Saturday, April 30, brings a day filled with baseball culminating in a seven-game featured slate with a first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. 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 | Saturday, April 30
Yahoo Stack of the Day: Boston Red Sox at RHP Spenser Watkins — 4.7 implied runs
So far this season, variance and luck have been on the side of Spenser Watkins. Despite seven walks against a paltry five strikeouts, the 29-year-old has a 2.77 ERA. What is missing is the three unearned runs, which nearly double that figure for fantasy purposes. Last year, Watkins had given up on his career and all but retired after two seasons of college ball and another six in the Detroit minor league system before the Orioles called him.
Gamers will be looking to the Yankees, Dodgers and, of course, the Coors Field Extravaganza for offense, which means we could see the Red Sox flying under the radar. Rafael Devers ($20), J.D. Martinez ($19) and Trevor Story ($19) are the trio to target first with Franchy Cordero ($9) in the mix as a salary-relief option or a cheap one-off to be combined with other stacks.
Late Slate: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. RHP Beau Brieske — 5.1 implied runs
This is a tough spot for rookie Beau Brieske, who will be making just his second career start. The 24-year-old had two starts with Toledo prior to his callup, which also was his only action above Double-A as the 2020 minor league season was cancelled due to the pandemic. Brieske has talent, but he lacks seasoning and pedigree as a 27th-round draft pick.
The Dodgers are an embarrassment of riches with three MVP winners and four other All-Stars in their every day lineup. Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy are the top priority from the left side of the plate with Trea Turner, Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Justin Turner the preferred target order for the next handful of options. The Detroit bullpen saw four relievers take the mound Friday combining for 97 pitches and only righties Michael Fulmer and Drew Hutchison, along with lefty Gregory Soto have not seen action in the last 48-hours. Make sure that Los Angeles is well represented in your player pool tonight.
Early Slate: Tampa Bay Rays vs. RHP Chris Archer — 4.5 implied runs
Tampa will be welcoming back old friend Chris Archer, who spent parts of eight seasons the Rays. Injuries derailed the promising career of Archer, who was an elite strikeout artist in his prime. Now, halfway through his age-34 season, he is an innings eater at best. Focus on the Tampa bats with power upside. The primary options will be Brandon Lowe at the leadoff spot and catcher Mike Zunino at the bottom of the order. In between, Wander Franco, Josh Lowe and Kevin Kiermaier are all worthy of our attention. Three- and four-man stacks look like the best approach today.
Spotlight Pitchers
Top MLB DFS Picks Target: LHP Clayton Kershaw vs. Detroit Tigers — 2.6 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $49 | FanDuel $10,500 | DraftKings $10,300
Currently, the Tigers have the second-lowest implied run total of the season in their tough matchup against Clayton Kershaw. While the three-time Cy Young Award winner is no longer at the apex of his powers, he is still one of the 20 best pitchers in the league, and with his loaded lineup behind him, he is always in line for a win. The projected lineup for Detroit has a collective .086 ISO against southpaws with a 24.1% strikeout rate since the beginning of last year. Enjoy!
Secondary MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Nathan Eovaldi at Baltimore Orioles — 3.6 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $42 | FanDuel $8,500 | DraftKings $8,700
The Batters of Birdland are far better against lefties than they are righties. Since the beginning of last year, tonight’s projected Baltimore lineup has an anemic .125 ISO with a whopping 27.6% strikeout rate against right-handed hurlers. Current Orioles have a .186/.230/.252 triple slash line with eight extra-base hits and 28 strikeouts in 96 at-bats against Nathan Eovaldi.
Early Slate – MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Shane Bieber at Oakland Athletics — 3.0 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $51 | FanDuel $10,400 | DraftKings $8,800
On the early slate, Logan Webb and Shane Bieber line up as the two best options. FanDuel is including the 6 p.m. games, so that brings Robbie Ray and Jesus Luzardo into the mix as they face off in Miami. Ultimately Bieber gets the slightest of nods over Webb, which is the result of his 31.7% strikeout rate across his last 492 batters faced with a low .140 ISO. If he can neutralize Jed Lowrie, Sean Murphy and Seth Brown, he should be one of the top scoring options on the slate.
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & Weather Notes for the Saturday, April 30 Fantasy Baseball Slate
Once more, the Midwest looks like our trouble spot. Keep an eye on the games in Chicago and St. Louis, with the former carrying the highest risk of postponement
