Welcome to Friday, Sept. 4, in MLB! We have a plethora of starting pitcher options on tonight’s nine-game slate, ranging from the extremely expensive to cheap. The following FREE MLB DFS picks for fantasy baseball lineups are based on Awesemo’s MLB Projections for today’s MLB DFS fantasy baseball slate on DraftKings. For more free DraftKings MLB picks and analysis for DFS baseball lineups, check out the Awesemo.com YouTube Channel for today’s MLB Strategy Show, Deeper Dive and Live Before Lock Shows.
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Top Value Plays
Yu Darvish – Cubs vs. Cardinals – FanDuel $11,200, DraftKings $11,000
Darvish is the top pitcher on tonight’s slate, and it’s not all that close. While he’s always a bit risky, there’s no denying the level Darvish has been on in 2020. Darvish has been nothing short of elite since the last month of 2019, striking out over 12 batters per nine with a 2.02 xFIP. It all comes down to the mental game for Darvish as there are few better in the game when he’s in a rhythm. He faced this same Cardinals team a few starts ago and went six innings with seven strikeouts. It wasn’t a perfect showing for Darvish, and he battled through a start where his stuff wasn’t all the way there. He also struck out 13 Cardinals at the end of last season, so we know the matchup is no worry.Â
The Cardinals rank middle of the road against right-handed pitching and strike out close to 22% of the time. With that being said, this game won’t come down to the Cardinals. It all comes down to how Darvish is feeling and whether or not he has the baseball working for him that day or not. The Cardinals are by no means a powerhouse offense, and they’ve been shut down by worse righties than Darvish. I love deploying Darvish in all formats and currently have close to 75% on both sites.
Awesemo FanDuel Grade: A, C
Awesemo DraftKings Grade: A, D
Dustin May – Dodgers vs. Rockies – FanDuel $7,000, DraftKings $8,700
We always want to pick on the Rockies when they leave Coors Field, and we’ll get a perfect opportunity to do so tonight with Dustin May. May has seen his price rise on both sites, and not for great reason. He also struck out just one Rockie and put up 15 FanDuel points in this identical matchup a few weeks ago. That should keep the masses away and the ownership down. The Rockies are implied to score just over three runs tonight by Vegas and the Dodgers are huge -250 favorites.
On the road, the Colorado Rockies rank dead last with a .275 team wOBA and 24% strikeout rate. It’s a bit of a tangent, but it’s interesting to listen to Charlie Blackmon in his podcast talk about just how difficult it is to adjust on the road after a long home-stint. That’s exactly what we’re looking at tonight, and everything May throws is going to look that much sharper and move that much more. It’s hard to trust a guy that’s dropped the ball in the identical matchup, but this is baseball and we have to grasp how little one start really means. May is a great play in all formats at his price, and I’ll be over the field across the board.
Awesemo FanDuel Grade: D, C
Awesemo DraftKings Grade: C, E
Yusei Kikuchi – Mariners vs. Rangers -FanDuel $6,300, DraftKings $5,700
If you’re looking to pay down at starting pitcher, Kikuchi is a great way to go in all formats. He’s been over 30 FanDuel points in two of his last four starts and sees his best matchup yet of the season. The Rangers rank 29th against left-handed pitching and they strike out a monstrous 26% of the time. Kikuchi won’t go over 100 pitches in any case, but he should sit around 85 to 95 and get through five to six innings. The Mariners are slight favorites over Texas, which says a lot. Kikuchi is an excellent value in both formats, and I’d be comfortable deploying him as an SP1 on tournaments or an SP2 on DraftKings in cash.
Awesemo FanDuel Grade: C, A
Awesemo DraftKings Grade: C, A
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