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
Zac Gallen
Zac Gallen trails only Corbin Burnes in raw projection tonight, but has a bit better match-up against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not to say that the Reds don’t have strikeouts in their lineup, but I don’t love the form that Burnes has been in and the Reds are the hottest team in baseball sans the Braves — going 21-6 since calling up Elly De La Cruz. Gallen has been money at home this season, posting a 2.60 xFIP with 31% strikeouts in Arizona compared to 4.43 and 22% strikeout numbers on the road. Pittsburgh is striking out the 4th most in baseball as a team over the last 14 days, and I’m ranking Gallen as my number one option in all formats tonight.
Cody Bradford
I wasn’t expecting to write up Cody Bradford when I woke up this morning, but priced at just $4,000 he feels like the optimal SP2 in cash games against the Washington Nationals. Bradford is not a huge name prospect, and we’ve only seen a few starts from him at the big league level but it’s clear he shouldn’t be the minimum price. He profiles as an average MLB starter, he did strike out 25% of batters in Double A and has a 27% strikeout rate in the majors this season. Washington doesn’t strike out much, but this isn’t a good lineup and it would be hard for Bradford to hurt you at this price-tag. Typically when we get a $4K starter like this, I plan to be overweight and I would be using him in both cash games and tournaments tonight on DraftKings.
Building Blocks
Corey Seager
Seager and the Texas Rangers will be no secret tonight, owning a near 6 run implied team total against Trevor Williams. Williams has been bad for the Nationals this season, and has pitched to a near 5.00 SIERA with just 15% strikeouts over the last 30 days. He’s allowing a 41% hard-hit rate over that span and will likely struggle against a Rangers lineup that’s posted a .356 wOBA and .208 ISO against right-handed pitching as a team. Leading the way for them is Seager, who would be firmly in the mix for AL MVP if not for a man named Shohei Ohtani. Seager has the best numbers on the team against RHP, including a monster .456 wOBA this season. Williams throws a ton of fastballs, a pitch that Seager has crushed throughout his career. He is expensive, but is one of the top-overall bats on tonight’s slate and can be used as a one-off or in a stack.
Colton Cowser
I’ve played Cowser in each of his first two big league games, and will continue to do so while he is priced below $3K on DraftKings. Cowser was one of the best prospects in a loaded Orioles system, and it’s pretty crazy to think he made it to the big leagues this quickly. The former fifth-overall pick was batting over .330 in the minors this season and has posted 9 and 8 DK points in his first two major league games. Bailey Ober has been a respectable pitcher for the Twins this season, but this is a bet-on talent play and he is viable as a punt one off as long as they continue to price him here.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
