Welcome in to Ben’s Building Blocks for DraftKings & FanDuel! This is a free article written daily to identify my top-overall DFS plays for cash game 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…
Above is an example of my MLB Core Plays for the 4/27 slate
Top Pitchers
Shane McClanahan + Pablo Lopez
We have our usual big Friday night MLB DFS slate, but with what feels like much less pitching options than usual. For it being a big slate, this is a very watered down pitching slate and I’m expecting ownership to get pushed onto some pretty sketchy options by the time lock rolls around. Shane McClanahan checks in as the most expensive option on the slate, and he currently paces the field in ownership projection as well. This is noteworthy because he left his last start after just three innings due to back tightness. I see no reason why Tampa would push him tonight if he isn’t feeling 100%, so as long as he starts we have to call him the top option on the slate. He has a great match-up against the Seattle Mariners who love to chase pitches out of the zone. Patrick Corbin just struck out 9 Mariners earlier this week. Their projected lineup strikes out 25% of the time vs LHP. Overall, it’s easy to see why he is priced at this salary. Outside of Shane, Pablo Lopez checks in as the best option in all formats. He has struck out 9 batters in each of his last three starts and I don’t mind his match-up against Baltimore as much as the numbers indicate. I’m a believer in Lopez’s stuff, and there has been some reverse line movement in favor of the Twins in this game. There’s just not many trustworthy options on this slate — and I prefer Lopez to someone like James Paxton. Freddy Peralta has a strong match-up against the Pirates — and you could include him in this tier as well.
Note: the more I’ve researched the more I like Peralta and I’m bumping him up to the cash game tier.
Osvaldo Bido
Given that the high-dollar options aren’t incredible tonight, saving money could be the move and I think there is reason to be optimistic about Bido against the Brewers. Milwaukee has been striking out a ton recently, ranking 5th in baseball with a team 26% K% over the last 14 days. We haven’t seen Bido much, and it appears he is outperforming his metrics, but I saw him in person last week and was impressed with his stuff. He leans on his slider more so than his fastball, and the Brewers as a team have terrible numbers against the pitch. He can be used in all formats at his price tag.
Building Blocks
Luis Robert
Luis Robert has been absolutely on fire for the White Sox and has another strong match-up tonight against Luis Medina. Medina has struggled against right-handed hitters this season while Robert has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball during the month of June. Over the last 14 days, he ranks second behind only Shohei Ohtani in barrel-rate and that comes with a near 50% hard-hit rate as well. We know that he has massive power, and he matches up very well against Medina’s pitch mix. Medina is backed by the worst bullpen in baseball, so there is upside even if he doesn’t get anything going against the starting pitcher. Robert is priced below $5,000 on DK, making him one of my top options in all formats.
Edouard Julien
There’s a ton of movement towards the over in this Twins/O’s game tonight and I have reason to believe we will see plenty of offense. Julien is locked into the two hole for the Twins tonight against Dean Kremer – who has outperformed his metrics all season. Julien has shown good power for the Twins this season, and matches up well against Kremer’s pitch mix. He can be used in a stack or as a one-off on Friday night.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
