Officially one week into the 2019 MLB season, there has already been plenty of excitement. Thursday is usually a travel day for clubs, which makes for interesting DFS contests. DraftKings has decided to split the day up into five different slates. Only three games are scheduled in the evening, so this article will break down the entire day. Let’s dive into Thursday’s eight games to find some of the best DFS options.
Check out today’s MLB Pickoff contest at DraftKings 
Pitchers
Trevor Bauer (CLE): $11,300 vs. TOR
Coming off an incredible 2018 season, Trevor Bauer has established himself as one of the league’s most dominant starting pitchers. While his off-field and social-media antics may rub some people the wrong way, he is elite when he toes the rubber and should finish the year in the AL Cy Young Award conversation. It is well known that the Indians starter is a “mad scientist” who constantly works in his lab to learn more about baseball. He has a true five-pitch arsenal and uses each one to generate swing and misses.
Meanwhile, the matchup could not be any better. For some reason, the Blue Jays carry the stigma of a potent offense. This could not be further from the truth. A combination of inexperience and free-swinging hitters leaves them with just a .202 batting average through their first 245 plate appearances. They own a 22.0% strikeout rate to go along with just a 6.9% BB rate. All of this came from two series against the Tigers and Orioles. Now, Toronto will face a legitimate ace who has a full bag of pitch combinations. Bauer should have a ceiling game this afternoon, where double-digit punchouts are expected.
