Friday follows the usual schedule of a lone afternoon game with the rest of the league playing at night. That means that our main slate is, once again, loaded. Generally speaking, this could lead to Fridays causing intimidation, but this particular slate is more reasonable than we have seen in the past.
We also have a big name at the top of the pitching list, and it’s one that grabs everyone’s attention. The difference between this week and the prior ones is that he is not alone atop the list. There is competition.
Check out today’s MLB Grand Slam contest at FanDuel 
Friday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
Jacob deGrom has been kind enough to sync his starts with my writing schedule, and I’m now able to recommend the sport’s most dominant pitcher, yet again. I won’t revisit the same argument for yet another article, but deGrom is the clear starting point for Friday.
Friday follows the usual schedule of a lone afternoon game with the rest of the league playing at night. That means that our main slate is, once again, loaded. Generally speaking, this could lead to Fridays causing intimidation, but this particular slate is more reasonable than we have seen in the past.
We also have a big name at the top of the pitching list, and it’s one that grabs everyone’s attention. The difference between this week and the prior ones is that he is not alone atop the list. There is competition.
Check out today’s MLB Grand Slam contest at FanDuel
Friday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
Jacob deGrom has been kind enough to sync his starts with my writing schedule, and I’m now able to recommend the sport’s most dominant pitcher, yet again. I won’t revisit the same argument for yet another article, but deGrom is the clear starting point for Friday.
As I mentioned in the introduction, however, he isn’t alone.
The New York Mets’ pitching rotation has been thrown off because of a large number of postponements, and it has left deGrom as the lone ace on a given night more than once. That changes for Friday, as we have the likes of Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow to add to the list. Unfortunately for the latter two, their discount from deGrom isn’t enough to force my hand away from the most expensive pitcher on the slate. Still, we need other options.
In terms of matchups, Sandy Alcantara jumps out as he will face a San Francisco offense that ranks near the bottom of the league in runs scored and strikes out enough to warrant the use of an opposing pitcher. Mike Minor fits this mold as well, and I expect to pair Alcantara and Minor with one of the big three in most of my lineups.
Cash Game Recommendations: Jacob deGrom, Tyler Glasnow
GPP Recommendations: Jacob deGrom, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Sandy Alcantara, Mike Minor
Top Lineup Stacks
Astros
Rockies
Braves
View the best player prop bets for today’s slate with our MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
The Houston Astros were a disastrous 1-9 in the ten games before Thursday’s win over the Angels, but a large portion of that ten-game stretch featured the absence of Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez. They both make my list for Friday as the team tries to climb out of the division’s basement. I have no qualms about using the left-handed Alvarez against a left-handed starting pitcher — provided, of course, that Alvarez is in the starting lineup. Elsewhere, Trevor Story is still without a home run but currently has a higher hard-hit percentage and barrel rate than he did in 2020. I’m buying now before the salary increases further. Freddie Freeman fits the Braves stack, albeit at a ridiculously high price tag, while Bryce Harper gets to play at Coors Field — where he has a career .376 batting average and .624 slugging percentage.
I’m not fully stacking the Angels, Orioles, or Reds, but I want some exposure to those teams if I can find a way. Inexpensive options like those listed in the chart above are exactly how I can add some to my lineup. Pavin Smith and Jonathan India offer some flexibility at extremely low prices, and I found them necessary to fitting some of my key targets.
Friday’s Hitter Strategy
As I continue to write on days in which Jacob deGrom is scheduled to pitch, the most common approach in DraftKings is likely to be the pairing of deGrom with a less expensive SP2. I’m doing the same, and I’m making Sandy Alcantara the centerpiece of both my SP2 lineups on DraftKings and my sole starting pitcher on FanDuel. Doing so with the latter opens the door for an abundance of solid hitters, as the FanDuel pricing remains incredibly forgiving for bats.
In addition, I wrote about how difficult it was to build a lineup with the wide array of options last Friday. That isn’t the case here. Indeed, the full slate opens the door for us to take several different routes, but I found it relatively easy to make decisions based on the stacks and pitchers listed in this column.
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Mario Mergola is a featured writer at FantasyPros and BettingPros and the creator and content editor of Sporfolio. For more from Mario, check out his archive and follow him @MarioMergola.
