Saturday, May 7, brings an eight-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 baseball content you need for tonight’s slate of games.
MLB DFS Picks Today: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks | Saturday, May 7
Yahoo Stack of the Day: San Francisco Giants vs. LHP Steven Matz — 3.8 implied runs
The best San Francisco Giants hitters are all lefties, however, they have plenty of reserves who will be in the lineup today in order to get as many righties going against southpaw Steven Matz as possible. The Giants are not afraid to move players around the batting order depending on the handedness of opposing pitchers. That creates a nice situation where salary algorithms do not always keep up with hitters moving up or down three or more slots. Mauricio Dubon ($7) and Darin Ruf ($9) are free squares if they are at the top of the order. Austin Slater ($14) and Wilmer Flores ($15) also have had sustained success against southpaws. If Joey Bart ($13) is adjacent to these listed options, he is a nice way to take care of that pesky catcher requirement while also adding to the stack.
Evening Slate: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. LHP Kyle Freeland — 4.5 implied runs
Tonight the Chase Field roof is scheduled to be closed, at least for the first half of the game. That said, Kyle Freeland is still a pitcher to target whenever and wherever he takes the mound. The Diamondbacks are better suited to face right-handed hurlers, but they have enough platoon players and switch-hitters to hold their own against lefties. Jordan Luplow, Ketel Marte, Carson Kelly and Nick Ahmed are the core four when making full-stacks. Luplow is a potential pinch-hit risk when a right-handed reliever comes in the game and both his lofty salary and the high opportunity cost of a first baseman who may only get three or four plate appearances is somewhat concerning – of course all it takes is one swing of the bat and his backers will be grinning from ear to ear. Check out our industry leading MLB DFS projections, created by the top DFS players in the world, as well as our top stacks tool to see how the Diamondbacks stack up against the rest of the hitters on the slate.
Late Slate: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. RHP Josiah Gray — 5.1 implied runs
Clearly the salary algorithms at Yahoo and DraftKings do not think highly of the Nationals pitching staff. It is no surprise that Mike Trout is one of the most expensive hitters on the slate, but so too is leadoff man Taylor Ward. Add in Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Rendon and Jared Walsh and we have a full-stack that will be the envy of other games.
The main impediment to making this a reality of course is that there are quite a few top-tier pitchers in action and deciding between pitching and a Halos stack is going to be a brain teaser. They are also hard to roll out en masse on the late-slate where the priority will be Manaea and Pablo Lopez or Drew Rasmussen as the best pitching options and the cheapest hitters are the ones facing that trio.
Gray does have above average strikeouts with at 25.4% rate across 389 big league hitters. However, he has ceded a .225 ISO to righties and a .281 ISO to lefties which makes most opposing hitters look like All-Stars when they are able to connect. He also have a double-digit walk rate to batters swinging the stick on either side of the plate which is also problematic. Try to have at least a few Angels stacks in your player portfolio on all slates tonight.
Spotlight Pitchers
Top MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Corbin Burnes at Atlanta Braves — 3.5 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $60 | FanDuel $10,900 | DraftKings $10,300
It will be interesting to see how many gamers actually end up rostering Corbin Burnes in Atlanta tonight as the most expensive option in the player pool. Aside from lefty Matt Olson and switch-hitter Ozzie Albies, Atlanta is likely to have a mostly right-handed lineup. In his last 375 matchups against same-handed batsmen, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner has an eye-popping 37.6% strikeout rate while allowing almost no power. There are a lot of strikeouts lurking in the Atlanta lineup and we should be confident about the fantasy prospects of Burnes tonight.
Secondary MLB DFS Picks Target: LHP Sean Manaea vs. Miami Marlins — 3.2 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $42 | FanDuel $9,500 | DraftKings $9,300
This is an interesting matchup for lefty Sean Manaea as the former Athletic will be facing a right-handed heavy Marlins squad. Manaea should be able to be in the mix for the most strikeouts of any pitcher on the main-slate. This season, through five outings he is averaging a strikeout per inning and the projected Miami lineup has a 30.1% strikeout rate against southpaws since the start of last season.
Wild Card MLB DFS Picks Target: LHP Max Fried vs. Milwaukee Brewers — 3.1 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $47 | FanDuel $9,700 | DraftKings $8,900
Tonight will be the sixth time that Max Fried has been on the bump for Atlanta. The 28-year-old is off to a solid start this season while the Milwaukee offense has only been average against southpaws. Since the beginning of last year, Fried has a 52.5% combined groundball rate with a complimentary 23.9% strikeout rate. By limiting flyballs (26.0%) over that time frame, he’s also allowed less home runs or extra-base hits, with a .120 ISO in his last 633 opposite-handed matchups. Pairing Burnes with Fried on DraftKings and Yahoo is an intriguing strategy in what should be a low scoring game.
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & Weather Notes for the Saturday, May 7 Fantasy Baseball Slate
It’s another wet day with early games in Philadelphia and New York already postponed. On the main slate, Baltimore carries the most risk as it is going to be cold and rainy into Sunday. There is a good chance that game is postponed as well, with official news likely coming in around 5:30 p.m. ET.
