Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks for Saturday, June 1st
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! Welcome to the start of a new month! We have the usual split slate madness on this Saturday, but the games are skewed more heavily toward the afternoon this time. Both FanDuel and DraftKings are offering healthy nine-game slates starting at 4 PM Eastern for the early docket, and then we have a five-game evening slate as well.
There does not appear to be much for weather concerns on this Saturday, with the exception of a possible early delay in the CIN/CHC game. I am going to write the article assuming there are no concerns, but be sure to keep an eye on our MLB Weather page that Roth updates throughout the day.
Let’s dig in and see what this Saturday slate has to offer!
Saturday Afternoon Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings
This is a solid pitching slate with quite a few viable options, but the top tier is a small one. The secondary tier will require a little more analysis.
TWO ACES AT THE TOP
Chris Sale vs. A’s
Joe Ryan vs. Astros
We are going to see massive chalk on Chris Sale today. There is simply no way around it. As I wrote last weekend, the Atlanta ace is having perhaps his best MLB season at age 35, which is just incredible. His ERA, xERA, FIP, and xFIP are all under 2.50. He has a 31.6% strikeout rate. He has a 3.6% walk rate. His hard contact rate allowed is the lowest I have ever seen for a full-time starter. He also just so happens to be facing the A’s today. Chris Sale is the clear SP1 by a wide margin.
The only argument against Sale would be A) the ownership is massive, and B) it’s baseball. Anything can happen on any given day, which is part of what makes this sport so intriguing. Joe Ryan is no slouch in his own right, with an ERA and xFIP around 3.00, a 27.9% strikeout rate, and a 3.4% walk rate. The numbers are slightly worse than Sale’s, and Ryan also walks into a more difficult matchup. Again, it’s baseball, and anything can happen in one day.
Chris Sale is going to project better than Joe Ryan. Sale is your clear SP1 in cash games. Sale is going to be massively owned. I do not mind the pivot to Ryan in some GPP builds, and I will have exposure to both of them if building more than 10 lineups.
THE BEST OF THE REST
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