Welcome in to Ben’s MLB DFS Building Blocks for DraftKings and FanDuel! In this article, I will highlight my favorite MLB DFS plays for small-field tournament formats. If you’re interested in signing up for premium access, which grants you Core Plays for every slate, projections + expert picks and our premium Discord click HERE. You can also sign up for our AI-driven sports betting tools and access to my daily betting card by clicking HERE. Let’s get into the plays…
Pitcher
Welcome into another season of Ben’s MLB Building Blocks! I believe this is my seventh season providing MLB DFS content and I couldn’t be more excited to have baseball back. Let’s dive into our Wednesday starters…
- Tyler Glasnow
- Mitch Spence
- Jared Jones
- Freddy Peralta
- Jesus Luzardo
This is my list in order of pitchers tonight.
As I’ve noted many times this season, it’s going to be very rare that Tyler Glasnow doesn’t check in as my top option when he toes the rubber. He can be used in all formats, and will likely anchor my main team on DraftKings tonight.
Another reason it’s fairly easy to fit in Glasnow tonight, is the presence of Mitch Spence at min-price. Anytime you get a true min-price pitcher you have to consider him in all formats, especially when he faces off with the Colorado Rockies. Spence posted pretty average numbers in the minors last season, but that doesn’t matter much when you’re this price. He got up over 75 pitches in his last appearance — and if he can give us four to five quality innings at his price he is a smash play. I will likely play 100% of him on Wednesday night.
There are several high-upside pivots we can consider over someone like Glasnow tonight, but none stick out more than Jared Jones. I’ve made notes that I think Jones has been the best pitcher in baseball this season, and he continues to post video game-like strikeout numbers. He’s generating over 40% whiffs with his slider, and that should play tonight vs the Giants. San Francisco’s projected lineup owns just a .241 wOBA and 32% strikeout rate vs the pitch since 2023. He won’t pitch long, but he can rack up points in a hurry and I love him for larger-field contests.
Building Blocks
Kyle Schwarber
Schwarber and the Phillies are in a great spot tonight against Dane Dunning. Overall, the Rangers are in a good spot offensively too — the wind is blowing out in Philly tonight and this game features one of the highest totals on the board at 9.5 runs. Dunning has been a solid MLB pitcher for years now, but not one I’m afraid of attacking. He’s allowing a career-high 49% hard-hit rate this season and could struggle to navigate this Philly lineup multiple times through. He relies heavily on his sinker, and the Phillies lineup as a whole smashes that pitch. Few have more success than Schwarber in the split, who owns a .402 wOBA since the start of 2023 vs sinkers. I love both sides of this game, and Schwarber will anchor my main team on Wednesday.
Jacob Hurtubise
We haven’t seen much from Hurtubise since being called up from the minors, but he will once again lead-off for the Reds on Wednesday. This is a tougher match-up for him against Michael King, but at the end of the day I will rarely pass up a minimum-price lead-off hitter. I’m not looking to stack Cincy, but Hurtubise fits every build as a punt one-off in all formats.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
