Wednesday, June 8, brings some early action on “getaway” day, culminating in a solid 10-game featured slate starting at 7:05 p.m. ET. 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 (6/8)
Top Stack: Atlanta Braves vs. LHP Jared Koenig — 5.6 implied runs
The Awesemo Stack Tool is showing the love for Atlanta as they get ready to square off against 28-year-old Jared Koenig in his MLB debut. Koenig has been a baseball nomad, having been a 35th-round selection in the 2014 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox. Koenig was not offered a contract, so he embarked on a college career that saw him spend time with Central Arizona College, Old Dominion and California State University. After that adventure, he spent the next three seasons pitching for five different teams in various independent leagues prior to the pandemic. In 2021, Oakland gave him a chance after seeing him pitch for Auckland in the Australian Baseball League in his age-27 season. Last year, he pitched in 24 games for Double-A Midland. This year, he received a promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas, where he has demonstrated just enough to get a cup of coffee in The Show.
Atlanta should feast on Koenig, as he does not have any magical pitches and the hometown team boasts a bevy of right-handed bats. Ronald Acuna, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies are the trio to target at the top of the lineup. If Dansby Swanson joins them in the front half of the order, then he is an intriguing play as well. Swanson has a $5,200 salary on DraftKings, which should help keep his popularity in check, providing some differentiation within the stack. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud was hit by a pitch on his left forearm on Sunday, but he is likely begging to be in the lineup today for this matchup. Finally, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson are both worthy of a look in stacks or as one-offs for their historical success against lefties.
Evening Slate: Los Angeles Dodgers at RHP Johnny Cueto — 4.9 implied runs
Veteran Johnny Cueto has been getting by with smoke, mirrors and a gigantic horseshoe in his back pocket. Somehow, the 36-year-old right-hander has allowed only one home run through four starts, though cracks are starting to show. His funky delivery is not going to fool the Dodgers, who saw plenty of Cueto while he was plying his trade for the NL West rival San Francisco Giants. It should be no surprise that several Dodgers are in the top five for their respective positions in the new Awesemo Top Batters Tool.
Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Justin Turner are the core four at the top of the lineup. Chris Taylor and Will Smith are steady options, and even Cody Bellinger could be worth a look in this matchup as a differentiation option. Yes, the 2019 National League MVP has been in what feels like a years-long slump since winning that hardware, but he has had some success against Cueto in the past and confidence can be a wonderful elixir for hitters struggling at the plate.
Late Slate: Boston Red Sox at LHP Reid Detmers — 4.9 implied runs
Rookie Reid Detmers has been very pedestrian outside of what was a fortuitous no-hitter one month ago. In that gem, he had two strikeouts while the defense backed him up with 11 ground ball and 14 fly ball outs. Across three subsequent starts spanning 14 innings, he has allowed four home runs, issued half a dozen walks and struck out 11 batters. This works out to a 5.14 ERA with a 1.35 WHIP and a great spot to look to Boston on both the main and late slates.
Trevor Story has been on a tear, and over his last 190 at bats against southpaws he has an elite .395 wOBA and .314 ISO. Bobby Dalbec also has light-tower power (.270 ISO) against lefties, and if he does not get a boost up the batting order, gamers are likely to skip him yet again. Keep in mind that home runs from the back of the lineup provide the same number of fantasy points as they do when hit by the heart of the order. Enrique “Kike” Hernandez should be at the top of the lineup, and with his sustained success against southpaws, he is looking like a steal on both FanDuel ($3,000) and Yahoo ($14).
Of course, we can focus on the stalwarts such as J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts, but that is a given. Rafael Devers can more than hold his own in lefty/lefty matchups, and with the Halos using left-handed reliever Jose Quijada yesterday, Aaron Loup is the only other southpaw in the pen. Finally, Christian Arroyo is a discount dandy locked into the tail of the lineup who is capable of getting under a Detmers offering and knocking it out of the yard. He makes for a nice pairing with Dalbec if they continue to be adjacent in the batting order.
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Best MLB DFS Pitchers Today
Top Target: RHP Ian Anderson vs. Oakland Athletics — 3.4 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $6,400 | FanDuel $7,700
Typically someone who has had a season like Ian Anderson would not be our featured top target. However, a combination of his rock-bottom salary against his underlying talent combined with a tremendous matchup have him as one of the best point-per-dollar options in the player pool on both DraftKings and FanDuel tonight.
If you are not a fan of Anderson, or the weather risk increases in Atlanta, then Shane Bieber (weather, decreased velocity) against Texas or Corey Kluber (good park, facing a lot of same-handed hitters) would be the next-best pitchers in addition to those on the list below.
Oakland currently is at the bottom of the league with a 74 wRC+ against right-handed pitching, which means they are scoring 26% less efficiently than league average. They have a top-10 strikeout rate (23.1%) and their .111 ISO is the third worst in all of the land against righties. Though Anderson has allowed four home runs in his last two starts, his last game was in Coors Field and he still managed 15 strikeouts in 11.2 innings during this span. Enjoy the discount and hang on for a wild ride tonight!
Wild Card Target: RHP Dane Dunning at Cleveland Guardians — 3.4 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $6,700 | FanDuel $8,800
Dane Dunning has the perfect SP2 salary for DraftKings, and while he is trending to be on almost one-third of all lineups, the savings he provides can be used to obtain lineup differentiation elsewhere. The 27-year-old righty has been a pleasant surprise for the Rangers taking the mound every five days and keeping them in a position to win games. Clearly, that is not Dunning’s fault, as he has allowed three or fewer earned runs in nine of 11 starts. The strikeouts have been solid, and he is averaging right around one per inning while also inducing his fair share of ground balls. Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez are the only bets that are likely to give him any issues. If the weather cooperates as expected, Dunning is a solid play in all formats as an SP2.
Awesemo’s team of MLB experts analyze the 10-game slate tonight and give you the best MLB DFS picks today.
Early Target: RHP Sandy Alcantara vs. Washington Nationals — 2.9 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $9,200 | FanDuel $11,200
For the early evening action, Sandy Alcantara is the clear standout pitcher with an above-average matchup against Washington. On the season, the 26-year-old has a 1.81 ERA (10th), 0.98 WHIP (15th) and 71 strikeouts (10th). The Nationals have scored two or fewer runs in eight of their last 18 games, and if we remove a fortuitous home series against the Rockies, that ratio gets worst for Washington with seven-of-14 games of two or less runs. Alcantara has ceded only one home run and five earned runs in his last six appearances. This is an apex salary, but well worth it when looking at the alternative option on the early slate.
Additional Opportunities
Marcus Stroman is in play as an SP2 for DFS tournaments, but we definitely 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 5.1, giving him a 78% probability of surpassing this threshold. In six of his last eight starts, Stroman has at least four strikeouts and the projected Baltimore lineup has 24.6% strikeout rate against right-handed hurlers since the beginning of last season.
Other Pitching Options
- RHP Jose Urquidy vs. Seattle Mariners (Early)
- LHP Nestor Cortes Jr. at Minnesota Twins (Main)
- RHP Nathan Eovaldi at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Main SP2, Late)
- RHP Tony Gonsolin at Chicago White Sox (Evening)
- RHP Chris Bassitt at San Diego Padres (Late)
One-Off Hitters
- Jazz Chisholm and Jorge Soler vs. RHP Josiah Gray (Early)
- New York Yankees at RHP Chris Archer (Main)
- Cedric Mullins vs. RHP Marcus Stroman (Main)
- Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber at RHP Adrian Houser (Evening)
- C.J. Cron and Connor Joe at LHP Alex Wood (Late)
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & MLB Weather Notes
For the third consecutive day, there are some precipitation risks in the Midwest. Keep tabs on Cincinnati and Cleveland, which have the highest chance of seeing an impact. Baltimore could be impacted by potential microbursts, which have already kicked off flashflood warnings in the DC metro area from the late-afternoon into the early-evening hours. Finally, there are scattered showers in Atlanta, though the forecast could change closer to first pitch.
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