Slate Details
DK – Early slate (7 games) – starts 1:10 p.m. EDT / Main slate (6 games) – starts at 7:07 p.m. EDT
FD – Early slate (7 games) – starts 1:10 p.m. EDT / Main slate (7 games) – starts at 6:40 p.m. EDT
Weather Impact
No weather issues to report, full speed ahead.
Pitching
We start our early slate preview off with an intriguing pitching matchup between Zach Eflin and Justin Steele. The Rays and Cubs series has been one long 18-inning pitching duel with Chicago taking the first two games 1-0 and 2-1. While Marcus Stroman and Kyle Hendricks were able to stymie the Rays, I wouldn’t automatically count on Steele having the same success. Tampa still has one of the most dangerous offenses in baseball and I’m very wary of going against them.
The Cubs’ offense on the other hand isn’t as intimidating which is why I’m going with Eflin here. The veteran RHP has evolved into one of the steadier pitchers in baseball and hasn’t pitched fewer than 6 innings in any of his last 5 starts. His strikeout numbers have been all over the place in that span (10, 4, 9, 8, 0), but I would lean on the higher side with the Cubs striking out at a 26.6% rate over the past two weeks.
The Oakland A’s are playing in the early slate so let’s take a look at who they’re facing. Well, that would be Atlanta Braves lefty Jared Shuster so yea, all in on him. Outside of Oakland’s 7 run outburst on Monday they averaged in 1.75 runs per game in the other 12 of their last 13 games. Shuster has been solid since coming back up from the Minors and I am hoping for a line like his start against Seattle on May 21st when he pitched 6 innings, allowed 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 ER and had 7 Ks. I am certainly willing to take a chance on Shuster against Oakland because I am willing to take a chance on any pitcher against Oakland.
The last pitcher I like in the early slate is Mitch Keller against the Giants simply because he has been awesome this season. He had a little bit of a hiccup in his last start against Seattle but he was also left in a little too long and his stuff and command still looked great. The Giants have been feisty of late and aren’t the easiest matchup, but the spacious stadium should help Keller and I am riding with him until he gives me multiple consecutive poor starts.
In the late slate, I am interested in the matchup between Louie Varland and Hunter Brown. The clear top option is Brown here as he has been electric over his last three starts, with 27 strikeouts in 18.2 quality innings. The Twins have also registered a robust 32.2 K% over the last two weeks so I am expecting big time K numbers here.
But I am also intrigued by Varland who has been solid at the Major League level but has yet to have a truly breakout start. This is obviously a tough matchup against the Astros but to me that just means nobody is going to be starting him. If Varland can maximize his pitch arsenal here and find his groove he can certainly have success against Houston and provide significant value.
The pitching options in the late slate are scarce so we are going to have to go a bit out on a limb here. You’d think George Kirby would be the pick in the Yankees-Mariners matchup. but the Bronx Bombers have scored 10 runs in each of their last three games.
Instead we are going with Clarke Schmidt who has quietly strung together a couple solid outings. He allowed 1 ER in 5 innings in his last start at home against Baltimore and 2 ERs in 5 innings at Cincinnati and might be turning a corner. In fact, he has allowed more than 2 ERs just twice in his last 7 starts and those were against the Rays and Rangers’ juggernaut offenses. The Mariners are hitting the ball pretty well of late but they are nowhere near as dangers as those offenses so I think I am rolling with Schmitty tonight.
Pitcher DK$ FD$
Mitch Keller $10,800 $11,200
Zach Eflin $10,500 $10,800
Hunter Brown $10,000 $10,500
Louie Varland $8,300 $8,800
Clarke Schmidt $7,700 $7,700
Jared Shuster $6,500 $8,300
Hitting
The Oakland A’s are playing in the early slate so lets see what pitcher they are throwing out to get demolished today. James Kaprielian faces the Braves and although Atlanta has scored just 3 runs total over the first two games of the series, that doesn’t concern me in the slightest.
Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna are in the top 50 of wRC+ over the last two weeks and oh yea those Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies guys are pretty good. Sean Murphy is one of the best hitting catchers in the game and Kevin Pillar and Orlando Arcia have been providing great value all season in a vaunted lineup.
Speaking of baseball’s top offenses, the Texas Rangers are just straight up unstoppable at this point. I know I have included Texas in this section of the article almost every time this season so I’m not even going to waste the characters listing out their lineup here. Check the table for their prices and then just plug them in your lineup because you know they are going to be scoring runs against Joey Wentz and the Tigers.
In the late slate, the matchup of Dinelson Lamet and the Rockies against Tommy Henry and the Diamondbacks has my attention. Lamet is probably just the opener but one inning is plenty of time for Arizona to put up numbers against his 12.66 ERA.
Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte have been swinging the bat well lately and I like what Pavin Smith has been bringing to the table. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is playing at an All-Star level this season and Jake McCarthy was called back up after destroying AAA pitching.
It’s a bummer C.J. Cron is on the injured list because I’m all about Colorado RHHs today. Kris Bryant is still in the lineup and Randal Grichuk has been sneaky good in limited at-bats this season. Elias Díaz has been one of the best hitting catchers in the game in 2023 and is an excellent option Wednesday.
Julio Teheran is still pitching in 2023?? News to me, but just like in 2021 I will be targeting offenses facing him in my DFS lineups. The fact that he is facing Toronto on Wednesday also helps that decision.
George Springer is as strong of a leadoff option as there is and it doesn’t hurt to have Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. batting behind him. Brandon Belt is having a resurgent season batting cleanup for the Blue Jays and Whit Merrifield provides excellent stolen base value.
Matt Chapman has cooled off after a hot start but is always a solid upside play. Even value plays like Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk and Cavan Biggio are interesting plays today.
Other bats worth mentioning:
- The Pirates offense has been atrocious in May but they are a little dangerous against LHP like San Francisco’s Alex Wood. Rodolfo Castro has excellent splits against lefties, Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds have clearly been the Pirates best hitters this season, and Connor Joe broke out of a slump with a HR on Tuesday.
- Dane Dunning has been moderately effective this season but the Tigers have been surprisingly dangerous offensively of late. I like what Zach McKinstry, Akil Baddoo and Riley Greene offer at the top of the Detroit lineup.
- I don’t think many people are going to go against James Paxton tonight but I think Cincinnati’s hitters offer some good value. Matt McClain and Spencer Steer have been providing a rosy outlook on the Reds future and Jonathan India and Tyler Stephenson are in great spots in a lineup that has averaged 8.5 runs per game over their last four.
Hitter Pricing 5-31-23