Today’s main MLB DFS slates don’t begin until the evening, so make sure you take advantage of the time to check weather reports. We’re getting to the point of the season where storms lead to delays and cancellations. DraftKings’ main slate begins at 7:05 p.m. ET and includes eight games. FanDuel’s main slate is identical.
Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Thursday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/27)
- Logan Gilbert has been a bit erratic at times this season, but he is in the midst of a nice stretch. He’s gone 4-0 in his last six starts with a 1.49 ERA. That comes with 43 strikeouts in only 36.1 innings. His matchup today is against a Guardians team that has really scuffled offensively without Jose Ramirez. In June, they have the second-lowest wRC+ among teams.
- Reid Detmers‘ strikeout stuff means that a high-end outcome is always a possibility. Walks were an issue in his most recent game, with four issued in six innings. That caused him to give up five earned runs. Before that, he was coming off three straight games with at least 40 points scored on FanDuel. Nine of his 16 starts this season have resulted in at least 30 fantasy points on FanDuel.
- If you’re going to take a cheap pitcher, take one with strikeout upside in a good matchup. Jack Perkins has a 27.5% strikeout rate. He doesn’t have enough innings to qualify, but if he did, that would put him inside the top 15 among qualified pitchers. His matchup is against an Angels team with a league-high 25% strikeout rate.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
San Francisco Giants Projected Lineup (6/27)
Today’s main MLB DFS slates don’t begin until the evening, so make sure you take advantage of the time to check weather reports. We’re getting to the point of the season where storms lead to delays and cancellations. DraftKings’ main slate begins at 7:05 p.m. ET and includes eight games. FanDuel’s main slate is identical.
Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Thursday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/27)
- Logan Gilbert has been a bit erratic at times this season, but he is in the midst of a nice stretch. He’s gone 4-0 in his last six starts with a 1.49 ERA. That comes with 43 strikeouts in only 36.1 innings. His matchup today is against a Guardians team that has really scuffled offensively without Jose Ramirez. In June, they have the second-lowest wRC+ among teams.
- Reid Detmers‘ strikeout stuff means that a high-end outcome is always a possibility. Walks were an issue in his most recent game, with four issued in six innings. That caused him to give up five earned runs. Before that, he was coming off three straight games with at least 40 points scored on FanDuel. Nine of his 16 starts this season have resulted in at least 30 fantasy points on FanDuel.
- If you’re going to take a cheap pitcher, take one with strikeout upside in a good matchup. Jack Perkins has a 27.5% strikeout rate. He doesn’t have enough innings to qualify, but if he did, that would put him inside the top 15 among qualified pitchers. His matchup is against an Angels team with a league-high 25% strikeout rate.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
San Francisco Giants Projected Lineup (6/27)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| 2B/1B |
Luis Arraez |
$4,000 |
$3,100 |
| 1B/OF |
Bryce Eldridge |
$3,300 |
$3,200 |
| OF/1B/2B/3B/SS |
Casey Schmitt |
$4,300 |
$3,300 |
| 1B |
Rafael Devers |
$3,600 |
$3,000 |
| OF |
Jung Hoo Lee |
$3,500 |
$3,000 |
| SS |
Willy Adames |
$3,400 |
$2,800 |
| 3B |
Matt Chapman |
$3,800 |
$3,000 |
| OF |
Drew Gilbert |
$2,600 |
$2,400 |
| C |
Drew Cavanaugh |
NA |
NA |
- The Giants have a home matchup today against the Atlanta Braves. While their seasonal numbers haven’t caught back up, the Giants have been a top-five offense by wRC+ in June. The Braves are sending out Bryce Elder to oppose them. Regression has hit hard in his past two starts, with 14 earned runs allowed in 10 innings.
- Casey Schmitt has been one of the preeminent free agent pickups in traditional fantasy baseball leagues. His price has continued to increase throughout the season in DFS contests. While his price looks a bit high, keep in mind that he has 24 extra-base hits, including 13 home runs, against right-handed pitchers.
- One player in the Giants’ lineup who already has proven success against Elder is Willy Adames. He continues to struggle to hit for average, but he does have six home runs in June. He’s also gone 5-for-16 against Elder in his career with four extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs.
- After a scorching stretch earlier in June, Bryce Eldridge has cooled off a bit recently. This matchup could be the one that helps him get back on track. Five of his six home runs have come against right-handed pitchers like Elder. His price on DraftKings is shockingly low.
Los Angeles Dodgers Projected Lineup (6/27)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF/1B |
Shohei Ohtani |
$6,700 |
$4,500 |
| OF |
Andy Pages |
$5,000 |
$3,400 |
| 1B |
Freddie Freeman |
$5,400 |
$3,400 |
| SS |
Mookie Betts |
$4,600 |
$3,000 |
| 3B |
Max Muncy |
$4,700 |
$3,300 |
| OF |
Kyle Tucker |
$4,900 |
$3,200 |
| 2B/OF/SS/3B |
Tommy Edman |
$3,500 |
$2,700 |
| C |
Dalton Rushing |
$3,900 |
$2,700 |
| OF |
Ryan Ward |
$3,100 |
$3,000 |
- The Dodgers’ matchup today is against the San Diego Padres. The Padres are sending Randy Vasquez to the mound. He’s coming off his worst start of the season in terms of earned runs, allowing six in only 3.1 innings against the Rangers. That raised his seasonal ERA to 4.17. His expected ERA is 6.51, suggesting further regression could be in store.
- Stacking Dodgers in your lineup will require a cheaper pitcher. If you can go cheap enough to afford Shohei Ohtani, go ahead and play him. He has seven home runs in June for a 1.173 OPS.
- If you don’t have quite enough money for Ohtani, but still want a high-end Dodgers hitter, look at Andy Pages. He’s cooled off a bit in June, but still leads the National League in RBI. He also has a history of success against Vasquez. It’s only been eight at-bats, but Pages has three hits against Vasquez, and two of them have gone for home runs.
- There are simply not many cheap options in the Dodgers’ lineup, but on DraftKings, Ryan Ward is affordable. He’s viable today since he is a right-handed hitter. He only has 11 hits in his first 51 at-bats, but has made the most of them — seven have gone for extra bases, including three home runs. All of his hits have come against right-handed pitchers.
Core Studs
- Typically, I wouldn’t consider recommending any hitter in this section against a pitcher of the quality of Logan Webb. However, Michael Harris‘ success against Webb should be mentioned. He has gone 7-for-14 against Webb in his career with three extra-base hits, including two home runs.
- William Contreras has a matchup today against a left-handed pitcher in David Peterson. Peterson is making his team debut for the Cubs. Contreras has an .855 OPS against left-handed pitchers this season. He also has an .870 OPS in June.
- Alec Burleson has been one of the best hitters in baseball this season against right-handed pitchers. His matchup today is against righty Ryan Gusto. Only Yordan Alvarez, Bryce Harper, Ben Rice and Nick Kurtz have a better OPS against right-handed pitchers. Only one is available on this slate — Kurtz. His price is considerably more than Burleson’s.
Value Plays/Punts
- Josh Bell is having his best month of the season. So far in June, he has nine extra-base hits, which gives him a .902 OPS. Considering his history against Michael Lorenzen, don’t expect that to stop today. In Bell’s career against Lorenzen, he’s gone 9-for-31 with three extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs.
- Coby Mayo has a matchup today against left-handed pitcher Foster Griffin. Griffin has been good this season, but Mayo is always an option against lefties. He has seven home runs and a 1.111 OPS against left-handed pitchers this season.
- Rookie Cole Carrigg is a switch-hitting outfielder. So far, he has been far better batting from his left side against right-handed pitchers, like he gets today in Mike Paredes. It’s a very small sample size considering that Carrigg has only been in the Majors for 15 games, but he has a 1.147 OPS against right-handed pitchers.
Saturday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
We’re still getting a bit of a discount on Kyle Harrison‘s strikeouts from a couple of games earlier this month, where he had back-to-back starts with four and three strikeouts. One of those games was played in Las Vegas, which can be thrown out given the pitching environment.
Harrison struck out seven batters in his most recent start. He has already faced the Cubs once this season, and he struck out 11 Cubs over seven scoreless innings.
Otto Lopez leads the league in hits with 107. He can clear this number on hits alone. Lopez’s last three games have all been multi-hit games. He’s in the middle of a streak where he has exceeded this number in five straight games.
Steven Kwan has been among the most disappointing batters so far this season. Through his first seasons, he had a career batting average of .284. This season, it has fallen all the way to .211.
Kwan had a two-hit game on June 24th. That’s the only game in his last 11 games in which he has cleared this number. His matchup today is against Logan Gilbert, who is expected to be followed by Emerson Hancock.
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