Wednesday, Aug. 3, marks the middle of the week with wall-to-wall baseball, culminating in a five-game featured slate with a 7:05 p.m. ET first pitch. 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 (8/3)
Main Slate: Milwaukee Brewers at RHP Tyler Beede — 5.1 implied runs
Yesterday, the Milwaukee lefties came through, with Willy Adames, Rowdy Tellez and Kolten Wong all contributing sixth inning solo shots in a 5-3 loss. Today, we can go back to the well in what is shaping up to be a bullpen game for the Pirates, who will turn to Tyler Beede to handle the first few innings before giving way to a collection of relievers. Though Pittsburgh used four relievers on Tuesday, Monday was an off day, so the arms are reasonably rested for tonight. That said, the Bucs are a bottom-five bullpen in both xFIP and SIERA.
In addition to the aforementioned trio, catcher Omar Narvaez is a strong option on sites that require a backstop. The raw power of Hunter Renfroe, along with the flexibility of Andrew McCutchen, can be mixed into full stacks.
Late Slate: San Diego Padres vs. RHP Chad Kuhl — 5.2 implied runs
Tonight should mark the San Diego debut for Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury. While Luke Voit and Eric Hosmer are now with the Nationals and Red Sox, respectively, Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar and Jake Cronenworth round out a formidable lineup.
But wait, there’s more … Fernando Tatis Jr. is expected to make his season debut in the next week or so, which will elevate the Padres to superteam status. Even the bottom of the order has merit, with Jorge Alfaro, Trent Grisham and Ha-seong Kim likely to feast on good pitches as the “weaker” hitters in the lineup. It looks like the Friars will be mainstays in the Stokastic Top Batters Tool going forward.
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Best MLB DFS Pitchers
Primary Target: RHP Shohei Ohtani vs. Oakland Athletics — 2.8 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $10,000 | FanDuel $11,300
Finally, DraftKings has assigned Shohei Ohtani a semi-appropriate salary for his starting pitcher role. This is the first time since the 2018 season that Ohtani has carried a five-figure salary. However, there is still plenty of profit potential in this matchup against the anemic Athletics offense. Among the available Oakland batters, only Elvis Andrus has more than one hit against Ohtani. Yes, that is a selective statistic, but collectively the A’s have a .105/.217/.129 triple slash line against the Halo hurler, with 14 strikeouts in 44 at-bats. While this is a small sample size, it is also wildly rare to see a slugging percentage lower than an on-base percentage in the triple slash metric. Ohtani has double-digit strikeouts in his last six starts, with an eye-popping 13.1 per nine innings for the season.
Secondary Target: LHP Blake Snell vs. Colorado Rockies — 3.3 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $7,900 | FanDuel $9,100
It is always an adventure rostering Blake Snell, particularly if he is not able to harness his control. Colorado has been a league-average squad against southpaws, though they are not a particularly intimidating bunch, especially with Kris Bryant on the injured list for the third time this season. The salary is favorable on DraftKings, making Snell a priority pairing with Ohtani on the two-pitcher site, and if the electric southpaw is effective, he should be in line for the quality start bonus, which is key on FanDuel.
Additional Opportunities
Kyle Bradish has had a rough rookie campaign, and he is someone to target with the 5.5 over/under on his strikeout prop. The Stokastic MLB Projections have him for 4.7 strikeouts, giving him a 64% probability of failing to surpass his milestone. This season he is striking out just over one batter per inning; however, he has closed out the fifth inning only three times in his 11 starts and only once since Memorial Day. Across 51.1 innings, he has allowed a dozen round-trippers, and today he is facing a Texas squad with enough power to send him to the showers early.
Other Pitching Options
- RHP Charlie Morton vs. Philadelphia Phillies (Very Early)
- RHP Gerrit Cole vs. Seattle Mariners (Early)
- RHP Shane Bieber vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (Early)
- RHP Miles Mikolas vs. Chicago Cubs (Main)
- LHP Julio Urias at San Francisco Giants (Late)
Other Hitting Options
- Lourdes Gurriel at LHP Jalen Beeks (Very Early)
- Corey Seager vs. RHP Kyle Bradish (Early)
- Alex Bregman vs. LHP Rich Hill (Early)
- Paul Goldschmidt vs. LHP Justin Steele (Main)
- Juan Soto vs. RHP Chad Kuhl (Late)
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & MLB Weather Notes
There are storms in the Midwest today, with games in Chicago and St. Louis having a strong potential for a delay or even a postponement. The Cubs and Cardinals play again tomorrow in Busch Stadium, so it would not be difficult to have a Thursday doubleheader. The White Sox and Royals already have a doubleheader scheduled in Kansas City as part of next week’s series, and they have a second makeup game on what was a joint off day on Aug. 22. Definitely keep tabs on the forecasts for these venues as first pitch approaches.
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