Friday, Aug. 27, has every team in action on the main slate as well as solid evening and late slates. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks for pitchers and stacks for Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy baseball lineups.
MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks, Friday, Aug. 27
Yahoo Stack of the Day: Philadelphia Phillies vs. RHP Taylor Widener – 5.6 implied runs
Gamers are going to be flocking to the Blue Jays, Red Sox and the Rays if the weather cooperates. This should have the Phillies a little under the radar. Taylor Widener has had a series of uneven performances all season. Over his last six games, he has ceded five runs three times and allowed multiple home runs twice. Opposite-handed hitters are the bane of his existence, with lefties recording a .301 ISO over their last 159 opportunities.
Bryce Harper ($27) is carrying one of the highest batter salaries on the slate, but this is an elite matchup in which he profiles well. Fellow lefties Didi Gregorius ($10) and Brad Miller ($7) both have above-average power in lefty/righty matchups and their salaries make it easy to work Harper into any roster construction. Most gamers tend to shy away from allocating much of their salary cap to catchers, which makes J.T. Realmuto ($17) an intriguing play. He has an elite .200 ISO over his last 400 at-bats against righties. Odubel Herrera ($16) and Jean Segura ($12) are in the next tier of Phillies, and they can be utilized to make a full stack.
Evening Slate
Houston Astros at RHP Glenn Otto — 5.6 implied runs
Tonight rookie Glenn Otto will be making his MLB debut in a tough draw against the Astros. He is around No. 25 in the Rangers’ farm system, and he is expected to have a role as a reliever with a shot at making the back of the rotation. This season was the first where Otto had the opportunity to pitch at the Double-A level, and he had four starts with Triple-A Round Rock after joining the Rangers at the trade deadline.
Alex Bregman (quad) returned in style on Wednesday, with a double and another hit after missing 10 weeks. Kyle Tucker is also back from the health and safety protocol, which means Houston is finally back at full strength. It currently leads MLB with a 118 wRC+ against righties, which means they are creating runs 18% more efficiently than league average. In addition to Bregman and Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa are also viable, and Yuli Gurriel is leading the American League with his .316 average. There are many ways to construct an Astros stack, even with the evening set.
Late Slate
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. LHP Kyle Freeland — 5.3 implied runs
This matchup is not a gimme, as Kyle Freeland has a 2.88 ERA and only four home runs allowed over his last nine starts, spanning 53 innings. However, he has a long track record, and gamers should not shy away from targeting against him with the Dodgers.
Max Muncy is expected to return to the lineup after missing a game with back spasms, and he does an excellent job in same-handed matchups. Trea Turner and Mookie Betts will likely be joining him at the top of the lineup, and they are tremendous options. While most Dodgers are expensive, Justin Turner is a steal at $13 on Yahoo. Also, lesser options such as catcher Will Smith and noted lefty crushers Chris Taylor and A.J. Pollock will be underrepresented in tournaments due to the difficulty of making full Dodgers stacks on this slate.
Spotlight Pitchers
Top MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Joe Musgrove at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — 3.5 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $43 | FanDuel $9,200 | DraftKings $9,600
Joe Musgrove had allowed two or fewer runs five times over his last six starts. In this stretch, the strikeouts have been solid at 10.5 per nine innings. With Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon sidelined, as long as Musgrove can negotiate Shohei Ohtani and Jared Walsh, the back half of the lineup for the Angels is pedestrian at best. Home runs should not be catastrophic since chances are the bases will be empty when they happen.
Secondary MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Aaron Nola vs. Arizona Diamondbacks — 3.3 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $42 | FanDuel $10,000 | DraftKings $10,200
The only concern with Aaron Nola tonight is that there is going to be a weather system bringing precipitation to the stadium in the later innings. Keep an eye on how things are developing closer to lock to determine the acceptable level of risk. If Nolan can go six or seven innings against the anemic Diamondbacks, he could be the top-scoring pitcher of the slate. The big risk is that he may only go a couple of innings.
Wild Card MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Jake Odorizzi at Texas Rangers — 4.0 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $37 | FanDuel $7,700 | DraftKings $6,700
Jake Odorizzi is most appealing tonight on DraftKings as a complementary pitcher who offers a substantial salary discount. He is in play to a lesser extent on Yahoo, though outside of the main slate, he rockets up the ranks on that site. FanDuel is the one site that awards points for quality starts, and unfortunately, Odorizzi has only closed out the sixth inning in two of his last 11 appearances. They key to this recommendation is that the Rangers are a bottom-five squad by most traditional and advanced statistics when facing right-handed pitchers.
Final Thoughts for the Friday, Aug. 27 MLB DFS Picks Slate
Keep an eye on the weather in the Midwest (Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota) and the East Coast (Atlanta, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia). This should be an exciting day with a handful of aces and some pitchers that would be better suited for batting practice.
