DFS Plays of the Day - 5/28/2023

Slate Details

DK/FD – Main slate (8 games) – starts 1:35 p.m. EDT

Weather Impact

No weather concerns at all, an enjoyable Sunday awaits us.

Pitching

Start	Pitcher	Team	Vs	PLV
1:35	Cody Bradford	TEX	BAL	5.16
1:35	Kyle Bradish	BAL	TEX	5.17
1:35	Yu Darvish	SD	NYY	5.22
1:35	Gerrit Cole	NYY	SD	5.36
1:40	Jordan Montgomery	STL	CLE	5.02
1:40	Hunter Gaddis	CLE	STL	5.00
1:40	Dylan Cease	CHW	DET	5.11
1:40	Eduardo Rodriguez	DET	CHW	5.06
2:10	MacKenzie Gore	WAS	KC	5.15
2:10	Daniel Lynch	KC	WAS	4.85 (2022)
2:10	Alex Cobb	SF	MIL	5.16
2:10	Colin Rea	MIL	SF	4.96
2:10	Jose Berrios	TOR	MIN	5.25
2:10	Bailey Ober	MIN	TOR	5.36
2:20	Graham Ashcraft	CIN	CHC	5.19
2:20	Drew Smyly	CHC	CIN	4.97

For all the star power of the San Diego Padres lineup, they certainly haven’t played like a playoff-caliber team this year. Sitting at 24-28, San Diego needs to right the ship quickly and that will be very difficult to do today against Gerrit Cole. Over the last few weeks, the Padres offence has been mediocre and they have struggled against the likes of Randy Vasquez and Luis Severino in this series. Cole did have a bit of a hiccup in his last start against Baltimore, but I think he bounces back nicely here and holds the Padres in check.

Another safe option that you can probably get at low ownership is Jordan Montgomery against the Guardians. It is no secret that Cleveland is a poor hitting ball club right now, with a 64 wRC+ over the last two weeks. Admittedly, Montgomery is mired in a tough stretch lately but what better way to get back to his solid form than against the 3rd-worst team in baseball against LHP. I am not expecting a ton of strikeouts in this matchup, but I think at the very worst a quality start is in order for Montgomery.

Aside from a 10-run outburst on Friday, the Royals have not been able to get things going offensively lately and their young talent hasn’t matured as quickly as they’d hoped. They were held in check by one young upstart Washington pitcher in Josiah Gray on Saturday and on Sunday another one is in store in MacKenzie Gore. Another lefty who hasn’t been in the best of form lately, Gore is going to enjoy the 27.2 K% that the Royals have been putting up lately. While Montgomery is the high-floor, low-upside LHP option, Gore has the high-K upside but may give up a run here or there if Bobby Witt or Salvador Perez gets a hold of one.

Lastly, Drew Smyly has been dicing up every opponent under the sun since getting beat up in his first start against the Reds. On Sunday he gets a chance for his revenge and while Cincy’s offense does scare me a bit, Smyly has given us no reason to doubt him over the past two months. In his last two starts, he dispatched the impressive Mets and Astros offenses with relative ease and I’m going to keep running him out there until he lets me down.

Pitcher Pricing 5-28-2023

Pitcher	DK$	FD$
Gerrit Cole	$11,500	$11,100
Drew Smyly	$7,900	$8,700
MacKenzie Gore	$7,500	$9,200
Jordan Montgomery	$7,300	$8,500

Hitting

Two of the better offenses in baseball over the first two months of this season have been Texas and Baltimore and I am expecting big things out of that game today. The Rangers are throwing out rookie LHP Cody Bradford, who got shelled by Atlanta for 6 ERs in 5 innings in his debut. Now he will have to face the likes of Cedric Mullins, Adley Rutschman, Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle. Not to mention Jorge Mateo, who although he has struggled is as dangerous a 9 hitter as they come.

Kyle Bradish takes the mound for the Orioles and he will be tasked with handling the 2nd-best offense in baseball over the last two weeks. The Rangers have been crushing the ball all season, but have really ratcheted things up a notch lately with the return of Corey Seager. Josh Jung and Adolis Garcia have been absolutely mashing the ball of late, Jonah Heim is one of the better-hitting catchers in the game, oh and don’t forget about Marcus Semien and Nathaniel Lowe at the top of the lineup. Leodys Taveras is also mashing lately and could be an even more dangerous 9-hitter than Mateo.

This may be a surprise, but the Nationals have been the 4th-best offense over the last two weeks. Facing Daniel Lynch in his first start of the season off the IL, I expect that trend to continue. Lane Thomas, Luis Garcia (who had 6 hits on Friday alone), Joey Meneses and Jeimer Candelario have been absolutely mashing the ball of late and will prove to be tough customers for Lynch in his season debut. Despite a tough start to the season, I have always been a fan of Keibert Ruiz at catcher and C.J. Abrams is an interesting option near the bottom of the lineup. I am sure nobody else will be playing the Nationals, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box here.

Other hitters to consider:

Dylan Cease has been a shell of his 2022 self this season, but I still don’t think people will be looking at the Tigers today. Well, they should, because Zach McKinstry, Akil Baddoo and Riley Greene have been on fire lately.
I was impressed at times with Graham Ashcraft last season, but he just hasn’t been able to get it going in 2023 and allowed 7 ERs in each of his last two starts. Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel and the 1-2-3 trio of Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ will be trouble.

Hitter Pricing 5-28-23

Hitter	Team	DK-Pos	DK$	FD-Pos	FD$
Marcus Semien	TEX	2B	$5,800	2B	$4,200
Christopher Morel	CHC	OF	$5,700	3B/OF	$4,400
Corey Seager	TEX	SS	$5,400	SS	$4,000
Adolis Garcia	TEX	OF	$5,400	OF	$4,200
Cedric Mullins	BAL	OF	$5,300	OF	$4,000
Riley Greene	DET	OF	$5,100	OF	$2,900
Adley Rutschman	BAL	C	$4,900	C	$3,300
Nico Hoerner	CHC	2B	$4,900	2B	$3,600
Josh Jung	TEX	3B	$4,800	3B	$3,600
Dansby Swanson	CHC	SS	$4,600	SS	$3,200
Jorge Mateo	BAL	SS	$4,500	SS	$2,900
Lane Thomas	WAS	OF	$4,400	OF	$3,200
Jonah Heim	TEX	C	$4,400	C	$3,400
Nathaniel Lowe	TEX	1B	$4,300	1B	$3,200
Zach McKinstry	DET	2B/3B	$4,300	2B	$2,800
Ryan Mountcastle	BAL	1B	$4,200	1B	$3,400
Luis Garcia	WAS	2B	$4,100	2B	$2,800
Ian Happ	CHC	OF	$4,100	OF	$2,900
Seiya Suzuki	CHC	OF	$4,000	OF	$3,300
Keibert Ruiz	WAS	C	$3,900	C	$2,600
Jeimer Candelario	WAS	3B	$3,900	3B	$2,800
Austin Hays	BAL	OF	$3,500	OF	$2,800
Joey Meneses	WAS	1B	$3,300	1B	$2,900
Leody Taveras	TEX	OF	$3,000	OF	$2,900
CJ Abrams	WAS	SS	$2,800	SS	$2,900
Akil Baddoo	DET	OF	$2,800	OF	$2,500

AL East

AL Central

AL West

NL East

NL Central

NL West

DFS Plays of the Day – 5/28/2023

Kyle Stanzel

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