Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Friday 5/9

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2025-05-09 18:07:27 Premium Content Part of the product MLB DFS

Long-time grinder, Justin Van Zuiden (aka stlcardinals84), is here to cover the bases for the upcoming MLB DFS slate on DraftKings and FanDuel. 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 Friday, Grinders! I’m in for Cheese today so that he can travel for his daughter’s college graduation, which is awesome. Congrats to Jr. Cheese! As for today’s baseball, we have a healthy 12-game slate that looks to be heavily weighted toward the bats.

This looks to be a relatively quiet weather day (hurrah!), so we can just focus on targeting the plays we want. In addition to this article, remember that we have you covered with tags and analysis in our MLB DFS optimizer.

Editor’s Note: Looking for more places to play? Check out our Underdog Fantasy promo code and PrizePicks promo code, two of the best DFS apps available today.

Let’s dig in and see what tonight has to offer!

Friday Night Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings

TOP TIER PITCHING

Hunter Brown vs. Reds
Max Meyer vs. White Sox
Kevin Gausman vs. Mariners

We don’t have a very strong top-end pitching pool this evening, as most teams have used their aces over the last 2 days. However, that doesn’t mean there are no options at all. I have narrowed it down to a trio of top-tier arms, and here’s a peek at the 2025 data so far:

Brown – 1.67 ERA, 2.57 xFIP, 31.0% K, 6.3% BB
Meyer – 3.92 ERA, 2.93 xFIP, 28.1% K, 7.8% BB
Gausman – 3.83 ERA, 3.99 xFIP, 24.3% K, 7.9% BB

In general, I would lean toward ranking these three pitchers in the same order that I have them listed above. Hunter Brown has the best ERA, the best xFIP, the highest strikeout rate, and the lowest walk rate of the trio. He has looked sharp almost every time he has taken the mound in 2025, in stark contrast to his poor start to 2024. If we combine the last half of 2024 with the first part of 2025, he looks every bit like an ace. The matchup against the Reds at home is much better than facing them in Cincinnati, and the Astros are a healthy home favorite despite their team struggles to start the year. The only real concern is salary, as this is a slate where we really want to save for bats. For that reason alone, I don’t think Brown is an absolute must-play, but he does logically project as the highest-scoring pitcher on the slate.

Max Meyer feels overpriced as the 2nd-most-expensive pitcher on both FD and DK, but his numbers this year are not too far away from Brown’s when you look at the advanced metrics. The swing-and-miss stuff has been there, and Meyer was once a top prospect. Of course, it also helps that he is facing the White Sox. The high salary will likely keep ownership levels in check, as it simply makes logical sense to just get to Brown if you are up here. As such, I like Meyer as an intriguing GPP pivot given the opponent.

Kevin Gausman is another pitcher that is generally on my GPP radar this evening. Normally, he would be an easy pass when you look at the overall data from the past year. He simply hasn’t been that dominant pitcher over the past 2 seasons. However, I happened to watch his entire start the last time out, and he looked dominant against the Guardians. He fired 6 shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 9 batters. The Mariners have strong splits against RHP this year, but there is some swing and miss in this lineup. I wouldn’t put Gausman in a single-entry GPP or cash game build, but he makes the MME pool.

Want to read more? Sign up for Premium!