Friday, May 6, has a weather-impacted 11-game main slate with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET, so let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks for pitchers and stacks for Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy baseball lineups. Make sure to visit the Awesemo MLB DFS & Fantasy Baseball home page for the best fantasy basketball content you need for tonight’s slate of games.
MLB DFS Picks Today: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks | Friday, May 6
Yahoo Stack of the Day: Atlanta Braves vs. LHP Eric Lauer — 4.3 implied runs
Tonight will be an interesting test for Eric Lauer, who is off the best start of his career. Even dating back to his first two seasons with San Diego, he had decent strikeout numbers, but the elevated walk and contact rates made him hard to trust in the fantasy world. This season he has been sterling through four starts with a 1.93 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 34 punchouts in 23.1 innings. Atlanta is loaded with hitters swinging the stick from the right side of the plate, and that makes for some very interesting lineup combinations.
The top of the order features Ronald Acuna, Matt Olson (who excels against fellow lefties) and Austin Riley, who all have tremendous power upside. The heart of the order has switch-hitter Ozzie Albies, and he should be surrounded by catcher Travis d’Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna as off-the-radar options. The bottom third of the order features cheap power options in Adam Duvall and Dansby Swanson. This gives us something at every salary level, along with positional flexibility to work in this group around core stacks tonight. The Red Sox and White Sox are squaring off in Boston, and if the weather holds, they are the top teams to stack, falling just behind Houston and a tick ahead of Milwaukee as primary stacks.
Evening Slate: Minnesota Twins vs. LHP Zach Logue/TBD — 4.3 implied runs
It looks like Oakland is going to roll out a bullpen game against the Twins in Minnesota tonight. The Athletics were off yesterday and they used just two relievers on Wednesday. While they have plenty of fresh arms should they choose to go this route, they are not a particularly intimidating group. On the flipside, the Twinkies are getting a little thin with Carlos Correa, Luis Arraez, Kyle Garlick, Alex Kirilloff and Miguel Sano all on the shelf. Byron Buxton has been scorching hot and Max Kepler should be in a favorable lineup spot with all the injuries. Jorge Polanco is well positioned as a switch-hitter to hold the platoon advantage all game, regardless of who comes out of the bullpen. We can then work in former Yankees Gary Sanchez or Gio Urshela as part of a full stack on the evening slate. For the main slate, two of Buxton, Kepler and Polanco would make a fine secondary stack pairing.
Late Slate: San Francisco Giants vs. RHP Jordan Hicks — 3.6 implied runs
The Giants are a much different team now that they have Mike Yastrzemski and Joc Pederson healthy and sitting at the top of the order. Brandon Crawford is always pesky, and this trio should find some success against Jordan Hicks, who is more than an “opener” but not particularly efficient with his pitch count. Similar to the Twins, San Francisco does not seem like a great featured stack on the main slate. However, it does provide solid differentiation with most of its production slated to come from the top half of the order.
Spotlight Pitchers
Top MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Yu Darvish vs. Miami Marlins — 3.1 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $41 | FanDuel $10,200 | DraftKings $9,400
The matchup combined with the sketchy weather conditions across most of the country will have Yu Darvish checking in as the most popular hurler on the mound tonight. Though Darvish is now 35 years old and injuries have taken a toll, he is still an above-average strikeout pitcher. Home runs have become more frequent in recent years, but against the right opponent, he can still dominate. Miami is tougher against southpaws than they are against right-handed pitchers. Jazz Chisholm, Jesus Sanchez and Joey Wendle are the main threats with the platoon advantage, and Darvish should still have a slight edge over his younger opponents tonight.
Secondary MLB DFS Picks Target: LHP Luis Garcia vs. Detroit Tigers — 3.4 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $43 | FanDuel $8,500 | DraftKings $7,400
One thing we do not have to worry about with Luis Garcia tonight is rain. Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber would be preferred options; however, the game between the Blue Jays and Guardians in Cleveland is the next game standing by to be postponed — if the weather ends up holding off, then look to that duo first on FanDuel, where only one pitcher is required per roster. On Yahoo Gausman ($51) and Bieber ($49) are somewhat expensive as secondary pitchers, though on DraftKings Bieber ($8,700) would be in the conversation, despite the difficult matchup.
Garcia has the privilege of going against an inconsistent Detroit squad that has plenty of strikeout potential. It also has some power, which is a little concerning considering that Garcia has allowed five home runs in just 21.2 innings this year. The $7,400 salary on DraftKings makes him an easy recommendation there — for Yahoo and FanDuel, keep an eye on the forecast before making a final decision to use Garcia as a fallback.
Wild Card MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Chad Kuhl at Arizona Diamondbacks — 3.8 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $40 | FanDuel $9,000 | DraftKings $7,900
Chad Kuhl did flash some talent early in his early days with the Pirates, but he was never able to put it all together. Ultimately, he is a fourth starter who walks a few too many batters and does not have consistent strikeouts. This is his age-30 season, and at this point we know what we are going to get. There is no need to consider him on FanDuel aside from a late-slate tournament dart throw, and he is a neutral option on Yahoo. DraftKings gets a little interesting, as he is $7,900 and in a matchup against a struggling Diamondbacks squad. The Chase Field roof will be open tonight, and while the 95-degree weather will neutralize the humidor, not much can really elevate the Arizona offense. For Kuhl it is all about neutralizing the lefties. If he can navigate the power upside of Dalton Varsho, David Peralta, Pavin Smith and switch-hitter Ketel Marte, he should survive. Half of this quartet would be hard-pressed to find regular at-bats on an average team, so this is not as daunting of a task as it may seem on the surface.
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & Weather Notes for the Friday, May 6 Fantasy Baseball Slate
After a dry day on Thursday, there are several games at risk of being postponed. The afternoon game in Chicago and both of the evening games in New York and Philadelphia have been postponed. The main slate still has above-average precipitation risk in Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati and Cleveland.
