Tuesday, May 24, brings a solid 12-game slate with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET and there are plenty of riddles to ponder. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks today for pitchers and stacks for DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy baseball lineups.
DraftKings & FanDuel MLB DFS Picks Today (5/24)
Top MLB DFS Stack of the Day: Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington Nationals — 5.2 implied runs
Clearly, the Yankees are once again in a nice spot against a pedestrian Orioles pitcher and they are a top stack. However, instead of covering them yet again, we can look to another common recommendation in the Dodgers. Los Angeles is in Washington tonight and the Nationals have a pitching staff that is nearly as bad as their Beltway counterparts in Baltimore.
Josiah Gray does have promise with flashes of brilliance averaging just over a strikeout per inning this season. The tradeoff is a plethora of power. Thus far, the 24-year-old is allowing 1.86 home runs per nine innings which likely will result in him leading the league if he sees more than 30 starts. Lefties have gotten to him for a .330 ISO, which is close to batting practice level, while same-handed batsmen are having fun as well with an elite .212 ISO.
In addition to their three former MVPs, the Dodgers have four other All-Stars in their everyday lineup, which is loaded with power from both sides of the plate. Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Justin Turner and Will Smith are the core four power options and of course, former National Trea Turner is right there as well. Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor round out a loaded outfield and this is looking like a daunting series for Washington.
Late Slate: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. RHP Jon Easley — 5.0 implied runs
Tonight, Jonathan Heasley will be making his third start this season and sixth career start in The Show. This year in 8.1 innings, he has seven walks and only two strikeouts. For his career spanning 23 big league innings, he has only eight strikeouts with 10 walks and 11 extra-base hits. How is a pitcher barely averaging a punch-out once every three innings going to survive?
Heasley has allowed a .196 ISO to lefties and a .200 ISO to righties, so we will definitely want to look at the one-two combination of Dalton Varsho and Christian Walker. David Peralta, Ketel Marte and even Pavin Smith can be used to round out full-stacks. The Chase Field roof is scheduled to be closed tonight, though this is a rare matchup where the Diamondbacks deserve some love on the main-slate as well as the late-slate.
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Best MLB DFS Pitchers Today
Top MLB DFS Target: RHP Corbin Burnes at San Diego Padres — 3.1 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $10,100 | FanDuel $10,600
Coming off his Cy Young season, 27-year-old Corbin Burnes continues to operate at the apex of his powers. Do not let the 1-2 record fool you, Burnes has had quality starts in five of his last six appearances and he is second among starters with an 0.83 WHIP and 11th with a 2.26 ERA. The cherry on top for DFS gamers is the 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings, which is tied with Gerrit Cole and just outside the top five. San Diego will do their best to get in as many lefties as possible, but do not let Jake Cronenworth, Eric Hosmer, Jurickson Profar, Trent Grisham and Robinson Cano dissuade you from rostering Burnes, who has a wicked 34.0% strikeout rate in his most recent matchups against 415 opposite-handed batters.
Secondary MLB DFS Target: RHP Sonny Gray vs. Detroit Tigers — 3.1 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $8,200 | FanDuel $6,800
Similar to Marco Gonzales yesterday, the DraftKings salary algorithm has provided a 20% discount on Sonny Gray in his matchup against Detroit. This is going to make him one of the more popular pitching options, though as we saw with Gonzales, they still have to play the games. This will be the fourth start for Gray since returning from a three-week layoff due to a hamstring injury. In his three starts, he threw 66, 82 and 84 pitches totaling 14.1 innings with an impressive 20 strikeouts facing Oakland twice and Cleveland once. The Tigers offense is no better than those squads, which brings us back to Gray being one of the better fantasy options on the board and one of the best on DraftKings.
Additional Opportunities:
While Pablo Lopez is only on the early slate for DFS contests, we can look to him in the MLB player props market in Tampa Bay against the Rays. He has an over/under on his strikeout prop of 5.5 and the Awesemo player projections have him with a very respectable 7.3 for this matchup. That gives him a 75% probability of reaching the over. Through eight appearances, Lopez has surpassed this milestone five times. Since the beginning of last season, tonight’s projected Rays lineup has struck out nearly 25% of the time against right-handed hurlers. Enjoy!
Other Pitching Options:
- Shane McClanahan vs. Miami Marlins (early)
- Tyler Mahle vs. Chicago Cubs (early)
- Walker Buehler at Washington Nationals (main)
- Framber Valdez vs. Cleveland Guardians (evening)
- Chris Bassitt at San Francisco Giants (late)
One-Off Hitters:
- Austin Hayes and Trey Mancini at LHP Jordan Montgomery (main)
- Max Kepler vs. RHP Beau Brieske (main)
- Jared Walsh vs. RHP Dane Dunning (late)
- Jesse Winker and Julio Rodriguez vs. James Kaprielian (late)
- Brandon Nimmo at RHP Logan Webb (late)
Final MLB DFS Thoughts &Â MLB Weather Notes
Atlanta is likely to see late inning rain, which would also be heavy enough to cause issues if it arrives earlier than the current forecast. St. Louis is looking at rain around midnight, which should give a reasonable window for that matchup to finish without issues. Washington is seeing sprinkles throughout the day and while it is on the cooler side, there does not appear to be any postponement risk.
[MLBPAGE]
