Thursday, June 9, brings a five-game featured slate starting at 7:05 p.m. ET with a couple of aces and several potential gas cans on the mound. 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 (6/9)
Top Stack: Atlanta Braves vs. RHP J.T. Brubaker — 5.6 implied runs
The Awesemo Stack Tool has Atlanta ranked as the top stack for the main slate, which should be no surprise after they plated 13 runs for the second time in six games and extended their winning streak to eight against the Athletics. J.T. Brubaker is far from the worst pitcher in the league, but he allows above-average power to batters swinging the stick from both sides of the plate. He is particularly susceptible to lefties, with a .240 ISO surrendered in his last 365 opposite-handed matchups.
Matt Olson and switch-hitting Ozzie Albies rise to the top of the list, and both are in play for extra-base hits. Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley and Dansby Swanson can be used to fill out full stacks, with Adam Duvall and his light-tower power being targeted as an excellent one-off option at a bargain salary across the DFS sites.
Late Slate: Baltimore Orioles at LHP Kris Bubic — 4.9 implied runs
Both the Orioles and the Royals have several hitters in the top three at their respective positions in the Awesemo Top Batters Tool. Since we rarely cover the Batters of Birdland in this article, let’s turn the focus on them. Somehow, in his return from being demoted to the minors, Kris Bubic managed to survive against the Astros, logging five scoreless innings despite allowing eight baserunners. Across his last 600 batters faced, Bubic has allowed a .200 ISO with opposite-handed hitters notching a .182 ISO and same-handed batsmen doing their best Babe Ruth impression with a .348 ISO.
Cedric Mullins is likely the lone lefty in the lineup, but as the leadoff man he has a chance to see Bubic three times and is a strong home run candidate. Trey Mancini, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle all have above-average pop against southpaws, along with the platoon advantage. Robinson Chirinos is a perfect punt catcher option if he ends up behind the dish in Kaufmann Stadium tonight.
Turning our attention to the Royals, it stands to reason that Jordan Lyles may allow a long ball or two after leading the league last year, ceding 38 round-trippers. Salvador Perez led the league in home runs and RBIs last year, so it seems like kismet having these two square off tonight. Bobby Witt Jr. and Andrew Benintendi are solid options, along with leadoff man Whit Merrifield.
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Best MLB DFS Pitchers Today
Top Target: RHP Gerrit Cole at Minnesota Twins — 3.4 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $10,400 | FanDuel $10,800
Gerrit Cole has allowed more than three runs only once this season in 11 starts, and he has been one of the better strikeout artists, with 11.3 per nine innings. Of course, there are plenty of rumors about Cole and his reliance on “sticky stuff,” butt (pun intended) if the umpires are going to conveniently ignore the likely prohibited substance on his right back pocket, then we should continue to expect him to be among the strikeout leaders. Cole has a 33.7% strikeout rate over his last 936 batters faced, and the projected lineup for the Twins has a 23.6% strikeout rate against right-handed hurlers across the last season and change.
Secondary Target: LHP Max Fried vs. Pittsburgh Pirates — 3.4 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $9,500 | FanDuel $9,800
Though Max Fried has proven to be an excellent pitcher, he has not been able to post more than an average strikeout rate around 8.3 per nine innings over the last three seasons. He does an outstanding job of limiting power and typically does not make many mistakes, which has led to an enviable 3.26 ERA for his career. Though the Pirates have not been horrible against southpaws, their 89 wRC+ against lefties this year is still in the bottom third of the league and they have average power and the seventh-highest strikeout rate at 24.0%. Atlanta is nearly a 3-to-1 favorite to garner the victory tonight, which bodes well for Fried.
Additional Opportunities
Dylan Bundy has a tough matchup against the Yankees, and while he is hard to consider in DFS, we can look to him in the MLB player props market. Currently, he has a 3.5 over/under on his strikeout prop and the Awesemo MLB Projections have him for 4.3, giving him a 65% probability of surpassing this threshold. Bundy has topped this threshold in four of his last eight starts, and in three of the games where he fell short he still had three strikeouts. Tonight’s projected lineup for New York has a 21.2% strikeout rate over the last two seasons, and the duo of Giancarlo Stanton (28.6%) and Joey Gallo (33.9%) could almost get Bundy over his milestone by themselves.
Adam Scherer’s best DraftKings MLB DFS picks today and low-owned tournament plays.
Other Pitching Options
- RHP Shohei Ohtani vs. Boston Red Sox (Main, Late)
- RHP Nick Pivetta at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Main, Late)
- Konnor Pilkington vs. Oakland Athletics (SP2 only)
One-Off Hitters
- Anthony Rizzo at RHP Dylan Bundy (Main)
- Jose Ramirez vs. RHP James Kaprielian (Main)
- Bryan Reynolds at LHP Max Fried (Main)
- Ramon Laureano at LHP Konnor Pilkington (Main)
- Jared Walsh vs. RHP Nick Pivetta (Late)
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & MLB Weather Notes
Things look good on Thursday, and there do not appear to be any weather concerns worth mentioning related to delays or postponement.
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