This slate looks quite messy outside of the top couple pitching options as we have a bunch of games with weather concerns and a lot of poor pitchers at the lower-end. I’m looking to pay up with at least one of my pitcher spots on DraftKings in GPPs, as it’s hard to count on any of the guys below $10K. These picks are from myself (Tommienation1), but check for updates from Awesemo before lock!
Chris Sale ($12,400 DK/$11,200 FD)
Sale is not going to be a sneaky play by any means, but with the lack of pitching options, he has to be the number one option in all formats today in raw points. Outside of his slate-leading 36% K-rate since the start of 2017, you don’t need much convincing to want to play Sale, but there looks to be some substantial wind blowing in at Fenway today, making this an even better pitching environment. There are a lot of righties here, but only Manny Machado and Adam Jones strike out below league-average against left-handed pitching, so Sale looks like he’s in a great spot to rack up the Ks.
Shohei Ohtani ($11,000 DK/$10,500 FD)
I’m not sure what Ohtani is doing better right now when you compare his hitting to his pitching, but today we’re looking to lock him in the “P” spot on both sites. This year, Ohtani has the league’s best Whiff/Swing% (47.3%) by a decent margin over any other starter in the MLB. He’s been fantastic and just as we said with Garrett Richards yesterday, the matchup may not be perfect against the Royals, but there are some free-swingers at the bottom of the order, and considering it’s a Sunday, we may see a watered-down lineup today. If you’re looking to get in a stud outside of Sale in GPPs, Ohtani makes for a nice option as one of the only guys on this slate with similar upside to Sale.
Dylan Bundy ($7,400 DK/$9,100 FD)
Bundy is a “bet on talent” play today and is certainly not someone I’m looking to play in a cash-game, but as a GPP play, he’s one of my favorites. We get a big discount here because of the matchup against Boston, but the Red Sox rank 7th in Swing% this season, and Bundy has shown some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in the MLB this year (10th-ranked in Whiff/Swing) and as mentioned above in Sale’s section, the weather looks good for pitchers. The 4.2 total for the Red Sox at home is also appealing for Bundy, as they’ve regularly see totals over 5 so Vegas is on board with Bundy being a very good pitcher.