Be very careful if you’re playing MLB DFS today. With the trade deadline looming, you have to be vigilant, as lineups can change in an instant. Just yesterday, we saw Casey Mize get scratched early from his start to preserve his health.
The DraftKings main slate begins at 7:05 p.m. ET with 10 games. FanDuel’s Main slate is identical.
Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (8/1)
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto continues to be one of the most reliable starting pitcher options when he is available for a slate. If you play on FanDuel, 15 of his 19 starts this season have resulted in at least 30 points. He has yet to have a month this season where his ERA even reached 3.00. His matchup today is against the Red Sox.
- Jose Soriano is a pitcher you have to be careful of for this MLB DFS slate. There is a legitimate chance he is traded or skipped to preserve his health. If he does make this start, July was his best month since that phenomenal start in April —2.74 ERA and 2.88 FIP over 23 innings.
- David Peterson has had one disastrous start out of five since joining the Cubs. In his other four starts, he has pitched 23 innings with five earned runs. Of course, we would like more strikeouts, but that’s why he is so affordable. Peterson has a matchup against the Yankees, which is surprisingly a bottom-three offense in July by wRC+.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Texas Rangers Projected Lineup (8/1)
Be very careful if you’re playing MLB DFS today. With the trade deadline looming, you have to be vigilant, as lineups can change in an instant. Just yesterday, we saw Casey Mize get scratched early from his start to preserve his health.
The DraftKings main slate begins at 7:05 p.m. ET with 10 games. FanDuel’s Main slate is identical.
Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (8/1)
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto continues to be one of the most reliable starting pitcher options when he is available for a slate. If you play on FanDuel, 15 of his 19 starts this season have resulted in at least 30 points. He has yet to have a month this season where his ERA even reached 3.00. His matchup today is against the Red Sox.
- Jose Soriano is a pitcher you have to be careful of for this MLB DFS slate. There is a legitimate chance he is traded or skipped to preserve his health. If he does make this start, July was his best month since that phenomenal start in April —2.74 ERA and 2.88 FIP over 23 innings.
- David Peterson has had one disastrous start out of five since joining the Cubs. In his other four starts, he has pitched 23 innings with five earned runs. Of course, we would like more strikeouts, but that’s why he is so affordable. Peterson has a matchup against the Yankees, which is surprisingly a bottom-three offense in July by wRC+.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Texas Rangers Projected Lineup (8/1)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF/1B |
Joc Pederson |
$3,000 |
$2,900 |
| OF |
Wyatt Langford |
$4,700 |
$3,600 |
| SS |
Corey Seager |
$4,900 |
$3,100 |
| OF |
Brandon Nimmo |
$3,600 |
$3,000 |
| 3B/SS/1B/2B |
Ezequiel Duran |
$3,800 |
$3,100 |
| OF |
Evan Carter |
$2,900 |
$2,700 |
| 1B |
Jake Burger |
$3,400 |
$3,000 |
| SS/2B/3B |
Nicky Lopez |
$2,500 |
$2,400 |
| C |
Elias Diaz |
$2,600 |
$2,500 |
- The Texas Rangers have a matchup against Ronel Blanco. He’s made two starts since returning from Tommy John surgery, with home runs and walks both problems. Blanco has allowed four home runs and issued six walks in just 10 total innings.
- The updated numbers on Wyatt Langford since returning from injury in early June are 25 runs, 11 home runs, 26 RBI, four stolen bases and a .297 batting average. That comes with a .918 OPS. Unfortunately, that’s only a 38-game sample size, as he had another injured list (IL) stint in the middle of the period. As long as Langford is healthy, he is performing like a .900 OPS bat.
- Jake Burger is much more of a tournament play than someone you want in a cash game or a traditional fantasy lineup. A 46% hard-hit rate and 25.9% pulled air rate show that he can hit at least one home run in any game. Just be aware that a 27% strikeout rate also means that he could get you nothing.
- I keep saying that whenever you see a right-handed pitcher against the Rangers, you have to consider Joc Pederson at these prices. Pederson has an .875 OPS against righties over 260 at-bats. Twenty-nine of his 33 extra-base hits have come against right-handed pitchers.
Atlanta Braves Projected Lineup (8/1)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| C |
Drake Baldwin |
$5,100 |
$3,600 |
| OF |
Ronald Acuna Jr. |
$5,600 |
$3,700 |
| 1B |
Matt Olson |
$4,900 |
$3,800 |
| OF |
Michael Harris II |
$4,500 |
$3,300 |
| 2B |
Ozzie Albies |
$4,200 |
$3,200 |
| OF |
Mauricio Dubon |
$3,200 |
$2,700 |
| OF/2B/3B/SS |
Mike Yastrzemski |
$2,700 |
$2,500 |
| 3B |
Austin Riley |
$3,800 |
$2,800 |
| SS |
Jim Jarvis |
$2,900 |
$2,600 |
- Miles Mikolas is taking on the Atlanta Braves today. He has an ERA of 5.65, which is right in line with his 5.20 expected ERA and 5.66 FIP. It’s very hard to have success in the Major Leagues with a strikeout rate of only 12%. That’s the lowest mark of any pitcher with at least 100 innings.
- Matt Olson isn’t the most expensive option on the Braves. However, he’s the one to start your Braves stack with. Olson has mashed right-handed pitchers like Mikolas to the tune of an .895 OPS this season. He’s gone 4-for-17 against Mikolas in his career with all four hits going for extra bases, including a pair of home runs.
- Michael Harris II has bounced back in July after a bit of a down June. His .806 OPS in July is a bit down from his April and May marks, but he had 14 extra-base hits last month. That’s more extra-base hits than he had in those first two months. Harris is typically better against right-handed pitchers (.829 OPS).
- It’s been a disappointing season for Austin Riley. His .634 OPS is the lowest mark of his career by over .100 points if you don’t count the shortened COVID-19 season. A matchup with Mikolas could be what it takes to kickstart him. Riley has gone 7-for-20 against Mikolas with a home run in his career.
Core Studs
- The Chicago Cubs were nearly another lineup to stack against left-handed pitcher Max Fried. The Cubs have moved to the top of the wRC+ chart against lefties, but Fried has such a good track record that it’s hard to recommend a team against him. One player that you can play against him is Ian Happ. He is 7-for-11 against Fried with three extra-base hits, including two home runs.
- Another pitcher who we typically try to avoid is Jacob deGrom. Yordan Alvarez is someone who you can play in any matchup, including against deGrom. Alvarez is 5-for-9 against deGrom with three of those hits being home runs.
- Ketel Marte has a matchup against left-handed pitcher Parker Messick. While Marte’s a switch-hitter, he’s been substantially better this season against left-handed pitchers. He has a .921 OPS against lefties, which falls to .702 against right-handed pitching.
Value Plays/Punts
- Bryson Stott has quietly been very good since the beginning of June. It’s been hidden a bit because he only has two home runs in that span, but he has 19 extra-base hits. That comes with a .292 batting average and an .806 OPS.
- The injury to Shea Langeliers has created an opportunity for Jonah Heim. He has settled into a middle-third spot in the Athletics’ lineup. His matchup today is against Framber Valdez. Heim already has a pair of home runs against Valdez in his career.
- We don’t love Coby Mayo‘s matchup today against left-handed pitcher Cristopher Sanchez, who has struggled in July with a 6.65 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. He’s still one of the most expensive options on this slate, but Mayo has shown to be an option against left-handed pitchers. Only Elly De La Cruz has a higher OPS against lefties than Mayo’s 1.097 mark.
Saturday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
Did you realize that Nick Gonzales has at least one hit in every game since the All-Star break? His 15-game hitting streak actually stretches back before the All-Star break. In 13 of those 15 games, he has found a way to clear this number.
Jeremy Pena is another batter who has had hits in every game since the All-Star break. His hitting streak reached 12 games yesterday.
Similar to Nick Gonzales, Pena has exceeded 1.5 combined hits + runs + RBIs in 10 of his last 12 games. In one of those two games where he missed the mark, he left the game early in the fourth inning.
Quinn Mathews is set to make his Major League debut today. In Triple-A, he has struck out 111 batters in 92 innings, which is a 29.8% strikeout rate.
If you cut the sample size to Mathews’ dominant last nine starts, it jumps even higher to 30.9%. His first matchup is against the Blue Jays, who have the second-lowest wRC+ in July but have only struck out 17.4% of the time.
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