Covering The Bases: Saturday, April 20th
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 madness today, with games starting all over the place. DraftKings is offering us an eight-game early slate which looks like a fun one, while FanDuel has split that slate into a pair of four-game slates. I will break down the early games together to support the DK slate, and you can split up the analysis as needed if you are playing the two different FD slates.
We have some differences with the night slate as well. FD is starting their evening slate at 6:40 PM ET and including the LAA/CIN contest. DK is starting their evening slate at 7:10 PM ET. Both the FD and DK slates have five games, however. Whereas FD is including the LAA/CIN game at 6:40, they are not including Game 2 of the MIA/CHC doubleheader. That game is on the DK slate.
In any case, let’s get to work and start with the eight games we have on the afternoon docket.
Saturday Afternoon Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings
This isn’t a slate with a lot of top-end pitching, but I do like some of the value options that we have available today. It is really looking like a slate where we will be able to save with pitchers and spend with bats. That will become clearer as we go through the breakdowns.
TOP TIER PITCHING
Zac Gallen vs. Giants
Zach Eflin vs. Yankees
Again, as you can see, the top tier is somewhat barren this afternoon. We have a pair of Zac(h)s leading the way. Here’s a peek at their 2024 data so far:
Gallen – 1.64 ERA, 2.96 xFIP, 29% K, 8% BB
Eflin – 4.63 ERA, 3.57 xFIP, 20% K, 2% BB
Zac Gallen is clearly the pitcher you want if you are spending up today. He gets a big park upgrade pitching in the cavernous space in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Eflin has to face the potent Yankees lineup in Yankee stadium. It’s a huge matchup advantage for Gallen if you are comparing them 1 vs. 1 here.
In addition, we have seen Zach Eflin come back to earth with his strikeouts. He’s always a pitcher who can post a great game because he throws strikes and doesn’t beat himself. However, he doesn’t have the biggest DFS ceiling. When you factor in matchups, this just isn’t even a conversation. If you are spending up, it’s Gallen and that’s it.
The question becomes whether or not we NEED Gallen today — and I don’t think that’s the case. There are a lot of quality value arms out there, and that salary savings has some appeal so that we can spend on high-end bats.
SECONDARY TIER PITCHING
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