Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Contest: Tuesday, May 31st
Happy Tuesday! This is it! The final slate for May is tonight. The last chance to grab some home runs for May prizes begins at 7:05 PM EST. Don’t miss your chance to win RotoGrinders prizes. Let’s start with a leaderboard update after a pretty busy Friday night.
The MLB posted 28 home runs on the main slate this past Friday evening. With temperatures rising, the home runs are becoming more abundant. The likes of Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Luke Voit, and Austin Riley were popular selections for several of the members who made selections. The additional home runs are up on the leaderboard. Yours truly still leads the month (and overall) but does not qualify for any prizes. Instead, the next three are highlighted in yellow and need to post a number to qualify. Given some of the very, very, hot, hitter-friendly environments on tonight’s slate, anything could happen.
This is the last slate in May. Monthly scoring closes tonight!
Rules, Tiers, and Prizes
Here are the cliff notes from the introductory rules and guidelines set forth in our opening article. If you want a bit more clarification, here is the first article with a more developed explanation for the contest.
In short, pick three players in the comments for tonight’s DraftKings Main MLB slate. You may pick one player from each of the tiers below.
Luxury Box – $5,000 and above
Promenade – $3,500 – $4,900
Bleachers – Below $3,500
You will collect home runs for every home run your batters hit that night. Selections must be made prior to lock time in the comments section. At the end of each month, prizes will be award to the community members with the most home runs. At the end of the season, additional prizes will be awarded to those members who put together the best totals for the entire season (ending in August).
The following prizes will be awarded to players based on their home run total for the month (April, May, June, July, August)
First Place – One month of RotoGrinders MLB Premium
Second Place – RotoGrinders T-shirt
Third Place – One week of SAO Premium
The following prizes will be awarded to players based on their home run total for the entire baseball season (April – August)
First Place – One month of RotoGrinders Combo Premium
Second Place – RotoGrinders Swag Pack
Third Place – One month of SAO Premium
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments or send me a message on Twitter.
Tuesday, May 31st MLB DFS Slate Notes
We have 13 games on the slate tonight. Coors Field is on the slate but sees potential weather concerns.
Speaking of weather, wow, is it going to be hot in some ballparks tonight. Both New York ballparks, Baltimore, and Detroit should all feature 90-degree temperatures at first pitch. Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards especially are phenomenal parks for left-handed power. The ball should fly, tonight.
Wrigley Field will have 80-degree temperatures but a relatively significant wind blowing out of left field. The winds at Wrigley bring dramatic impacts to fly balls in that direction.
Below are the highest HR/9 for starting pitchers tonight this season:
1) Cole Sands, Minnesota, 2.25 HR/9
2) Blake Snell, San Diego, 2.00 HR/9
3) Rony Garcia, Detroit, 1.50 HR/9
4) German Marquez, Colorado, 1.44 HR/9
5) Lucas Giolito, Chicago, 1.43 HR/9
6) Humberto Castellanos, Arizona, 1.36 HR/9
Below are the highest implied team totals at the time of this writing:
1) Dodgers, 5.68
2) Rockies, 5.48
3) Mets, 5.20
4) Braves, 5.04
5) Marlins, 5.02
6) Brewers, 5.00
Let’s make our picks.
Tuesday, May 31st MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Pete Alonso – 1B – $5,200
Tonight’s Luxury Box is extremely pivotal as the month closes. This feels like the tier that you need to get correct and have the upside of two home runs.
Enter Pete Alonso. Alonso tallied 13 home runs thus far in 2022. Alonso boasts a .333 ISO against LHP since last season and skews so strongly towards fly balls (47.2%). We love it when hunting home runs. Keep putting the ball in the air, Pete.
Alonso is starting to heat up as the temperatures rise. Citi Field isn’t the greatest place for home runs but the temperature should be near 90 degrees. Patrick Corbin is doling out hard contact like its free lately. This seems like the perfect match for a home run.
Alonso carries a +275 price tag for a home run on FanDuel Sportsbook. Tonight is FanDuel’s HR promo night. If you bet $25 on a home run you receive $5 in free bets back for every HR in a game (up to $25). This has been fun, as of late and adds a bit of upside to your home run bet.
Promenade – Patrick Wisdom – 3B – $4,700
Chicago winds blowing out? Check.
Over 80 degrees? Check.
Righty against a lefty? Check.
Patrick Wisdom checks a ton of contextual boxes tonight in a range loaded with pop. I want to stick to exceptional environments. Assuming Chicago doesn’t have massive weather concerns, the Wrigley wind prevails as an important key.
Wisdom is north of 40% since last season with fly balls against lefties. Plenty of ISO and plenty of hard contact, Wisdom just needs to get into one. Well, two would be nice.
Bleacher Seats – Anthony Santander – OF – $3,400
Finally, another hot environment. Camden Yards remains a great context for left-handed power. Anthony Santander is a sneaky option.
Santander is hovering right around 40% fly balls with plenty of hard contact to go with them. For this range, eight home runs is pretty appetizing.
Santander makes for a great FanDuel bet for the promo in a game where several fly balls might cut through the thin air.
Thanks so very much for reading. Give me a follow on Twitter for sports betting banter, golf tidbits, and professional wrestling reactions. We will see you again on Friday for a recap, leaderboard, and home run calls.
Player Image Credit: Imagn