MLB PrizePicks Predictions Today: Top Plays for Thursday, May 23rd
Traditional MLB DFS formats aren’t the only way to profit from daily fantasy baseball. MLB PrizePicks is a great fantasy pick’em site where we can take today’s projections versus theirs and combine two or more baseball predictions for sizeable payouts.
In this space, we’ll explore a few PrizePicks plays for the upcoming MLB slate. This article isn’t the be-all, end-all of great plays or a recommendation for a full ticket; it’s simply a starting place for you to explore thinking about the game within the game. Maybe you want to scatter these plays across entries. Maybe there are only two or three you think are worth playing. Daily fantasy pick’em gives us the flexibility to make only the plays in which we think there is value rather than being forced to create a full lineup while competing against the best DFS players in the industry.
PrizePicks is daily fantasy baseball made simple, and our MLB PrizePicks tool makes the process even simpler.
All stats cited are since the start of the 2023 season unless otherwise noted.
If you haven’t signed up for a PrizePicks account, make sure to use the PrizePicks promo code ROTOBONUS and get a $100 deposit match.
MLB PrizePicks Predictions for Thursday, May 23rd
- Luis Gil MORE Than 7.0 Strikeouts
- Paul Skenes LESS Than 16.5 Outs
- Zack Wheeler LESS Than 38.5 Fantasy Points
Luis Gil MORE Than 7.0 Strikeouts
The Mariners have a whopping 28.2% K rate this season against righties, and Luis Gil comes into this game with 11.39 K/9. Gil’s ridiculously high BB rate is gonna threaten his volume, but he’s completed 6 innings in his last four starts, so we should get the volume to get to 8 Ks on the day. We have Gil projected for 7.8 strikeouts for the best strikeout play on the board.
Paul Skenes LESS Than 16.5 Outs
The best play on the board according to our pick ‘em tool is Paul Skenes for LESS than 16.5 outs, and the logic is fairly simple. He rolled through the Cubs for 100 pitches in 6 IP, but the Pirates have been clear that they don’t wanna overwork him, so his ceiling is very low for volume. We have him projected for 15.4 outs for that reason, and the floor is in the neighborhood of 12-13 outs if he gets into some trouble. Pittsburgh isn’t a great place to hit, but the Giants are getting a park upgrade, and their projected lineup has a 9% BB rate against righties, so they could make Skenes work. Add 4 double-digit barrel rates to the lineup, and there’s a shot that Skenes gets into deep trouble that the Pirates don’t let him work through. Skenes is a great talent who is capable of going 95 pitches against anyone for 18 outs, but the leash is really short.
Zack Wheeler LESS Than 38.5 Fantasy Points
Zack Wheeler has thrown 100+ pitches in 7 of his last 8 starts, but he only threw 80 when the Marlins tagged him for 6 ERs in Miami. We also saw the Pirates score 5 on him earlier this season. The point is that Wheeler isn’t invincible, and the Rangers are a really, really good offense. His ceiling is 60 points against just about anyone, but the chance for negative points against a strong offense is definitely in the cards. PrizePicks’ projection of 38.5 is right in the spot of intrigue to go either way, but the pick ‘em tool says that we should play this based on the Rangers’ offense more than Wheeler’s skills. We have Wheeler projected for 34.9 fantasy points, but the range of outcomes is huge.
All projections referenced are accurate at the time of writing but subject to change.
The DEMON boosts are not really coming in hard today for the early start. I suggest a low volume of 3-4 flex plays. Personally, I’m playing about 25% of what I normally play and calling it a day. There’s just too much risk out there that I don’t wanna tolerate. I named three of the best plays on the board, and these are still really shaky.
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