MLB DFS Picks Today (5/8/22): Spotlight Pitchers & Top Stacks Sunday

Sunday, May 8, brings a seven-game main slate with first pitch at 1:35 p.m. ET on DraftKings and FanDuel, while Yahoo is going with a six-game featured slate beginning at 4:05 p.m. ET. 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 | Sunday, May 8

Yahoo Stack of the Day: San Diego Padres vs. LHP Trevor Rogers — 4.0 implied runs

San Diego has plenty of right-handed batsmen, which should make this a long or short afternoon for Trevor Rogers, depending on your viewpoint. Rogers has struggled this season, issuing 11 walks with only 18 strikeout in 22 innings across five appearances. Currently he has a 6.15 ERA and 1.50 WHIP, which mirrors his 2020 rookie season. This makes his 2.64 ERA and 1.15 WHIP last year seem like a mirage rather than a breakout campaign. Manny Machado ($25) has a lofty salary, though that can be mitigated with catcher Austin Nola ($10) and switch-hitter Jurickson Profar ($11) if they continue to be in the top half of the order. There is also a chance that Wil Myers ($7) will be activated from the injured list after having completed the minimum 10-day stay for a sore thumb.

Main Slate: Toronto Blue Jays at LHP Konnor Pilkington — 4.4 implied runs

Rookie Konnor Pilkington spent three season in the SEC pitching for Mississippi State before being drafted by the White Sox in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft. He then toiled away in Single-A ball for a couple of seasons before joining the Double-A Birmingham Barons after the pandemic-shortened season. Cleveland acquired Pilkington at the 2021 trade deadline in exchange for middle infielder Cesar Hernandez.

It will be interesting to see if Pilkington can use enough of his secondary pitches to keep the Blue Jays from sitting on his fastball, which is in the low 90s. If he can locate his changeup, there is a good chance he will make it through the order once. After that all bets are off because this is The Show and we have seen countless young lefties destroyed in their debuts by big league hitters.

The Blue Jays will be running out a nearly all right-handed lineup with George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel, Matt Chapman and Bo Bichette creating a six-man gauntlet. If Alejandro Kirk is behind the plate, he is a nice way to shore up the catcher position.

Afternoon Slate: Houston Astros vs. Detroit Bullpen — 5.0 implied runs

Detroit will be going with a bullpen game, and birthday boy Wily Peralta is slated to lead off the parade of pitchers. Houston has the highest implied run total on the slate, so they should be well represented in tournaments. DraftKings did a nice job increasing the salaries of Jose Altuve ($5,000), Alex Bregman ($5,600) and Yordan Alvarez ($5,600). However, FanDuel made it quite easy to load up on the ‘Stros, which in turn makes going in a different direction a savvy tournament strategy.

In addition to the aforementioned trio, look to Kyle Tucker and Yulieski Gurriel, who can hold their own against righties and lefties. Chas McCormick is intriguing as a discount dandy at just $3,000 on DraftKings, as he has been showing signs of power this season. If you do choose to ride with a Houston stack on FanDuel, be sure to have a less popular secondary stack in order to provide differentiation from the field. Oakland or Milwaukee would certainly fit the bill.

Spotlight Pitchers

Top MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Gerrit Cole vs. Texas Rangers — 2.8 implied runs

  • DFS Salary: Yahoo N/A | FanDuel $10,000 | DraftKings $10,000

The weather is definitely in Gerrit Cole’s favor today, as game-time temperatures will be in the low 50s with a 12 to 15 mph breeze coming in from center field. The Rangers dramatically improved their offense over the winter, bringing in Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Brad Miller, Mitch Garver and Kole Calhoun. However, they rank 20th or lower in runs, home runs, extra-base hits, average, on-base percentage and slugging. Texas has been somewhat disciplined when it comes to strikeouts, but there should be enough in the lineup for Cole to be one of the better options in the player pool. Through five starts Cole is averaging just over a strikeout per inning while ceding just three home runs and seven total extra-base hits.

Wild Card MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Jake Odorizzi vs. Detroit Tigers — 3.1 implied runs

  • DFS Salary: Yahoo N/A | FanDuel $7,000 | DraftKings $7,600

If the weather holds in Minnesota, Chris Paddack is also in play against an anemic Oakland squad. However, the sure thing will be Jake Odorizzi against a less-than-imposing Detroit team. The Tigers projected lineup has a 25.3% strikeout rate against right-handed hurlers and an average .160 ISO. Odorizzi tends to live on the edge with an elevated fly ball rate, and his strikeout stuff has been in decline for the last few seasons. However, he is better than his 12 strikeouts in 21.2 innings this season, and the backing of the Astros offense should have him in line for a victory if he is able to complete the fifth inning this afternoon.

One way to hedge our DFS lineups is to look to the MLB player props market. Today Odorizzi has a 4.5 over/under for his strikeout prop and the Awesemo projections have him for 3.9, which means that the under has a 67% chance of success. Putting a few bucks on Odorizzi to have less than five strikeouts is a nice way to cover all the bases from a betting and DFS perspective.

Late Slate MLB DFS Picks Target: Joe Musgrove vs. Miami Marlins — 3.1 implied runs

  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $52 | FanDuel $10,000 | DraftKings $9,800

Last night Miami plated eight runs after scoring five in the top of the ninth inning against the San Diego bullpen, courtesy of a Jorge Soler grand slam. Today the Marlines will be facing hard-throwing righty Joe Musgrove which will be quite the departure from Saturday’s starter Sean Manaea who is a southpaw. The back half of the Miami lineup is unimposing, and collectively they project for a 25% strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers.

Final MLB DFS Thoughts & Weather Notes for the Sunday, May 8 Fantasy Baseball Slate

Today only the game in Minnesota has above-average precipitation risk. However, with all of the weather postponements of the last two days, Sunday has a mishmash of doubleheaders and oddball start times. Be sure you know which players will be included from their respective games in your Sunday contests.

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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