We have an absolutely perfect six-game slate ahead of us on Monday. This, after my last article included a full 15-game schedule with all 30 teams in action. What a difference a few days make.
I’m not exaggerating when I refer to the six-game schedule as “perfect.” Barring weather concerns that may appear, six games allow us to narrow our player pool and make more concise decisions. It’s also large enough where we don’t need to be too drastic and play a hitter against a pitcher.
Check out today’s MLB Grand Slam contest at FanDuel 
Monday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
Because of how the starting pitching landscape aligned with my past articles, I have been targeting some of the highest-priced arms on a given slate as my SP1. Not this time. Brandon Woodruff is absolutely capable of dominating a game, but I’m not thrilled with him pitching in Milwaukee against a powerful Padres team. John Means is the next-most expensive starting pitcher on both DraftKings and FanDuel, and his potential is boosted by the Minnesota Twins’ high strikeout potential.
We have an absolutely perfect six-game slate ahead of us on Monday. This, after my last article included a full 15-game schedule with all 30 teams in action. What a difference a few days make.
I’m not exaggerating when I refer to the six-game schedule as “perfect.” Barring weather concerns that may appear, six games allow us to narrow our player pool and make more concise decisions. It’s also large enough where we don’t need to be too drastic and play a hitter against a pitcher.
Check out today’s MLB Grand Slam contest at FanDuel
Monday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
Because of how the starting pitching landscape aligned with my past articles, I have been targeting some of the highest-priced arms on a given slate as my SP1. Not this time. Brandon Woodruff is absolutely capable of dominating a game, but I’m not thrilled with him pitching in Milwaukee against a powerful Padres team. John Means is the next-most expensive starting pitcher on both DraftKings and FanDuel, and his potential is boosted by the Minnesota Twins’ high strikeout potential.
Really, I will be making almost all of my lineups from a combination of the first three pitchers shown on the chart above. Each one has its own set of risks, but Frankie Montas will also be pitching against a team that has already been no-hit twice in May. Blake Snell will face the second-lowest scoring offense in play on Monday, and Spencer Turnbull is fresh off his own no-hitter. That last comment is an important one. The DFS community will likely fade Turnbull because the common thought will be that “he can’t do it again.” Indeed, he can’t throw back-to-back no-hitters, but he can turn in another big performance against Cleveland — which is averaging fewer than 4.0 runs per game.
Cash Game Recommendations: John Means
GPP Recommendations: John Means, Frankie Montas, Blake Snell, Spencer Turnbull, David Peterson
Top Lineup Stacks:
Orioles
Tigers
White Sox
View the best player prop bets for today’s slate with our MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
Baltimore leads my list of stacks, and Trey Maninci’s price is through-the-roof compared to his teammates. There’s a reason for it. Mancini has been scorching hot lately with nine extra-base hits over his last ten games. If I’m targeting the Orioles — and I am — then I’m leading with Mancini.
Robbie Grossman fits one of my favorite molds of a player who is likely to be overlooked because of an on-the-surface assessment. Grossman bats left-handed, and Sam Hentges — Grossman’s opponent on Monday — throws left-handed. The easy assumption here is that Hentges will shut down Grossman. Maybe, but if I’m stacking Detroit, then I’m looking for the Tigers’ offense to thrive. The matchup will probably lower Grossman’s ownership percentage, and I’d like to be on the right side of that disconnect. Nolan Arenado follows a similar suit, but not because of the handedness battle. He is hitting against Brandon Woodruff, and that matchup may scare off some DFS players.
While I didn’t list the Cardinals as a stack for Monday, I am pairing Tommy Edman with Nolan Arenado wherever possible. This is a play on the game between the White Sox and Cardinals, as a whole. St. Louis just went nine innings on Sunday Night Baseball before pushing its first and only run across the plate. I’m looking for a much better offensive output by the Cardinals on Monday.
Francisco Lindor remains a top target as he tries to recover from an abysmal start to the season. He’s still clawing at the Mendoza line with his batting average at .194, but I remain bullish for the near future.
Normally, my list of Value Plays is a bit longer, but maneuvering through the pitching options helped me keep some of the more expensive players in my lineup. Still, I’m looking at two inexpensive players from the Tigers, Tommy Pham if he remains in the starting lineup and a mainstay of this column in Nick Madrigal. Madrigal has been a decent way to gain exposure to Chicago’s lineup, even if he doesn’t provide any power.
Monday’s Hitter Strategy
As I wrote in the Value Plays section, I had a little more wiggle room than usual when it came to finding hitters for my lineup, and this was because I shifted through some pitching options. As usual, FanDuel was extremely forgiving in terms of pricing, where I could use John Means with a group of solid hitters. DraftKings forced me to pay up for some of the bats I wanted, but that left with a pitching combination of Blake Snell and Frankie Montas. I was completely fine with it.
Overall, Monday will boil down to the games between the Brewers and Padres and White Sox and Cardinals. In the former, we have the night’s most expensive starter on the mound, where any failure by him opens up the door for others to produce as Monday’s best DFS pitcher. The latter includes Lance Lynn against my mini-stack of the Cardinals and probably the most popular stack of the night in the White Sox.
Again, the six-game slate is perfect as we can see the path to success. Of course, we can also see how it could fail. It’s important to respect both possibilities.
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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.
