After a very weird Thursday with only six MLB games, it's back to a full slate of action tonight! 12 of the 15 baseball games happening today will occur tonight and therefore we get a nice, big juicy main slate for MLB DFS.
Just because football season has started, that doesn't mean it's time to stop playing MLB DFS. And if you have been grinding it with me since April, let's finish strong as there are plenty of slates left and therefore plenty of opportunities to make money.
As always, this article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Friday's main slate locks at 7:05 EST on 9/8/2022. The lineup picks will range from some elite high-priced players to mid-priced options and value plays. I'll give you a few of my top pitching options and then some infielders, outfielders, and teams to stack! You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports here. It's also essential to monitor injury news and today's MLB starting lineups. Now that we got all of that out of the way, it's onto the picks!
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DraftKings, FanDuel Pitchers - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Nick Lodolo @ MIL ($8,600 DK, $9,700 FD)
I really love what this kid has done in his rookie season. He has some excellent swing-and-miss stuff and has really pitched well more often than not. When he does get in trouble, it's usually with walks, which isn't all that uncommon for a young pitcher. He faced Milwaukee earlier this year once and walked four, which led to an early hook and a poor overall outing. But Lodolo has big upside here with a K projection over 7 today as the Brewers are a team that is very strikeout-prone to lefties. He's a road underdog, but I like this offense behind him against Alexander today to give him some run support. If he can navigate McCutchen and Renfroe in this lineup, I love his chances at a really solid outing and a big fantasy score.
Ross Stripling @ TEX ($8,200 DK, $8,700 FD)
In four starts since returning to the Toronto rotation on August 17th, Stripling has gone 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 24 innings! Stripling is an underrated pitcher who has been so vital to Toronto this season, especially with Kikuchi being a bust and Jose Berrios flailing for much of the year. Anyway, Strip has a good match-up here with Texas and a good offense backing him, too. I know we are used to getting him cheaper, but I still think he's fairly priced in the 8k range based on how well he's pitched recently and I like pairing him with Lodolo on DK as a very affordable combo.
Also consider - Frankie Montas vs. TBR, Lance McCullers Jr. vs. LAA
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Rhys Hoskins - 1B, PHI vs. Patrick Corbin ($5,000 DK, $2,900 FD)
It's been quite some time since Hoskins homered last, but I think that he might go yard tonight off lefty Patrick Corbin. Yes, Corbin has pitched well now in two straight starts, but he has been hammered by this Phillies team this season a few times already.
Hoskins has three career HR off Corbin and some great splits this season against lefties, posting a .416 wOBA and .281 ISO. He, like Pete Alonso, is a righty that always profiles well against a lefty who throws sinker/slider like Corbin. So just pretend you are clicking on Pete Alonso today, because Hoskins looks every bit as good as Pete (who also owns Corbin) does in this match-up.
Max Muncy - 2B/3B, LAD vs. Mike Clevinger ($5,000 DK, $2,900 FD)
I don't want to get chasing a hot bat, but at the same time, holy crap look at Muncy's last two games! He went 6-9 with three home runs in the final two games of the Giants series and we've seen him go on these types of streaks before. I wanted to dig in a little futher here to see if this match-up was better than it appeared because Clevinger is a pretty decent pitcher.
And yeah, it's an excellent match-up for Muncy after all. Clevinger has been giving up an average distance of 337 feet on batted balls to lefties with a 45% fly ball rate. That smells like a home run in the making, especially when you consider that he's throwing his fastball nearly 68% of the time against lefties and that's a pitch that Muncy can barrel up for sure.
Elvis Andrus - SS, CHW vs. James Kaprielian ($2,800 DK, $2,300 FD)
Andrus has been a free square now for the last two weeks it seems and I am not sure what else he needs to do in order to get a price increase. He led off with another home run last night and scored three runs in the White Sox bludgeoning of the Athletics. He's been on a tear lately and I see no reason not to plug him in here against Kaprielian, a pitcher who has limped to an xFIP over 6 this season (and over 7+ in his last 4 starts) including some pretty bad numbers to RHH.
Vaughn Grissom - 2B/SS, ATL vs. Robbie Ray ($3,200 DK, $3,000 FD)
I'm probably not stacking Atlanta tonight against Ray, but I do like Grissom here against Ray as he's super cheap and back on another really productive streak, posting double-digit points in four of his last five games. The sample size is still small, but a .470 wOBA and .259 ISO against lefteis certainly has my attention.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
TJ Friedl - OF, CIN vs. Jason Alexander ($2,900 DK, $3,000 FD)
If you're like me, about a month ago you were probably like "who the eff is this guy?" Well, the answer is he's a pretty darn good hitter so far with 5 home runs, 19 RBI, and 6 stolen bases through his first 151 at-bats.
Friedl has been hitting anywhere from 1-5 in the Reds lineup and I'm zeroing in on the Reds lefties today in this spot against Jason Alexander. While Alexander has allowed a higher wOBA and ISO to righties, the batted ball metrics show that lefties are hitting him harder (92 MPH average exit velocity, 42.5% hard contact). Alexander also has a strong split in his ground ball rate, which is a massive 67% to righties, but only 39% to lefties.
Friedl has seen his power trending up lately with the regular playing time and over the last 30 days, he's posting a .494 wOBA and .367 ISO against righties. This game is in Milwaukee, not Cincy, but we know that Miller Park can be good to power hitters, too.
Jake Fraley - OF, CIN vs. Jason Alexander ($3,100 DK, $2,700 FD)
I usually don't do this, but let's go right back to the same spot and talk about Jake Fraley, too. He missed a huge chunk of the season early on but has been arguably their best hitter over the last month and a half. Like Friedl, he's "hot" with a .423 wOBA and .361 ISO over the last month. He's not a big stolen base threat, but he is a nice cheap source of power and I think rolling with either Friedl or Fraley as one of your cheap outfielders is a good move in cash games. Then stack them both together in tournaments!
Kyle Tucker - OF, HOU vs. Michael Lorenzen ($5,200 DK, $3,600 FD)
I've been saving you a bunch of salary with some of these value picks, let's spend up on someone. Kyle Tucker has been one of my favorite DFS plays in the second half of the season. He's been mashing the ball recently and has been active on the basepaths, too, with three steals over the last week. Very few players in MLB have the power/speed combo that Tucker possesses and Lorenzen (fresh off the IL) is the definition of a hittable pitcher.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
Here are my top stacks for tonight (in the order in which I like them)
- Philadelphia Phillies (4.9 implied run total) vs. Patrick Corbin (4.79 xFIP)
- Chicago White Sox (4.3 implied run total) vs. James Kaprielian (6.16 xFIP)
- Cincinnati Reds (3.7 implied run total) vs. Jason Alexander (5.09 xFIP)
No Coors stacks in this article, that is cheating! Obviously, I like mixing in some Coors bats but as full stacks, they might be over-owned tonight with a relatively low total (10.5) for a Coors Field game and two pitchers who could easily troll in Davies and Marquez.
I hope I gave you a head start on your research today and I wish you the best of luck! If you ever have questions about DFS or fantasy baseball, my DMs are always open and I appreciate you taking the time to read my picks today.