Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Wednesday 4/30

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2025-04-30 17:16:14 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 Wednesday, everyone! It’s a big birthday milestone for Cheese today, so I am giving him a well-deserved day off. I hope that he will have the energy to return to the office tomorrow, but I’ve got you covered on Wednesday.

We have the usual split slate Wednesday on tap, but today is heavily weighted toward the evening games. If you are looking for content on the early slate, we will have you covered with some tags and analysis in our MLB DFS optimizer.

As for the evening slate, we have 9 games available with lock around 6:30 PM ET. FanDuel is excluding Game 2 of the STL/CIN doubleheader, so we only have 8 games over there. Let’s dig in and see what today has in store!

Editor’s Note: Looking for more places to play? Check out our Underdog Fantasy promo code and PrizePicks promo code, two of the best DFS apps available today.

Wednesday Night Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings

I immediately regret offering to write the article today. This is a nightmare of a pitching slate, but I should not be complaining. Everyone is dealing with the same slate, and there is still money out there to be won!

TOP TIER PITCHING

“Top tier” is a relative term today, but here’s the best of what I can find on the ledger.

Nathan Eovaldi vs. Athletics
Cristopher Sanchez vs. Nationals
Corbin Burnes vs. Mets
Drew Rasmussen vs. Royals
Matthew Boyd vs. Pirates

As usual, I will start with a peek at the 2025 data for these pitchers. As I have mentioned in the weekend articles, we are starting to use the 2025 data more now that we are a month into the season, but we need to keep in mind that this is still a pretty small sample size of around 5 starts for most of them.

Eovaldi – 2.21 ERA, 2.62 xFIP, 27.1% K, 2.1% BB
Sanchez – 3.42 ERA, 2.68 xFIP, 29.5% K, 7.1% BB
Burnes – 4.05 ERA, 4.00 xFIP, 21.9% K, 10.5% BB
Rasmussen – 2.10 ERA, 3.06 xFIP, 27.8% K, 6.2% BB
Boyd – 2.54 ERA, 4.56 xFIP, 19.5% K, 8.1% BB

There are a couple of pitchers in this group that simply don’t offer much appeal from a DFS perspective, especially since nobody in this tier comes at anything resembling a pricing discount.

Corbin Burnes still gets by with his past reputation, but it has been multiple years now since he has been a high-strikeout ace. I have virtually zero interest in using him in a matchup against a red-hot Mets team that has been raking offensively over the past few weeks.

Matthew Boyd is the other pitcher that I can’t get super excited about. He has benefited from a favorable HR/FB rate so far and has an xFIP that is nearly two runs higher than his ERA to go along with below-average strikeouts. The matchup against the Pirates keeps him on the radar, and I think he’s a reasonably safe choice, but I don’t love the upside.

The other three pitchers are all much more appealing. Rasmussen checks in third on my wish list simply because there’s a cap on his ceiling. He has not completed six innings or topped 85 pitches in a single start this year. The Rays always take this approach with their starters, and Rasmussen spent much of last year as an “opener” or “bulk” reliever. I certainly think he’s usable and fine, but I want more from my top-end pitcher.

That leaves us with two options that I believe are the clear top two available. It’s a close call, but I am going to let salary be my guide. Cristopher Sanchez is priced all the way down to $8,200 on DK, which is too cheap for his skill set and strikeout upside in a favorable matchup against Washington. He will also have the L/L matchup edge against Washington’s bigger power bats. Meanwhile, Nathan Eovaldi is cheaper than Sanchez on FD and gets the nod from me over there. He has a 2.05 ERA and a sparkling 29:3 K:BB ratio in his first 5 starts of the season. Let me be clear – I will have plenty of exposure to both pitchers on both sites, as they are clearly the top two options; but if you are trying to decide between them, I would let the salary on each site be the dividing line.

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