Welcome in to Spike’s Building Blocks for DraftKings & FanDuel! This is a free article written daily to identify my top-overall DFS plays for cash/gpp games and small-field contests on both DraftKings and FanDuel. I truly appreciate everyone that reads and supports the content. If you’d like to support further you can click HERE to sign-up for a MLB Premium package. This gets you access to my Core Plays daily — allowing you to tail my builds, access the premium Discord channels and view our DFS Projections Portal. We’ve been on fire already this MLB season, and there’s no better time to sign-up. With that being said, let’s dive into today’s slate…
Top Pitchers
Merrill Kelly
Another Saturday with very interesting pitching. Kelly stands out the most for me in multiple perspectives. First one that stands out is the fact that The Giants strike out 9.62 times per game which is the 3rd most in the MLB. Adding to that a bit, Kelly ows a 27.1% strikeout rate thus far along with playing in a pitching friendly ballpark. Second is that Merrill has been ptching at a very strong level nearly all year while sporting a 6 pitch variety which is fantastic for finishing off batters. Outside of a couple of batters, San Fransisco doesn’t make a ton of hard contact and more times than not very dependent on the top of the order to bring in runs. Kelly should have very little difficulties and comes in as my top pitching option on the entire slate!
James Paxton
There isn’t a ton of great pitching in any tier today so I am going to stick with a hot hand. Paxton has been without a doubt a solid comeback pitcher. Sporting a 33% strikeout rate with an xBA of .214 and a xwOBA of .290 and a walk rate of only 7% makes this a desirable target. Chicsgo has been very inconsistent and do have some worrisome batters that can hit the ball well. That being said, I am leaning towards Paxton to finish them off in what is a very strong start to the year. CWS are in the middle of the pack for strikeouts per game making this look even better. Not sure what ownership will be like but I am thinking it should be around 15-20% since he is the most expensive pitcher on the slate.
Building Blocks
Elly De La Cruz
The Rays should be the chalk of the day with a matchup against Lyles and Kansas City. I wanted to focus on another spot. This kid has looked fantastic since he got pulled up. As I am sure you all know, he hit for a cycle last night which is ridiculous (in a great way). Jared Shuster has not looked good this year and relies on 3 pitches. 4 seamer, Slider and a changeup. all of these pitches are ones that Elly has found early success on this year. The Great American Ballpark is a very hitter friendly place not to mention the near 90 degree weather that is going to unfold there. I don’t think we see another cycle but I think he can easily put up double digit FP’s here.
My favorite stack for today is going to be The Rays against Lyles! Other teams to stack that I am interested in are The Reds and The Blue Jays!
Spike’s Fun Fact of the Day
Today is my Birthday!
Written by Spiked (Follow @spikedprops on Twitter)
