After an oddly small slate of games yesterday due to travel days and postponements, the MLB schedule gifts us with 14 games on Friday. The only tricky part for DFS players is that these games are scattered throughout the day from 1:10 p.m. ET to 9:40 p.m. ET, so pay close attention to which games are on which slates depending on FanDuel and DraftKings.
DK has three separate slates today, while FD has chopped these games up into four different slates. Split slates are always a little tricky to navigate, but we'll do our best to provide our favorite DFS SP options from across all the various slates. If you're looking for more SP advice, check out our daily pitcher projections at Rotoballer to see how we think all of today’s starters will fare.
When we're evaluating pitchers for DFS contests, we want guys with solid run prevention and a good chance at pitching deep enough into the game to pick up the win. We don’t always have to target pitchers on teams that are heavily favored, though. In fact, we want strikeouts more than anything, as the scoring system on both FanDuel and DraftKings really rewards pitchers who rack up Ks.
With that in mind, here are our favorite SPs for Friday's contests.
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Best starting pitchers, sleeper SPs for Friday's MLB DFS contests
Hunter Greene, Reds @ Phillies ($7,600 DK, $8,300 FD)
While it’s tempting to target Logan Gilbert and Aaron Civale for the early slate in a potential pitchers’ duel in Cleveland, we hesitate to use a pitcher against the same team in consecutive starts, especially when the opposition has a good offense. While both guys could pitch well again, we're just not willing to push our luck.
Fortunately, there’s another possible pitchers’ duel brewing in Philadelphia where Phillies' co-ace Zack Wheeler is facing off against the Reds' flame-thrower Hunter Greene. Both had relatively short outings in their season debuts, but they demonstrated the type of strikeout stuff that we know they have. Wheeler whiffed seven Rangers, and Greene struck out eight Pirates.
We're intrigued by Greene here, as he’s considerably cheaper than Wheeler and the Phillies’ offense is off to a terrible start. Their 29-percent strikeout rate against RHPs this season so far is the second worst in baseball and probably has a lot to do with their 1-5 start.
Greene showed some real upside down the stretch last year and has a fastball/slider combo that can dominate hitters. He’s a good bet to strike out a bunch of Phillies today, and if he has good command, we could see him turning in one of the best scores of any pitcher on the early slate.
Alex Cobb, Giants vs. Royals ($7,400 DK, $8,000 FD)
Let’s keep the trend of saving salary going here with Cobb at home against the Royals. Cobb pitched well in his debut against the Yankees, allowing just one earned run while striking out six. He didn’t finish the fourth inning, but like most of these pitchers today, he should have a longer leash in his second start.
Cobb is not a big strikeout pitcher but is perfectly capable of five-to-seven Ks most nights. His heavy sinker and splitter lead to a ton of ground balls and some excellent run prevention. The Royals' bats have been bleak to start the year, shown by their wRC+ of 46 (third worst). They were just shut down by Kevin Gausman (another splitter pitcher and former Giant) yesterday, so it’s easy to see a path for a productive start for Cobb today.
Clarke Schmidt, Yankees @ Orioles ($6,400 DK, $6,800 FD)
This recommendation is certainly not for the risk-averse DFS players, and we would only consider using Schmidt in GPP formats. He looked great at times in his first start (five strikeouts through two innings), but then the long ball bit him hard, as he gave up two home runs and got yanked in the fourth inning.
Clarke still had a really good spring, and we're not ready to bail on him after he made a few mistakes to some really good hitters. He will have his work cut out for him in Baltimore, as its offense is full of good, young hitters, but I think he has the type of stuff to get it done if he can keep the ball in the yard.
His cutter/sweeper combo is really tough on righties, and he can keep them honest with a sinker that breaks the other direction, too. He simply has to keep these pitches down in the zone to have success. At this price, we're willing to take a flier on his talent.
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Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers @ Diamondbacks ($9,700 DK, $10,800 FD)
Yes, we said earlier that we like to avoid pitchers going up against the same team twice in a row, but this is Clayton Kershaw we are talking about. More important -- he happens to own the Diamondbacks.
His career numbers are irrelevant, as most of these Arizona hitters weren’t even in the big leagues when Kershaw started pitching, but his past three starts against the Snakes have been impressive, as he’s allowed just two runs over 19 frames with just one walk and 24 strikeouts!
Kershaw is a -225 favorite on the road, which tells you how much bettors think of his chances and how little they respect Arizona when Madison Bumgarner is on the mound. Kershaw should get plenty of run support, so look for the veteran lefty to continue his strong start to the season with another win tonight. He’s the safest play on the board, making him a great cash-game play on the late slate.
MacKenzie Gore, Nationals @ Rockies ($6,500 DK, $7,800 FD)
It’s not often that we recommend a pitcher in Coors Field, but the way these games are chopped up today, it's not a bad idea to pair Gore with Kershaw on DraftKings where you need two pitchers. On a site like FanDuel where you only roster one pitcher, Gore should be relegated to large-field GPPs.
The 24-year-old lefty was a big-time prospect who showed some solid flashes last season in San Diego before eventually getting hurt and hit hard. He is still battling some control issues, as evidenced by his four walks against Atlanta in his debut, but the six strikeouts against a solid Braves team remind us of how good his stuff can be.
Colorado is a much better offense at home, but it was shut out by Josiah Gray in the series opener and they’re officially cold to start the year, scoring just 2.6 runs per game after a seven-run outburst on opening day.
