Covering the Bases: Sunday, June 25
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.
Happy Sunday, Grinders! We have an interesting slate coming at you today, and there is going to be some chalk on both the pitching and hitting sides of the ledger.
There were initially scheduled to be 10 games on the main slate on both FanDuel and DraftKings today, but the MIN/DET game has been moved up by 90 minutes due to potential weather concerns later in the day. DraftKings has simply removed that game from their slate, which will still lock at the usual 1:35 PM ET time for Sundays. FanDuel has kept that game on their slate, and that will now lock early at 12:10 PM ET. Be careful as you set your lineups!
Let’s see what this fun Sunday slate has to offer for MLB DFS picks!
Sunday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings
The “Aces”
Gerrit Cole vs. Rangers
Nathan Eovaldi vs. Yankees
Tyler Glasnow vs. Royals
Zack Wheeler vs. Mets
Corbin Burnes vs. Guardians
Well, this is quite the group of top end pitching. This makes the slate instantly intriguing, and it is headlined by a head to head battle between Cole and Eovaldi. Here’s a look at the 2023 data, as usual:
Cole – 2.64 ERA, 3.85 xFIP, 27% K, 8% BB
Eovaldi – 2.80 ERA, 3.44 xFIP, 25% K, 5% BB
Glasnow – 4.97 ERA, 3.53 xFIP, 30% K, 12% BB (five starts)
Wheeler – 3.48 ERA, 3.69 xFIP, 27% K, 5% BB
Burnes – 3.96 ERA, 4.12 xFIP, 23% K, 9% BB
Based on the early numbers, Tyler Glasnow is going to be the massive chalk today. I have no issue with playing Tyler Glasnow in a vacuum. The strikeout rate is massive. The matchup against the Royals is great. He’s your cash game choice.
However…
Do you really want to play a 30-40% owned Tyler Glasnow on a slate that has really strong pitching options? He strikes out a lot of batters but also walks too many. His pitch count rises in a hurry as a result of all this. In his five starts this year, he has made it past five innings once. You know the Rays aren’t going to push him to 100+ pitches given their status in the standings and his injury history. What is the true ceiling here?
Give me all the pivots in GPP builds. I am not going to touch Burnes given his struggles against a low strikeout CLE lineup, but you can absolutely go for Cole, Eovaldi, and Wheeler. All three could very easily get to 100+ pitches today, and that helps to overcome more difficult matchups. Wheeler is my favorite against a Mets team that has disappointed all year long, as he has the best overall data and K/BB ratio of the group.
In cash games, go ahead and play Glasnow. In GPP builds, I think that’s a mistake, and I’ll rank the pivots as Wheeler > Cole > Eovaldi.
