Covering The Bases: Saturday, April 27th
Long-time grinder, STLCardinals84, is here to cover the bases for the upcoming MLB DFS slate. Whether you are looking for the top pitchers or the best stacks, Cards has you covered with an extensive deep dive into his favorite MLB DFS picks.
Happy Saturday, Grinders! We have the usual split slate on this Saturday, with the early slate starting a little later than usual. FanDuel is offering a six game early slate that starts around 3 PM ET, while DraftKings is excluding the LAD/TOR game and offering a five game early slate that starts around 4 PM ET. All sites have a seven game “main” evening slate for us. It should be a great kick start to the last weekend of April.
Let’s dig in and see what this Saturday has to offer!
Saturday Afternoon Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings
This isn’t a slate with a ton of good pitching, but we at least have a few options both at the high end and on the value side.
Tyler Glasnow vs. Blue Jays (FD Only)
Sonny Gray vs. Mets
Yusei Kikuchi vs. Dodgers
Edward Cabrera vs. Nationals
Michael Lorenzen vs. Reds
Hunter Greene vs. Rangers
Cole Irvin vs. A’s
As usual, here’s a peek at some 2024 statistical measures for these viable hurlers:
Glasnow – 2.92 ERA, 2.61 xFIP, 31% K, 6% BB
Gray – 1.04 ERA, 1.77 xFIP, 36% K, 2% BB
Kikuchi – 2.28 ERA, 2.77 xFIP, 30% K, 7% BB
Cabrera – 3.27 ERA, 2.27 xFIP, 36% K, 9% BB (11 innings)
Lorenzen – 2.45 ERA, 3.95 xFIP, 25% K, 18% BB
Greene – 4.55 ERA, 3.87 xFIP, 30% K, 9% BB
Irvin – 4.64 ERA, 4.59 xFIP, 14% K, 7% BB
If you are playing on FanDuel, you can clearly lock in Tyler Glasnow as your top pitcher on the slate. He has a long track record of being a 30% strikeout rate pitcher, and the Toronto offense simply hasn’t met expectations for about a year and a half now. They simply aren’t the “elite” unit that many people expected them to be. Glasnow is a great option in all formats, and he has a fine combination of floor and ceiling here.
Should you be looking for a pivot and/or be playing on DraftKings, I have no issue going with Sonny Gray, either. Gray has looked fantastic in his first three starts as a Cardinal after getting a delayed start to the year due to a hamstring injury he suffered in spring training. Here are his three game logs:
April 9 vs. PHI – 5 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 5 K (64 pitches)
April 15 vs. OAK – 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 K (72 pitches)
April 21 vs. MIL – 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 12 K (93 pitches)
He’s obviously not going to maintain a 36% strikeout rate and a 2% walk rate, but the command has always been solid. He also should not have any further pitch count concerns. The projected ownership is surprisingly low. There are a lot of things to like here. The matchup gets a slight downgrade now that J.D. Martinez is back for the Mets, but I’m fine rolling with Gray — particularly in GPP builds.
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