Covering the Bases: Saturday, June 17
STLCardinals84, one of the best tournament players in the game, 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 MLB DFS picks.
Welcome to the weekend, Grinders! We have the usual split slate Saturday on the docket today, but it is a day where things are heavily skewed toward day games. Both FanDuel and DraftKings are offering a nine game “main” slate that starts at 4 PM ET, and that will be followed by a four game evening slate. The main slate offers quite a bit of fun on both the pitching and hitting sides of the ledger, so let’s get straight to work!
Saturday Afternoon Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings
Top Tier Arms
Logan Gilbert vs. White Sox
Mitch Keller vs. Brewers
Kodai Senga vs. Cardinals
Bryce Elder vs. Rockies
While we may not have the dominant aces on the mound that we saw yesterday, that doesn’t mean we are lacking on quality pitching options today. Here are four options that I think have quite a bit of potential on this slate, and they serve as our “ace” level tier.
Gilbert – 4.38 ERA, 3.43 xFIP, 27% K, 4% BB
Keller – 3.41 ERA, 3.27 xFIP, 28% K, 6% BB
Senga – 3.34 ERA, 3.99 xFIP, 28% K, 14% BB
Elder – 2.69 ERA, 3.75 xFIP, 21% K, 7% BB
I can’t fault anyone for playing Bryce Elder as a massive home favorite against the Rockies, but his strikeout rate lags far behind the other three pitchers in this tier. His advanced metrics also suggest regression from the 2.69 ERA, and I don’t expect him to be this good in the second half of the season. He’s safe for cash games but is well down the GPP list for me.
Gilbert is going to project as the safest option with his low walks and solid metrics, but he hasn’t looked quite as sharp lately. To be very clear, I’m fine with rostering him in any game format today, and it’s unlikely he gets blown up by the White Sox. However, most projections will also have him as the chalk option. Assuming that plays out…
Give me the two pivots in GPP builds.
That starts with Senga against whatever this mess of a Cardinals team is right now. The Cardinals are sinking to new lows with a 2-11 record in June, and absolutely nobody in this lineup has been consistently dangerous for a long stretch in 2023. Senga has his command issues, but he also has a 28.3% strikeout rate and a wipeout K pitch. He’s very much capable of a big-time performance against a struggling opponent.
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