CheeseIsGood's Million Dollar Musings - MLB DFS Strategy: Monday, May 23rd

Happy Top Gun Week! We kick off this glorious time of our lives with a 10-game slate that skews heavily to the offensive side. Other than Gerrit Cole, nothing on the pitching side will Take My Breath Away. There are several high-end stacks with clear upside that look like just a walk in the park Kazansky.

Monday Night Pitching

When you go into battle, someone has to be in charge, and it is incredibly easy to spot that leader tonight. It gets dicey in a hurry, so let’s take a look at the tiers:

The Captain

Gerrit Cole vs Orioles – 28.5% K, 6.7% BB, 2.89 ERA, 2.99 SIERA

The Lieutenant’s

Zack Wheeler at Braves – 25.9% K, 6.3% BB, 3.49 ERA, 3.25 SIERA
Luis Garcia vs Guardians – 26.6% K, 7.8% BB, 3.35 ERA, 3.44 SIERA
Alex Cobb vs Mets – 28.1% K, 7.9% BB, 5.61 ERA, 2.55 SIERA

Lieutenant, Junior Grade

Miles Mikolas vs Blue Jays – 18.7% K, 4.7% BB, 1.68 ERA, 3.78 SIERA
Chris Archer vs Tigers – 20.7% K, 12.1% BB, 4.10 ERA, 4.68 SIERA
Marco Gonzales vs A’s – 14.1% K, 9.4% BB, 3.08 ERA, 4.99 SIERA
Jose Berrios at Cardinals – 15.3% K, 7.1% BB, 4.83 ERA, 4.75 SIERA
Tyler Anderson at Nationals – 23.3% K, 3.4% BB, 4.04 ERA, 3.41 SIERA
Nick Martinez vs Brewers – 25% K, 10.4% BB, 3.89 ERA, 3.76 SIERA
Zach Logue at Mariners – 18.9% K, 6.8% BB, 2.04 ERA, 4.57 SIERA
Triston McKenzie at Astros – 24.1% K, 7.8% BB, 2.97 ERA, 3.83 SIERA

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No Need to Get Inverted

Gerrit Cole is the best pitcher on the slate, and it’s not particularly close. He also has one of the better matchups on the slate, taking away any need for over analysis. On DK, it’s just too easy to get him, and I can’t recommend the fade. It’s baseball and anything can happen and blah, blah, blah, but just play Gerrit Cole. On FD, he’s more expensive and he’s certainly not a lock to be the best points per dollar pitcher, but he’s the clear SP1 and you still have $3,000 per bat if you start here.

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About the Author

CheeseIsGood
Dave Potts (CheeseIsGood)

One of the preeminent baseball minds in all of fantasy, Dave Potts (aka CheeseIsGood) has won contests at the highest levels of both season-long and DFS. He is a 2x winner of a $1,000,000 1st-place prize in DFS; having won the 2014 FanDuel baseball Live Final and following that up by taking down a DraftKings Milly Maker Tournament in 2015. In addition, he’s won the Main Event championship in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship and the NFBC Platinum League, which is the highest buy-in entry league. His consistent success in the NFBC tournaments earned him a prestigious spot in their Hall of Fame. Dave can also strum a mean guitar while carrying a tune, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see him do so on one of his MLB Crunch Time appearances. Follow Dave on Twitter – @DavePotts2