MLB Pitching Primer: Saturday, September 8th
Everything in the sport of baseball comes down to the hitter-versus-pitcher matchup – which makes pitching the most important element of MLB DFS play. Without an understanding of the best pitching plays on the day, your DFS efforts will be sunk! Each day, the Pitching Primer will provide you with some of the top pitching plays on the day – taking a close look at the “why” behind these picks, and helping you to identify pitchers others might overlook.
Saturday, September 8th
Early Slate
Welcome to Saturday, loyal baseball reader. I tip my hat to you for still grinding out baseball even as the NFL gets ready to kick off their first full Sunday of football tomorrow. We have a Saturday full of baseball today, with fairly evenly balanced Early and Main Slates today, however be aware that there are multiple weather concerns across the country. On the Early Slate in particular, the Miami – Pittsburgh and Padres – Reds games look like they could run into some weather trouble. As those games look to have at least a 70% chance of rain lasting throughout the day, I’m going to proceed as though they will be rained out, or at least the starting pitchers will be too risky for our purposes.
If we are presuming the Padres-Reds game is off the slate, we have a five-game Early Slate starting on all three sites starting at 4:05PM ET. The first place I’m looking for pitching is in Detroit, where Jack Flaherty looks to continue his strong rookie season against a Tigers offense that ranks 29th in wOBA and 10th in K% against right-handed pitching this season. With a 10.88 K/9, 2.83 ERA (3.43 SIERA), and 1.04 WHIP, Flaherty has outstanding numbers this season and is making a case for the NL Rookie of the Year award. Flaherty and the Cardinals are strong -165 favorites in this matchup, and priced at $10,000 on FanDuel, $10,800 on DraftKings, and $21,400 on FantasyDraft, Flaherty is the most expensive pitcher on the board but still our top option for cash games and a strong GPP option.
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