Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks for Sunday, May 26th
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 Sunday, Grinders! We have a little bit of a weird Sunday slate on tap. The new Roku MLB schedule is taking one game away from us, as the TOR/DET game is starting in the late morning hours today. The LAD/CIN game has been moved up due to potential weather concerns. There are also a few more West Coast games than usual. That leaves us with a relatively small seven-game main slate on DK today. We do have eight games on FD, where they are including the PHI/COL game at Coors Field.
This is also a slate that looks to be extremely tilted toward the pitching side as opposed to the bats.
We also need to monitor the weather today, highlighted by an ORANGE preliminary rating from Kevin Roth in the BAL/CWS game. As of now, Roth expects the game to play after a possible early delay, so I am going to write this article as though every game plays. Keep an eye on the forecast here.
Let’s dig in and see what this Sunday docket has to offer for MLB DFS picks!
Sunday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings
There are a LOT of viable arms today despite the fact that we have a shorter slate than usual. As such, I am still going to split the pitchers into tiers this afternoon.
TOP TIER PITCHING
Chris Sale vs. Pirates
Pablo Lopez vs. Rangers
Ranger Suarez vs. Rockies (FD Only)
I will split out these three as the top overall arms on the slate given their track record. As usual, let’s start with a peek at the 2024 data:
Sale – 2.22 ERA, 2.39 xFIP, 32% K, 4% BB
Lopez – 4.72 ERA, 3.05 xFIP, 28% K, 4% BB
Suarez – 1.36 ERA, 2.65 xFIP, 28% K, 5% BB
All three of these pitchers have fantastic peripherals, but I have a clear preference today. As crazy as this is to say, Chris Sale could be having his best MLB season at age 35. Sale owns a 2.22 ERA and 2.39 xFIP so far in 2024, and he has an immaculate 31.7% strikeout rate and 3.6% walk rate. The Pirates are still a bit deficient offensively, and they have the 4th-highest team strikeout rate against left-handed pitching this year. Even on a slate loaded with good pitching, Sale is my clear SP1.
This isn’t to say that you can’t use one of the other two pitchers, though. Pablo Lopez has been a bit of a bad luck victim and is much better than his 4.72 surface ERA would indicate. The advanced metrics are strong, and you certainly can’t argue against a 28% strikeout rate and 4% walk rate. The matchup against the Rangers knocks him down my list a bit on a slate where we can afford to be picky with our pitching choices, but I will keep him in my MME pitching pool.
Ranger Suarez has been perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2024 season. While I still expect some regression in the long run, he’s simply been fantastic. Pitching at Coors Field is never fun, but this Rockies lineup is abysmal. I have no qualms about using Suarez on FD, but I do prefer Sale if you are spending up.
SECONDARY TIER PITCHING
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