As a whole, Monday’s schedule is quite full, but for DFS purposes, the main slate drops two games and brings the total to nine. It’s rare for me to write this, but I actually want to have more options on Monday.
That’s not a good thing. It’s an indication that we have too many matchups filled with uncertainty to make a lineup with which we feel comfortable. And that’s before we factor in the salaries.
As always, there is a way to make the lineup work. It will require some creativity and a different approach between builds on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Check out today’s MLB Grand Slam contest at FanDuel
Monday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
While I always mention the difference in pricing between DraftKings and FanDuel, Monday has an extreme disparity. This is highlighted by the slightly smaller slate, where players' salary ranks are more noticeable. That's the key for Monday: the order in which the pitchers are priced. Both websites list Brandon Woodruff as easily the top-priced pitcher with a large dropoff following him, but that's where the similarities end. It's hard to argue against Woodruff in this matchup, as he will face a Mets lineup that just had an emotional series against its crosstown rivals in the Yankees.
As a whole, Monday’s schedule is quite full, but for DFS purposes, the main slate drops two games and brings the total to nine. It’s rare for me to write this, but I actually want to have more options on Monday.
That’s not a good thing. It’s an indication that we have too many matchups filled with uncertainty to make a lineup with which we feel comfortable. And that’s before we factor in the salaries.
As always, there is a way to make the lineup work. It will require some creativity and a different approach between builds on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Check out today’s MLB Grand Slam contest at FanDuel
Monday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
While I always mention the difference in pricing between DraftKings and FanDuel, Monday has an extreme disparity. This is highlighted by the slightly smaller slate, where players' salary ranks are more noticeable. That's the key for Monday: the order in which the pitchers are priced. Both websites list Brandon Woodruff as easily the top-priced pitcher with a large dropoff following him, but that's where the similarities end. It's hard to argue against Woodruff in this matchup, as he will face a Mets lineup that just had an emotional series against its crosstown rivals in the Yankees.
Monday's Starting Pitcher Strategy
Joe Musgrove follows right behind Woodruff -- on FanDuel, anyway -- and there's also no reason to fade him. DraftKings is a little more skeptical, ranking him behind Dylan Cease and Rich Hill, but I'd be willing to let the Nationals burn me. It's enough of a risk that I wouldn't take the chance in a Cash Game, but Musgrove has the makings of a GPP target on Monday.
With such extreme disconnects at the top of the pitching salary hierarchy, I'm finding myself looking for bargains more than I am trying to justify a high price. The first of these bargains is Kolby Allard. Allard has not been outstanding in basically any start this year, but he has turned in some respectable numbers overall. He has only allowed more than two earned runs twice in his last ten starts, and he has completed five innings in five consecutive games and six innings in each of his last three. He's a decent target at his price in a favorable matchup against the Tigers.
Digging deeper into the bargain bin, Matt Moore and Wily Peralta are both incredibly cheap and have some decent upside. Obviously, they carry plenty of risks as well. If we're looking for some extreme plays, they are two names to consider. With the state of Monday's pitching options, I will almost certainly be swimming in these waters.
Max Fried rounds out the top-six of targets for Monday, and I am admittedly not thrilled with how juicy the matchup appears on the surface. I already wrote about DraftKings downgrading Joe Musgrove, and Fried -- against Pittsburgh -- is even cheaper. There might be something to this. I'd turn to Fried if I really can't find another option -- at this point, I have crossed most of the starting pitchers off my shortlist -- but I wouldn't be surprised if the Pirates were to suddenly surge on offense after scoring exactly two runs in five consecutive games.
Cash Game Recommendations: Brandon Woodruff
GPP Recommendations: Brandon Woodruff, Joe Musgrove, Kolby Allard, Matt Moore, Max Fried, Wily Peralta
Top Lineup Stacks
Phillies
Royals
Angels
View the best player prop bets for today's slate with our MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
Core Studs
How can we start anywhere else besides Shohei Ohtani if we are stacking the Angels? In fact, even if we weren't looking at the Angles as a whole, we would have to identify Ohtani as a potential Core Stud. He's otherworldly right now, and there's simply no way to look at the Los Angeles lineup without Trout and then not pay up for Ohtani.
While Bryce Harper isn't tearing the cover off the ball like the aforementioned Ohtani -- no one is -- he is another critical element to his team's offense. If we're adding Phillies to our own DFS list, then Harper slides in as well. He's been as boom-or-bust as it gets over the last few days, with three home runs in two games and then separate 0-for-4 outings in another two. I'll take the chance with him finding some success against Zach Davies following a hitless Sunday.
For no reason other than the numbers aligning at the right times, I have listed the Royals as team stacks often throughout the duration of this column. Monday brings another opportunity, and I am definitely going to pay for either Carlos Santana or Whit Merrifield. On DraftKings, it's almost impossible for me to fit Merrifield with my pitchers and Ohtani, but I was able to squeeze both into the same build on FanDuel.
Tim Anderson is another FanDuel-only target and, again, it comes down to money. I am not looking for a full stack of the White Sox, but I wouldn't mind some exposure if the price is right. Not surprisingly, that is exactly the case on FanDuel, and I'll gladly buy into the shortstop with 13 hits over the last ten games.
Value Plays/Punts
I wrote about Bryce Harper as a centerpiece for the Phillies' offense, but I have found myself gravitating toward Alex Bohm as well. It's largely because of his price and position eligibility -- I had to move him numerous times when creating Monday's lineup -- but he also ranks nicely in hard hits over the past week. His fantasy numbers have not reflected this, but he's cheap enough and should be involved in a positive setup for Philadelphia against Chicago.
Unless the slate is small -- in this case, it isn't -- I prefer to stack teams by using no more than two players and occasionally a third. Between the Core Studs and Value Plays, I will have four hitters from Kansas City listed. I will not be using all of them in the same lineup. Still, salary restrictions are forcing my hand to the point that I have to find alternatives, and the Royals' undervalued batters are my main targets. Michael A. Taylor had been hitting well before an off-day on Sunday, while Hanser Alberto fills a void in my lineups at a low price.
As I wrote in the Core Stud section, Shohei Ohtani is clearly stealing the spotlight for the Angels, and it is directing the attention away from some of the other hitters on the team. Jose Iglesias hasn't been exceptional, but he is a regular on the team and scored at least seven DraftKings points in four of his last five games. Again, with money as tight as it is, I need to find some inexpensive players to fill some needs.
Zack Collins' numbers on the season are pathetic, but he's a cheap catcher who has been hitting the ball well. He simply hasn't had the results to show for it. That's why I'm buying in on Monday, where it also helps that Chicago's offense should be able to do some damage against Bailey Ober and the Twins.
Monday's Hitter Strategy
I wrote about it a few times throughout this article, but it was difficult to navigate Monday's hitters with the amount of money that I spent on pitching. Granted, I could have gone with cheaper arms, but the combination of Brandon Woodruff and Kolby Allard was not the only culprit. I simply went overboard with expensive hitters.
The lineup on DraftKings is essentially a stack of the three teams I listed earlier, and this puts pressure on those teams to perform well and have success throughout their lineups. Of course, I expect this since I am targeting them, but it leaves little room for error.
The opposite is true on FanDuel. Indeed, I am targeting players from these teams -- as well as using the Core Studs where I can -- but I wasn't forced into Value Plays nearly as much.
In the end, the only feasible way to build lineups for the two websites was through full stacks on DraftKings and a more wide-reaching approach on FanDuel.
Import your team to My Playbook for custom advice all season
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy baseball, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Baseball Tools as you navigate your season. From our Lineup Assistant - which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections - to our Waiver Wire Assistant - that allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and by how much - we've got you covered this fantasy baseball season.
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.