MLB Pitching Primer: Thursday, August 9th

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.

Thursday, August 9th

Welcome to Thursday! We have a smaller six-game Main Slate tonight, but we have some major arms going, which should make things interesting. Let’s take a look at the pitchers taking the hill tonight and see if we can find an edge.

Arms To Trust

Justin Verlander vs Seattle Mariners
James Paxton at Houston Astros

We should have a pitching duel in Houston tonight, where Verlander and the Astros are taking on James Paxton and the Mariners. Houston is a solid -160 favorite as the home team, and Verlander has put up some of the best numbers in baseball this season with a 2.19 ERA (2.74 SIERA), a 0.88 WHIP, and a 11.74 K/9.

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About the Author

squirrelpatrol
John Breslin (squirrelpatrol)

John Breslin (aka squirrelpatrol) is a consistent top-ranked Grinder and one of the best tournament players in the entire DFS industry. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and graduated with an MBA from prestigious New York University. John is a Live Final specialist who has won 100+ Live Final seats. He took home 1st place at the 2018 FanDuel World Fantasy Baseball Championship ($300,000 prize), both 1st ($500,000 prize) and 2nd place ($200,000 prize) at the 2021 FanDuel World Fantasy Basketball Championship, 2nd place at the 2022 FanDuel World Fantasy Baseball Championship ($250,000 prize), and 2nd place at the 2023 DraftKings Fantasy Baseball World Championship ($600,000 prize). And most recently, he took down the NFL Milly Maker ($1,000,000 prize) in Week 2 of the 2023 season. John has been playing fantasy sports since 1996 and is still scarred from being on the losing end of James Stewart’s 5-TD performance in 1997. Follow Squirrel on Twitter – @jbresl