Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Sunday 5/11

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2025-05-11 16:18:06 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 Sunday, especially to any of the mothers out there that may be reading this on Mother’s Day! This Sunday brings us a relatively modest 8-game slate, but that is actually my favorite slate size. It’s not too big to where things are overwhelming, and it’s not too small to where there is a ton of overlap. We also have a change from the usual Sunday slates when the Rockies are at home. In the past, DK would exclude the Rockies from their main slates, while FD would include them. Today, both sites are excluding the SD/COL game — and I am happy about that. It gets old writing up the Rockies’ opponents every day as the top offense. After another 21-0 drubbing last night, we can happily ignore Coors today.

While I love the slate size, I really don’t love this slate in general. There’s not a lot of excitement on either side of the ledger, and many of the top offenses in baseball are playing in the later afternoon games. In any case, we all have the same player pool to deal with!

The weather doesn’t look to be a huge concern today, though we do have an ORANGE / YELLOW rating in Tampa for the MIL/TB game. Be sure to check for updates using our MLB weather page to make sure you are up to date on this game and any others with issues before rosters lock.

Let’s dive in and see if the slate becomes more exciting as I break it down.

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Sunday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings

TOP TIER PITCHING

Chris Sale vs. Pirates
Nathan Eovaldi vs. Tigers
Pablo Lopez vs. Giants
MacKenzie Gore vs. Cardinals

Even though I don’t love this slate overall, there is at least some fun to be had with the top-tier pitching. We have 4 bona fide aces toeing the rubber this afternoon. Here’s a peek at the 2025 data so far:

Sale – 4.07 ERA, 3.17 xFIP, 30.3% K, 5.9% BB
Eovaldi – 2.03 ERA, 2.45 xFIP, 28.5% K, 2.2% BB
Lopez – 2.18 ERA, 2.66 xFIP, 28.5% K, 3.8% BB
Gore – 3.33 ERA, 2.43 xFIP, 36.4% K, 7.0% BB

Let me preface this by saying that all of these pitchers are great, and there are plenty of things to like about all of them.

I will start with my preferred option, and that is Chris Sale. There has never been a reason for concern despite the fact that Sale’s surface numbers looked a bit scary to start the year. The advanced metrics have always been fine, and things are slowly getting back to normal with a few strong outings in a row. Sale is still maintaining an elite 30% strikeout rate to go with an xFIP and SIERA in the low 3s, and he gets a great matchup at PNC Park against a weak Pirates offense. His matchup is clearly the best of this group, and that’s enough for me to make him the SP1.

Nathan Eovaldi and Pablo Lopez aren’t far behind Sale, as both of them have posted 28.5% strikeout rates so far this year with elite command to go along with it. The problem is that they have much more difficult matchups, with Eovaldi facing a generally underrated Tigers team and Lopez facing the Giants. Despite the tough matchups, both are capable of dominating when they bring their “A” stuff to the table, and both the Tigers and Giants are in the upper half of the league in strikeout rate against RHP.

MacKenzie Gore is the most risk/reward option of the bunch, as he has the highest walk rate and a matchup against a red-hot Cardnals team that has now won 7 games in a row. The good news for Gore is that the Cardinals don’t bring a ton of power upside to the table. I will be keeping a close eye on projected ownership. If Gore checks in much lower than the others, I will almost certainly be overweight on him.

I am ranking this top tier as Sale > Lopez > Gore > Eovaldi, but the margins are thin. If you were to rank Eovaldi first and Sale last, you wouldn’t be crazy for doing so. Some of this is personal preference.

SECONDARY PITCHING OPTIONS

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