MLB Pitching Primer: Sunday, April 1st

by John Breslin (squirrelpatrol) Last Updated 2018-04-01 17:28:53 Premium Content Part of the product SimLabs+

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.

Sunday, April 1st

Happy Easter Sunday! We have a seven-game main slate on FanDuel that starts at 1:05 PM, and a similar eight-game main slate on DraftKings that tacks on the 3:05 PM Houston – Texas match-up. Let’s take a look at the top arms going to day and hope that none of them play an April Fool’s joke on us today:

Arms To Trust:

Luke Weaver vs New York Mets

There isn’t much reason why the pitcher who has the second-lowest projected runs against and the highest K/9 on the slate is priced in the middle of the pack on both FanDuel and DraftKings, but that is the situation we have today. Weaver is a slight -140 favorite against the Mets, but the low total for the game has the Mets’ projected run total at around 3.6. Weaver was excellent in 60.1 IP last season, putting up a 7-2 record, 3.88 ERA, and 1.26 WHIP, but what I’m really interested in is the 10.74 K/9 which gives him as much upside as anyone on the slate. He is priced as only the 7th-most expensive Pitcher on DraftKings and the 5th-most expensive on FanDuel, making him the best upside-per-dollar play on both sites.