MLB DFS Expert Survey: Friday, July 11th
Our panel of experts is here to give you their MLB DFS advice for today’s main slate contests by answering a handful of questions to help you make crucial lineup-building decisions. Want to know CheeseIsGood’s favorite sneaky stack? Or headChopper’s top overall pitcher? Find out below!
MLB DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Expert Survey for Friday, July 11
Who is your favorite hitter to spend up for in cash games?
CheeseIsGood: Elly De La Cruz
stevietpfl: Elly De La Cruz
boggslite: Elly De La Cruz
Dean78904: Vladimir Guerrero (FD) / Elly De La Cruz (DK)
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What is your preferred tournament format (e.g. large-field, single-entry) to play on this slate? How do you plan to beat that field of opponents? What tactic or strategy will set you apart?
CheeseIsGood: I prefer small-field tournaments on these huge slates. With 15 games (14 on FD), some random pitcher and some random offense is always going to bonkers, and in the deep MME tournaments, someone always lands on that nonsensical combo that wins. But in single-entry and smaller-field contests, you don’t need that one completely off-the-board thing. This allows you to focus on the handful of top-tier options while also having enough of those options that nothing should be overly chalky. It’s tough to imagine winning without some sort of ceiling game from a pitcher, so I’ll be focused on the top three of Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, and Joe Ryan, with Chase Burns as the salary saver. This will be the common build, but then there are still so many offenses that you are not likely to run into a fully chalky build. I like the Yankees and Blue Jays best and will try to stick to my top 6-7 stacks in most lineups.
stevietpfl: I’m going to build 3–4 teams in single-entry contests. I’m going to focus my builds around Tarik Skubal and Chase Burns. Burns is still a young pitcher, and if I’m going to be overweight on him, I don’t want to play a ton of teams. I’ll make enough lineups to cover the bats I want to play with him, and if he has a bad game, I’ll move on to Saturday. I think he has a massive ceiling, and we might see his first of many career-type games.
boggslite: Large-field tournaments – It’s rare that a rookie pitcher is a major decision point on a full slate, but such is the case tonight with Chase Burns at $7,500 on DK against the Rockies. I plan to play him only with lower-owned stacks and pivot to Gavin Williams or Max Scherzer if I need salary in chalkier stacks. I want to spread my exposure around to several stacks, with the Yankees, Reds, and Blue Jays a priority for me.
Dean78904: I mostly focus on single-entry and smaller-field contests. We have a massive slate, so I’m going to be selective. My pitching pool could be as small as 4 arms: Tarik Skubal, Joe Ryan, Paul Skenes, and Chase Burns. I’d be thrilled to stop there if salary allows. I am once again enamored with the ballpark environment in Sacramento, so I love both sides of the TOR/ATH game. I generally lean toward 4-2-2 or 3-3-1-1 stack iterations, as I like to homer-hunt across multiple games, but I won’t be mad if I end up on an organic TOR/ATH game stack.
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About the Author

Justin Bailey (aka jbails26) is the Lead Editor for RotoGrinders and FantasyLabs. He’s been playing DFS since 2013 and specializes in small-field NFL and PGA contests (but still dabbles in MME). Justin qualified for the DraftKings Fantasy Golf World Championship in 2023. Follow Justin on X – @justinbailey32