later for its main slate. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks for pitchers and stacks for Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy baseball lineups. As always, you can head over to the Awesemo MLB DFS & Fantasy Baseball home page for all the fantasy baseball content you need for any given slate.
MLB DFS Picks Today: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks | Monday, May 2
Yahoo Stack of the Day: Minnesota Twins at RHP Tyler Wells — 4.1 implied runs
Minnesota will be opening its series in Baltimore with a favorable matchup against Tyler Wells. We have seen that the renovations to Camden Yards as well as whatever adjustments commissioner Rob Manfred has authorized to baseballs have combined to decrease offensive results. While the Orioles home park may no longer be a launching pad, bad pitching is still bad pitching.
Tonight will be the fifth start of the season for Wells, who was used exclusively as a reliever in his rookie campaign last year. Wells is a fly ball pitcher (50.8%) that allows a lot of hard contact (41.6%), which supports an unsightly 1.5 HR/9 rate. Most projection systems have the 27-year-old pegged as a multi-inning reliever. The Orioles are content to limit him to just two times through the order, so he has a ceiling of around five innings if things fall in his favor.
The Twins have recorded the seventh-most home runs this season, and they are averaging just over 4.3 runs per game. While in The Show, Wells has allowed most of his power to same-handed batsmen. That bodes well for Byron Buxton ($28), Carlos Correa ($15) and catcher Ryan Jeffers ($13), who all have above-average pop against fellow righties. Jorge Polanco ($16) and Max Kepler ($18) rake from the left side, and they are primary targets in the heart of the order. It will be interesting to see how many gamers are willing to pony up for Buxton on Yahoo, where he has a 17% premium compared to the salary of any other hitter in the player pool.
Late Slate: Houston Astros vs. LHP Marco Gonzales — 4.6 implied runs
The Astros are quite familiar with Marco Gonzales, with their hitters having tallied a .303/.368/.387 triple slash line in 143 at-bats. The average is high, but as evidenced by the .387 slugging percentage, they have just 14 extra-base hits and only one of those was a home run. They also have a paltry 15 strikeouts, which make sense, as that is not somewhere Gonzales excels.
Jose Altuve (hamstring) completed a successful rehabilitation stint in the minors and is expected to be back in his customary leadoff role tonight. Alex Bregman and Yulieski Gurriel have both had sustained success against opposite-handed hurlers, while Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker excel in lefty-lefty matchups. Chas McCormick will likely slide back down to the bottom of the order, but he is a solid salary saver on DraftKings ($3,000) and FanDuel ($2,900) tonight.
Spotlight Pitchers
Top MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Chris Bassitt vs. Atlanta Braves — 3.3 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $46 | FanDuel $10,000 | DraftKings $9,600
Tonight the top pitching options will either be Chris Bassitt or Max Fried, who are squaring off in New York. They have similar salaries across the various DFS sites, and each of their teams is projected for 3.3 runs. Bassitt is a late bloomer, but he also tends to go under the radar, which is helpful in tournaments. Fried is the talented lefty prodigy who was long touted as the best pitcher in the Atlanta farm system. The slight nod goes to Bassitt since he should face a mostly right-handed lineup tonight. The Mets hosted the Phillies on Sunday Night Baseball last night, so if any regulars get a day off and we see a weaker lineup, that could tip things towards Fried.
Secondary MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Pablo Lopez vs. Arizona Diamondbacks — 2.9 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo N/A | FanDuel $10,500 | DraftKings $10,000
This is the 6:40 p.m. ET game, so it is not on the Yahoo featured slate — Chris Paddack ($36) facing the Orioles would be a decent SP2 for tournaments there. Pablo Lopez does an excellent job of limiting power, with a .140 ISO allowed over his last 481 batters faced. That is something that is lacking from the Diamondbacks lineup with only Dalton Varsho, Jordan Luplow and Christian Walker being above average, and that trio strikes out in nearly a quarter of their at-bats. Lopez is stretched out and we should see him in the 90- to 100-pitch range, which also would have him in the mix for a quality start. This season he has allowed only one run, so there, of course, is regression coming, but he should be able to defer that to a later date.
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & Weather Notes for the Monday, May 2 Fantasy Baseball Slate
The only weather concern for today is the early game in St. Louis between the Cardinals and the Royals. Temperatures continue to tick up, and it should be a pleasant evening in most outdoor venues tonight.
