Happy Memorial Day Sunday! May you enjoy a day of baseball.
For today’s DFS article, we’re examining the 11:35 a.m. ET slate on DraftKings, which features nine games. FanDuel has a similar slate as it begins at the same time and includes the same nine games. The difference is that on FanDuel, the slate consists of an additional game between the Colorado Rockies and the New York Yankees.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/25)
- Logan Henderson couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his MLB career. Through three starts, he has a 39% strikeout rate and only a 6.8% walk rate. That makes his strikeout-to-walk rate an absurd 32.2%. That will come down, but it may not be today. The Pirates have the second-worst wRC+ in baseball and are striking out 23.1% of the time.
- After his initial disaster of eight earned runs in 2.2 innings, Bailey Ober has given up a total of 13 earned runs over his next 48 innings. His fly ball tendencies mean that a disaster is possible, but I wouldn’t expect one against Kansas City. The Royals have a hard-hit rate of only 29.6%, which is in the bottom 10 of baseball.
- Bailey Falter is an option if you’re looking to save a few bucks with your starting pitcher. The Brewers’ offense has been dismal this month, with only Falter’s Pirates having a lower wRC+ in May than the Brewers’ 70 mark. They have also struggled against left-handed pitchers all season with only a .608 OPS, which is the sixth-worst mark in baseball.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Chicago Cubs Projected Lineup (5/25)
Happy Memorial Day Sunday! May you enjoy a day of baseball.
For today’s DFS article, we’re examining the 11:35 a.m. ET slate on DraftKings, which features nine games. FanDuel has a similar slate as it begins at the same time and includes the same nine games. The difference is that on FanDuel, the slate consists of an additional game between the Colorado Rockies and the New York Yankees.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/25)
- Logan Henderson couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his MLB career. Through three starts, he has a 39% strikeout rate and only a 6.8% walk rate. That makes his strikeout-to-walk rate an absurd 32.2%. That will come down, but it may not be today. The Pirates have the second-worst wRC+ in baseball and are striking out 23.1% of the time.
- After his initial disaster of eight earned runs in 2.2 innings, Bailey Ober has given up a total of 13 earned runs over his next 48 innings. His fly ball tendencies mean that a disaster is possible, but I wouldn’t expect one against Kansas City. The Royals have a hard-hit rate of only 29.6%, which is in the bottom 10 of baseball.
- Bailey Falter is an option if you’re looking to save a few bucks with your starting pitcher. The Brewers’ offense has been dismal this month, with only Falter’s Pirates having a lower wRC+ in May than the Brewers’ 70 mark. They have also struggled against left-handed pitchers all season with only a .608 OPS, which is the sixth-worst mark in baseball.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Chicago Cubs Projected Lineup (5/25)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Ian Happ |
$4,500 |
$3,300 |
| OF |
Kyle Tucker |
$6,500 |
$4,400 |
| OF |
Seiya Suzuki |
$5,500 |
$3,900 |
| OF |
Pete Crow-Armstrong |
$5,700 |
$3,800 |
| C |
Carson Kelly |
$5,200 |
$3,300 |
| SS |
Dansby Swanson |
$4,900 |
$3,200 |
| 2B/SS (FD) |
Nico Hoerner |
$4,400 |
$2,900 |
| 1B/3B (FD) |
Justin Turner |
$2,700 |
$2,400 |
| 3B |
Matt Shaw |
$3,500 |
$2,500 |
- The Chicago Cubs have an .835 OPS against left-handed pitching this season. The only team with a higher mark is the New York Yankees. Today’s opponent is left-handed pitcher Nick Lodolo.
- Lodolo has a career-low 3.22 ERA. He’s doing that despite a career-low strikeout percentage and career-highs in hard-hit rate and fly ball rate. Therefore, when you examine most of the ERA indicators, they have his true talent ERA being closer to four.
- The Cubs’ offense has been scoring runs in bunches all season and is first in runs scored. It has been hard to go wrong building a lineup around multiple Cubs’ hitters. Start your lineup with Seiya Suzuki, who has been hot recently with two home runs in the past week. He also crushes left-handed pitching to the tune of a 1.250 OPS.
- A similar, if slightly depressed, version of Suzuki is Dansby Swanson. Swanson also has two home runs in the past week. Similar to Suzuki, he also has crushed left-handed pitching to the tune of an .870 OPS.
- If you can find the money, it’s a fine idea to put Kyle Tucker in your lineup as well. Tucker also has two home runs in the past week and has an OPS of 1.017 against left-handed pitching on the season.
Boston Red Sox Projected Lineup (5/25)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Jarren Duran |
$5,000 |
$3,500 |
| 3B |
Rafael Devers |
$4,900 |
$4,100 |
| OF |
Wilyer Abreu |
$4,300 |
$3,100 |
| C |
Carlos Narvaez |
$3,300 |
$2,700 |
| 2B/3B/SS (FD) |
Marcelo Mayer |
$3,000 |
$2,300 |
| SS |
Trevor Story |
$3,600 |
$2,800 |
| 1B
2B/3B/SS (FD) |
Nick Sogard |
$2,600 |
$2,400 |
| 2B/OF (FD) |
Kristian Campbell |
$3,900 |
$2,800 |
| OF/2B/SS (FD) |
Ceddanne Rafaela |
$3,100 |
$2,600 |
- The Boston Red Sox lineup was dealt a tough blow yesterday. Alex Bregman is going to miss significant time with a quad injury. The good news is that they may be the best-equipped team in baseball for dealing with an injury. They were able to call up Marcelo Mayer for his big league debut.
- Today’s Red Sox matchup is against Dean Kremer at Fenway Park. The Red Sox have a .778 OPS at home, sixth-best in baseball. Meanwhile, Kremer has struggled on the road this season. His road ERA is 6.93 with an .891 OPS against on the road.
- Starting your Red Sox stack with Rafael Devers is a good place. He is among the hottest hitters in all of baseball this month with seven home runs and a 1.274 OPS.
- Wilyer Abreu is only playable against a right-handed pitcher, but that is what he gets today. He has an .875 OPS against right-handed pitching. Conversely, against left-handed pitchers, it falls to .664.
- Carlos Narvaez is far from the most noteworthy name in the Red Sox lineup, but he has performed quite well. He has an .837 OPS on the season, including an .809 against right-handed pitching. He has also been better at home with a .961 OPS.
Core Studs
- Brandon Lowe has 14 at-bats against Chris Bassitt in his career. He has seven hits against him, including three home runs.
- Josh Naylor has an .885 OPS against right-handed pitchers this season. That number drops to only .445 against left-handed pitchers. He is opposed by Sonny Gray today, whom he has two home runs against in his career.
- It’s hard to ignore what Cal Raleigh is doing. The switch-hitting catcher already has 17 home runs, including three in the past week. He has a .655 slugging percentage against left-handed pitchers this season. His opponent today is Colton Gordon, who was just recalled from Triple-A.
Value Plays/Punts
- Kris Bubic has been a pitcher to avoid in DFS this season. However, Ty France seems to have his number. He is 8-for-11 against Bubic in his career with three doubles.
- It may just be small sample noise, but Amed Rosario has been great against left-handed pitchers this season, with a .920 OPS. Today’s opposing pitcher is Robbie Ray.
- If you’re looking for a possible explosion day from the backend of your roster, look elsewhere. However, if you want some guaranteed production at the backend of your lineup, consider Chase Meidroth. Meidroth is riding an 11-game hitting streak with multiple hits in six of those games.
Sunday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
Brent Rooker: 1.5 Total Bases — Lower
Brent Rooker is in the middle of a cold stretch and hasn’t exceeded this 1.5 total bases number in nine of his last 10 games. Today’s matchup is against Jesus Luzardo. Rooker has been better this season against left-handed pitchers, but Luzardo has been so locked in that I don’t think Rooker can clear 1.5 total bases.
Aaron Judge: 11.5 Fantasy Points — Higher
While 11.5 is a high mark, this is Aaron Judge. He has hit home runs in both of the games so far at Coors Field. That alone would have him clear this mark. Today’s opposing pitcher is Antonio Senzatela, who has a 7.27 ERA at home and has given up 41 hits at home in just 26 innings.
Will Warren: 6.5 Strikeouts — Higher
We’re sticking in that same Yankees-Rockies game for our last Underdog play. Will Warren has a 29.7% strikeout rate on the season. In May, it jumped to 35%. He is taking on a Rockies team that leads all of baseball in strikeout rate (26.8%).
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