MLB DFS Playbook: May 29

There have been few pitchers around baseball better than McClanahan. He is striking people out every time you blink and has 7+ K’s in 8-of-9 starts and has 74 across 52.1 IP. I understand the Yankees' offense can be good, but they’re banged up and this is a good match-up for McClanahan if he avoids Aaron Judge.

Over the last 14 days, not many teams have struck out more than the Cubs and that’s relevant here because Dylan Cease strikes a lot of people out. He has been hit around in two of his three last games, but those came two elite offenses. Cease has a 35% K-rate this year, which is amongst the league-best. The Cubs are 17th in OPS against right-handed pitching on the year.

This might be my favorite match-up on the board for Sunday’s slate. The Marlins not only rank 29th in OPS and wOBA vs. LHP, they’re striking out over 31% of the time! REAL number! Fried provides us length as he’s gone 6+ innings in six straight starts and a very safe floor combined with 30+ DKP upside.

Well that was a quick rise to 8K, wasn’t it? Gray came back from the IL and has made four starts. His first price was 7.7K, his last start was 6.8K, and now he’s 8.2K. Gray has looked great in each of the last four starts he’s made, but his last one was the best of them all. He threw seven scoreless innings while striking out 10 Tigers. His pitch count is back to 90+ as well. KC has been pretty good lately, but they’re still 23rd overall vs. RHP in terms of OPS.

The Indians righty has been great this year and has put up four straight quality starts, three of which have resulted in 20+ DKP. McKenzie now faces a Tigers offense ranking 30th in OPS and 29th in wOBA vs. RHP, while striking out 24.6% of the time. McKenzie’s K-rate is actually down from his career number, which means some positive regression is coming his way. Great value on DK.

Maybe we should be getting behind Freeland more when he’s pitching away from Coors Field. It’s only a three-game sample, but he has a 1.17 ERA and has struck out 18 hitters in 15.1 IP. The Nationals have ranked 25th in OPS over the last 14 days and are 26th in OPS vs. LHP on the year as well. The Nats don’t strike out all that much, so the upside is slightly capped, but he’s so cheap, especially on DK.

Everyone in Boston’s lineup is cookin’ and Vazquez is no exception there. He’s batting .371 over his last 10 games and has seven RBI over his last four games. Righties are batting .280 vs. Bruce Zimmermann.

Old reliable against righties here. Narvaez has back-to-back multi-hit games and is batting .306 with an .859 OPS over his last 10 games. Like the price, the player, and the play for Sunday’s slate.

Jeffers may definitely be behind the dish on Sunday with Gary Sanchez leaving Saturday’s game with a heat-related illness. Zack Greinke is pitching this game and Greinke has really struggled with right-handed hitters. Jeffers has hit 3 HR vs. RHP this year.

If you know me, you know I loveeeee me some left-handed bats against Elieser Hernandez. He keeps proving me right. Last year, he was torched by LHH. This year? No different. Lefties have a .950 OPS and .407 wOBA against him. Olson has a .364 wOBA vs. RHP on the year.

Abreu has really come alive lately, notching a .371/.488/.714 slash over the last 10 games and is riding a seven-game hitting streak overall. He hasn’t had a lot of success against Stroman in the past but has taken him deep.

It has not been a great start to Elvin Rodriguez’s career and going up against the Guardians it’s not going to get any easier. They’re actually a top-10 offense in the league against RHP. Naylor is a big reason why as he’s batting .328 with a .421 wOBA against RHP on the year.

This guy does it ALL at the dish. I prefer him over on FD and the price point under 3K along with THREE position eligibility as well. Over the last 10 games he’s batting .475 with an OPS up over 1.000. He gets an old worn down version of Zack Greinke here.

Dalbec is having a bad, bad campaign, but he did homer on Saturday and now gets a lefty in Bruce Zimmermann on the mound. Zimmermann allowed four home runs during his last start and that’s what we’re hoping for from Dalbec if we use him. He had an .877 OPS against LHP a year ago, so the juice is in there somewhere.

It feels like a letdown these days when Story DOESN’T homer, doesn’t it? He’s been incredible during the month of May and just over the last 10 games he’s hit 7 HR and driven in 21 runs He’s also stolen 2 bases over that span too, so he’s truly doing it all. He has always crushed lefties too.

I’m jamming as many left-handed bats into my lineups as I can with Elieser Hernandez on the hill. Albies hasn’t flashed much power at all lately, but we know he’s very capable of parking one and he’s also a threat on the basepaths. GPPs.

We get an enticing match-up for all of Cleveland and if the Indians keep sending out Miller in the heart of their order, I have some GPP interest. Miller’s had a pretty solid year overall and is batting .281 against right-handed pitching.

I’ve mentioned him a couple times on the podcast but Odor is in a pretty solid groove right about now. He homered against on Saturday and has now pumped 7 XBH (3 HR) over his last 10 games while slashing .316/.333/.684 over that span. This game has a 10 O/U and Nick Pivetta has been known to serve it up.

Devers doesn’t care if you’re righty, lefty, a pitching machine, a robot, 50 cent, whoever. He’ll whatever pitch you have to offer. He’s batting .360 on the year against left-handed pitching and has a match-up against a guy who allowed 4 HR in his last start.

The league leader in RBI is…Jose Ramirez! I love the Indians today and Ramirez is obviously a core member to any stack you make. He has a five-game hitting streak going that includes SEVEN extra-base hits (3 HR) and 11 RBI. Nobody can stop him right now.

I know Elieser is typically worse against left-handed hitters, but Riley hits right-handed pitching very well. He’s also shown some signs of life at the dish lately notching a six-game hitting streak which includes 2 HR and 3 multi-hit outings. He’s 2-for-10 vs. Hernandez but has homered.

Urshela is playing for his life right now with Royce Lewis playing 3B in Triple-A right about now. Urshela, over his last 10 games, has hit .364 and now faces off against Zack Greinke that’s allowing RHH to hit north of .300 on the year.

Although Bogaerts is probably the coldest hitter the Red Sox have to offer right now, he’s still mashing left-handed pitching. He’s hit lefties at a .343 clip along with a .394 wOBA. That goes perfectly with the .280 AVG vs. RHP and .348 wOBA Bruce Zimmermann has allowed.

I like the Correa price tag far more on FD than I do on DK. Correa has been really good lately, he’s just not hitting for any real power. He has a .366/.435/.537 slash over his last 10 games, but 1 HR and 5 RBI and has just 3 HR this year. Greinke stinks vs. RHH, so we have that going for us.

Swanson has been undeniably good lately, hitting .410 over his last 10 games. He is a solid price at a weak position and fits a Braves stack nicely.

Acuna has tremendous upside considering his ability to hit for power and steal bases within the same game. He’s only played in 19 games and has nine stolen bases already. Easier to steal bases with a righty on the mound too.

I mean, what more needs to be said other than a .525 AVG over his last 10 games? His average has risen to .376 on the year because of it and now gets a hittable lefty in Fenway Park. Lock and load.

Mullins is struggling at the dish lately but has really good history against Nick Pivetta. He’s 7-for-18 (.389 AVG) with a home run off of him. He’s also made up for his lack of hits with the stolen bases, stealing four bags over his last 10 games alone.

Love the price and love Kike against left-handed pitching. Don’t be surprise if he launches a lead-off home run. He does that from time to time.

I’m not opposed to using some Orioles against Nick Pivetta here. This games O/U is the best on the board and Pivetta has been pitching better than his numbers suggest. He’s flashed a lot of power against RHP this year and has 5 HR and a .336 wOBA to boot.

Straw isn’t going to step into the dish and blast a home run, but he has massive SB upside when he does in fact reach. He has 9 SB this year and had 30 last year and we know it’s easier to steal against RHP. He has hits in four of his last five games.

Now that he’s getting a little more playing time with regularity, we’re seeing what Larnach can do. He’s homered twice over his last four games and three times over than span he’s reached base 2+ times. He has power and is very patient at the dish as well. Very nice value and nice way to round out your Twins’ stacks.

I really like what we've seen from Gonzalez since getting called up and now he's hitting 5th on Sunday. He draws the split advantage and has a lot of power potential. He has a 31 home run minor league season and belted 9 HR in AAA before the call up.

He went 1-for-3 with a R scored in his debut and the Braves top prospect should continue getting playing time moving forward. He looked comfortable at the plate and that should continue with more at-bats.

ADDED - The Twins have called Lewis up and are starting him in the outfield. There's no reason he should've been sent down to begin with, but he is likely going to start playing all around the Diamond for MIN. He's hitting .314 with a .933 OPS over the 10 games he's played in this year.

ADDED - I like Rutschman best in an Orioles stack. Catcher is a very weak position, so I don't hate the play either.