Million Dollar Musings: MLB DFS Picks Today for Friday 5/8

by Dave Potts (CheeseIsGood) Last Updated 2026-05-08 18:19:07 Premium Content Part of the product MLB DFS

Whether you are looking for the top pitchers or the best stacks, Dave Potts (aka CheeseIsGood) has you covered with an extensive deep dive into his MLB DFS picks today. Cheese, one of the preeminent baseball minds in all of fantasy sports and a winner of a $1,000,000 1st-place prize on both DraftKings and FanDuel, is here to give you his musings on the May 8, 2026 MLB DFS slate.

Happy Friday! We have a big 13-game slate that is absolutely loaded with pitching. We have must-watch TV with aces Jacob Misiorowski and Chris Sale facing the Yankees and Dodgers, respectively, and another 10 or so pitchers who could very much qualify as aces. With all that good pitching, the offense is a little tougher to find, but let’s dive in and see what happens.

Friday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel

We have an absolutely bonkers pitching slate. Or maybe it’s bananas. I don’t know what to call it? Perhaps it’s pandemonium. Let’s find out.

TOP TIER PITCHING

• Jacob Misiorowski vs. Yankees – 34.1% K, 10.7% BB, 3.81 ERA, 3.18 SIERA
• Chris Sale at Dodgers – 31.8% K, 6.5% BB, 2.47 ERA, 2.93 SIERA
• Dylan Cease vs. Angels – 30.5% K, 10% BB, 4.27 ERA, 3.48 SIERA
• Max Fried at Brewers – 23.2% K, 6.6% BB, 2.76 ERA, 3.68 SIERA
• Nolan McLean at Diamondbacks – 31.7% K, 7.9% BB, 2.47 ERA, 2.90 SIERA
• Robbie Ray vs. Pirates – 24.8% K, 9.5% BB, 3.53 ERA, 4.14 SIERA
• Emerson Hancock at White Sox – 20.2% K, 6.8% BB, 4.17 ERA, 4.14 SIERA
• Kris Bubic vs. Tigers – 24.7% K, 9.1% BB, 2.75 ERA, 3.92 SIERA

The first thing you will notice is that the two best pitchers on this slate are facing the Dodgers and Yankees. We then see the inconsistent but elite ceiling of Dylan Cease facing the boom-or-bust Angels. We then see the still erratic Robbie Ray in a home matchup against a Pirates team that is very bad against LHP. Then there’s the ‘what in the world do we do with this guy?’ Emerson Hancock, who is maybe still a low-strikeout pitcher, or maybe he is the guy who just struck out 14 Royals in his last start. Plus, we have the great in real life Max Fried, the 30% strikeout rate of Nolan McLean, and another up-and-down pitcher with a clear ceiling in Kris Bubic. Bananas.

I want to start by stating very clearly and for the record that I cannot tell you who is going to have the best game tonight. All I can tell you is that we’re very likely to see several pitchers put up big fantasy scores, and we are also likely to get a couple duds out of this group. The next thing I’m going to say is that I’m writing this before we have any projected ownership numbers, but my best guess is that ownership is going to get spread out enough that it is not the overriding factor on this slate. But if it is, that is the easiest way to start separating these aces.

Jacob Misiorowski left his last start a little early with a hamstring cramp, but it sounds like no issue, and I’m assuming he’s 100% and back to his 90+ pitches. This guy is up to a silly 38.1% K rate this season, with 5 of his 7 starts over 8 strikeouts. The Yankees do not dampen his strikeout ceiling at all, but with all of their patient bats, they do potentially hurt his borderline control. I don’t know what to say here. I guess I think another game of 8+ strikeouts is the most likely outcome, but I’d also say it’s a little less likely that we get the most extreme ceiling game because of how the Yankees could work up his pitch count. He’s amazing. You should play him, but let’s move on and see what happens.

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