It’s been two weeks and the Rays have still yet to lose a game. No one expected Tampa would be 13-0 heading into an AL East showdown with the 8-5 Blue Jays, yet that’s exactly what we have on tap for Friday in addition to another 14 baseball games on Friday's MLB DFS slate.
We have three games that are separate from the rest on their own little mini-slate at 6:40 p.m. ET. The other 12 games on the main slate start at 7:05 p.m. ET. Make sure you check out our daily pitcher projections at Rotoballer to see how we think all of today’s starters will do against their respective opponents. Also, be sure to check out our MLB DFS Optimizer to create as many unique lineups for tonight’s contests as you want!
When we are looking for which pitchers to play, we want guys with solid run prevention and a good chance at pitching deep enough into the game to pick up the win. But we don’t always have to target pitchers on teams that are heavily favored either. In fact, we want strikeouts more than anything whenever possible as the scoring system on both FanDuel and DraftKings really rewards pitchers who rack up Ks.
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Best starting pitchers, sleeper SPs for Friday's MLB DFS contests
By Dan Palyo
Sean Manaea, Giants @ Tigers ($9,600 DK, $8,600 FD)
On the early slate, there is one arm that stands out above the rest, and that’s the left arm of Manaea. After a rough year in 2022 as a member of the Padres, Manaea is hoping to bounce back in the Bay Area as a member of the Giants' rotation and the early returns are good.
Manaea made one relief appearance during the first week of the season but then looked absolutely dominant in his only start against the Royals, striking out eight while walking only one and scattering three hits.
While K.C. isn’t a good offense, neither is Detroit. In fact, the Tigers have been one of the worst offenses in baseball through their first dozen games. Detroit is sporting the second-highest strikeout percentage against LHPs with a massive 32.7-percent K-rate.
Meanwhile, Manaea’s velocity is up again into the mid-90s, making his slider and changeup that much more effective in terms of getting whiffs. He could dominate here in this spot and he’s one of my favorite pitchers of the entire slate, not just the first three that go off early (if you’re playing an all-day slate).
Trevor Rogers, Marlins vs. Diamondbacks ($8,300 DK, $7,300 FD)
If you’re playing the early slate on DraftKings, you need a second pitcher to pair with Manaea. My choice would be the southpaw Rogers at home against the Diamondbacks. While Rogers' surface numbers don’t look great, we have to consider that his first two starts came against one of the toughest teams for lefthanded pitchers to face, the Mets.
Rogers has just a 21-percent strikeout rate through his first two starts, but the 13-percent swinging-strike percentage has my attention, and he's kept his walk percentage under 10 percent, too. He pitched really well in spring training, too, and I have been predicting a bounce-back year for him in 2023. That could start tonight here against the Diamondbacks. While they aren’t striking out a ton, they are walking just four percent of the time against lefties and sporting middle-of-the road contact and power numbers.
I would put Rogers behind the rest of the starters I am recommending today and consider him only on the early slate.
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Kodai Senga, Mets @ A's ($10,400 DK, $10,800 FD)
Is Senga the Mets’ ace right now? With Justin Verlander on the shelf and Mad Max Scherzer scuffling a bit out of the gate, you could easily argue that Senga has been the most effective pitcher for New York.
We have to acknowledge that both of his first two MLB starts came against the Marlins, who have had some of the worst numbers against RHPs so far this year. If you’ve watched Senga pitch at all, you can tell that he clearly has ace-type stuff. He throws hard (in the 95-98 MPH range on his four-seamer) and has a devastating splitfinger or forkball (whatever you want to call it) that drops off the shelf in a hurry.
Senga has an elite matchup against the A's, which is going to make him a very popular pitcher to spend up on for cash games, especially considering the other really expensive pitcher, Drew Rasmussen, is facing the Toronto Blue Jays. I’m comfortable with using Senga in all formats. Oakland strikes out 25 percent of the time against righties, and Senga’s 31-percent strikeout rate through his first starts makes me think he’s ready to produce another seven- or eight-strikeout game.
Michael Wacha, Padres vs. Brewers ($8,100 DK, $9,600 FD)
Which Wacha is the real Wacha? Is it the guy who gave up four earned runs with only two strikeouts against Milwaukee or the guy who shut out the Braves for six innings with 10 strikeouts?
Even if it’s somewhere in-between (which it likely is), then I'm interested in Wacha tonight against the Brewers. Wacha is a veteran who knows how to pitch and it’s quite possible he’s finally reached the stage of his career where he finally knows how to best utilize his stuff. He no longer throws in the high-90s, but he does feature a really good changeup and has shown some solid control over the last few seasons.
This is more of an SP2 play on DK at $8.1K than a FanDuel play, where you can pay just a little more to get up to someone like Senga or Rasmussen.
Austin Gomber, Rockies @ Mariners ($5,800 DK, $7,200 FD)
Everyone likes a long-shot punt play for tournaments, right? Gomber is a guy who has shown signs of being a pretty good big league pitcher, but he still hasn’t been able to pitch well consistently over an entire season.
Gomber relies on his best pitch, his curveball, probably too much, as he sits in the low-90s with his fastball, but he doesn’t walk guys, giving him a decent shot at pitching into the fifth or sixth inning quite often. He has allowed eight earned runs through his first two starts, but he also has nine strikeouts in just over 10 innings, too.
Seattle is a boom-or-bust type offense that could easily light up Gomber if he doesn’t have his best stuff, but it's striking out 32 percent of the time against lefties, too. At this price point on DK, we are just hoping for 10-12 DK points, and that’s certainly well within his range of outcomes here. Just understand that he has a very low floor, too.
