Wednesday marks moving day in MLB as a plethora of teams will be heading to new cities to begin a four-day weekend series. That in turn brings a healthy eight-game early slate starting at 1:10 p.m. ET, followed by a six-game featured slate at 6:35 p.m. ET on DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo. Before you lock in lineups, there are several Stokastic tools that can help identify daily MLB DFS Top Stacks, key pitchers and MLB DFS picks, player projections, and popularity for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups, including RHP Spencer Strider facing the Cincinnati Reds and the Toronto offense against veteran LHP Eduardo Rodriquez.
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MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks
Spotlight Pitchers
Main Slate Primary Pitching Target: RHP Spencer Strider vs. Cincinnati Reds — 2.9 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $9,300 | FanDuel $10,900 | Yahoo $58
Tonight RHP Spencer Strider will be making only the 23rd start of his career, which doubles as the 36th appearance in The Show. He has already found a place in the hearts of DFS gamers with his amazing strikeout upside. He has 220 punchouts across 145 MLB innings, which equates to an absurd 13.66 per nine innings. While that will come down a little as the league becomes more familiar with his offering now that he is a full-time starter, it should normalize at around a dozen whiffs per nine innings.
Since the beginning of last season, the projected Cincinnati lineup has averaged a woeful .280 wOBA, .109 ISO and 29.2% strikeouts against right-handed hurlers. Join The Masses in riding with Strider tonight and find differentiation in the other aspects of roster construction.
Main Slate Secondary Pitching Target: RHP Kevin Gausman vs. Detroit Tigers — 3.3 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $10,100 | FanDuel $11,100 | Yahoo $51
Pitching is loaded on the main slate, and Kevin Gausman is the co-top option with Strider on FanDuel. And with savvy hitting selections, it is possible to craft viable lineups on DraftKings and Yahoo while pairing the two aces together.
Last season Gausman was on the short list for the American League Cy Young Award before falling off the pace among the top-heavy field. He was still impressive in his return to the AL East and managed to post a career-best 1.44 walks per nine innings and a fourth consecutive season with 10-plus strikeouts per nine innings. Though 10 games, Detroit has managed to put only 30 runs across the board, which is among the most futile teams in the league (Kansas City, Miami and Oakland round out this ignominious final four).
MLB Top Stacks
Main Slate Target: Toronto Blue Jays vs. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez — 5.5 implied runs
This season, Toronto has continued to add platoon bats, and the Blue Jays have been mixing and matching their lineups based on the handedness of opposing starters. This has pushed down the salaries for several key hitters now that the DFS algorithms think of them as “part-time” players. Alejandro Kirk, Whit Merrifield, Danny Jansen and Santiago Espinal are the players that DFS gamers can use to create secondary stacks.
Primary stacks, of course, are the core four at the top of the order, with George Springer, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Matt Chapman. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez has already allowed three home runs, along with four walks and just six strikeouts in 10 innings. Either this is bad luck, pitch tipping or the 30-year-old is in the decline phase of life.
Late Slate Target: Texas Rangers vs. RHP Brad Keller — 5.2 implied runs
Currently, the Rangers are averaging six runs per game, which is among the best in the league. That figure will regress, but this trend is worth mentioning since Texas was in the middle of the pack last year. RHP Brad Keller was asked to focus on gaining more strikeouts over the last two seasons, and in challenging hitters, he saw his walk and home run rates elevate dramatically. Over these 61 games, including 48 starts, he had a 5.24 ERA and his per-nine-inning rates were 3.98 walks, 7.31 strikeouts and 1.15 home runs.
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Corey Seager is out with a hamstring issue that could land him on the injured list. However, Marcus Semien, Nate Lowe and Adolis Garcia are strong bats with power upside who should be able to take advantage of Keller. Josh Jung and Jonah Heim can be utilized to round out full stacks.
Early Slate Target: Coors Field Extravaganza – 13.2 implied runs
The Cardinals have a wild 7.5 implied run total against RHP Jose Urena in this game with temperatures in the low-80s and a 10 to 12 mph breeze out to right field. While Urena typically “survives” with his ground ball ways, he has been hammered this season, lasting only five innings across two starts and allowing 10 runs while striking out just one. Load up on all the Redbirds, including the bat boy this afternoon.
The Rockies have a far tougher matchup by comparison against RHP Jack Flaherty. However, the 27-year-old has struggled mightily with his command, issuing an eye-popping 13 walks in 10 innings. Flaherty typically limits power, but any extra-base hits today with what could be crowded base paths may lead to fantasy goodness up and down the Colorado lineup.
Final Thoughts for Wednesday, April 11
The weather continues to cooperate, with no precipitation issues currently in the forecast. Get all the up to the minute analysis on the Stokastic MLB Strategy Show, brought to you by Bet365.
