This is it -- the best pitching slate we’ve had this season since opening day. There are 13 games on tonight’s main DFS slate for FanDuel and DraftKings that locks at 7:05 p.m., and we have our work cut out for us trying to find the five best options.
RotoBaller has all your fantasy baseball and DFS needs! Check our probable pitchers page to see all of today’s starters, and be sure to utilize our MLB DFS Optimizer to create unique lineups for tonight’s slate!
When we're looking for pitchers, we want to target guys who can limit runs and pitch deep enough into games to pick up wins. That said, we don’t always need to target pitchers on heavily favored teams. 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. Narrowing down the list for tonight’s games was a challenge today, but here are my five favorite arms for MLB DFS contests.
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Best starting pitchers, sleeper SPs for Friday's MLB DFS contests
By Dan Palyo
Logan Webb, Giants vs. Orioles ($9,700 DK, $11,100 FD)
The two highest-priced DraftKings' pitchers (Shohei Ohtani and Framber Valdez) face off against each other tonight, and I don’t like the matchup for either. So, I’m comfortable starting my player pool here with Webb.
Even though he’s more expensive than we are used to seeing, I think Webb is a worthwhile investment tonight. He’s an elite ground-ball pitcher who throws a heavy sinker that leads to a lot of weak contact, but this year he’s also been striking guys out at an elite clip (27 percent) thanks to his slider and change.
Webb is coming off his best start of the season, whiffing 11 Brewers over seven innings. He’s now registered 20 DK points or more in all but three starts this season. With a SIERA of 3.02 and a WHIP of just 1.07, Webb has been one of the best in the game at preventing walks while getting strikeouts and ground balls. Baltimore is a fairly neutral matchup, and Webb gets them in pitcher-friendly San Francisco tonight.
Luis Castillo, Mariners @ Rangers ($9,400 DK, $10,200 FD)
We go from one red-hot pitcher to another here with Castillo. This $9K-$9.5K range is the sweet spot for me tonight on DraftKings, and I’m absolutely in favor of paying up for a pitcher on FanDuel where you can only play one.
Castillo comes into this matchup with Texas in great form, having struck out 18 hitters over his past 12 innings. He dominated against two lesser offenses in Oakland and Pittsburgh and faces a dangerous Texas offense tonight, however, he pitched effectively against the Rangers a month ago when he struck out nine over five innings.
There’s been simply no weakness to Castillo’s game this year. He’s throwing a ton of strikes, which is limiting his walks and helped keep his WHIP under 1.00 on the season. I’m sure he will be amped up and ready to take on the challenge of slowing down one of the league’s best offenses. It’s a riskier play than Webb or the next guy, but I like the upside here for tournaments.
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Zack Wheeler, Phillies @ Nationals ($9,200 DK, $10,900 FD)
After a few uneven outings, we finally saw Wheeler put it all together in his last start when he threw an absolute gem against one of the best offenses in baseball in Atlanta. Wheeler struck out 12 while allowing just three hits, one walk, and no earned runs.
Let’s see if Wheeler can keep that positive momentum going today against Washington. The Nationals don’t strike out much, but they also rank in the bottom third of the league in offensive production against RHPs.
As a -180 favorite on the road with an offense that is showing signs of life, I think Wheeler is set up nicely here for a solid outing and a great chance at a win and quality start points that are so crucial on FanDuel. I like rolling with him in cash games on DK where you can probably squeeze him and Webb in together if you’re creative with bats.
Tyler Glasnow, Rays @ Red Sox ($7,900 DK, $9,200 FD)
These last two pitchers are SP2 options on DraftKings and strictly tournament options on FanDuel. We have a couple of aces who are discounted quite a bit (more on DraftKings) because they are coming off lengthy injuries.
Glasnow made his season debut last week against a good Dodgers offense, and while he failed to finish the fifth inning, he did manage to strike out either while walking only one. He threw 83 pitches, so he should have a slightly longer leash and approach 90.
The matchup today is better for run prevention, as the Red Sox have been slumping a bit lately after a relatively strong start. It's a tough matchup for strikeouts, as the Sox whiff around 20 percent of the time against RHPs, but elite strikeout pitchers usually find a way to overcome that. We saw Hunter Greene do just that against Boston last night when he struck out nine. We won’t get Glasnow this cheap again this season, so take a shot on him tonight at this price while you still can.
Luis Severino, Yankees @ Dodgers ($7,100 DK, $8,900 FD)
The Yankees have to be thrilled with what they’ve seen from Sevvy in his first two starts this season. The veteran RHP was throwing in the high 90s with his fastball and pitched into the seventh inning his last time out against a good Padres lineup, allowing just one earned run and one hit while striking out five.
He pitched well against Cincy in his debut, too, throwing 75 pitches in 4.2 innings with five strikeouts. His price has yet to adjust on DraftKings despite the fact he’s looked great and had excellent results thus far. Perhaps it’s the matchup with the Dodgers that's suppressing his price, but that’s not something that's going to scare me off completely.
Despite being a top-five offense against RHPs this season, the Dodgers still strike out 23 percent of the time. If Sevvy can give New York five or six strong frames with about a strikeout per inning once again, he will be easily one of the best values at pitcher on this DFS slate.
