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
Kevin Gausman + the Field
Gausman is far and away the most expensive pitcher on tonight’s slate — while he’s also projected for the most ownership as well along with Clayton Kershaw. He has firmly entrenched himself in the AL Wild Card race, and a big start tonight would go a long way for his case for the award. Toronto is also in must-win mode with their playoff hopes still in doubt, and they’re going to need a big game from their ace on Wednesday. The match-up is tough against this O’s lineup, but he has had success against them in the past and clearly has the highest strikeout upside ont he slate. He’s the top option for me in cash games tonight.
Luis Severino is popping for heavy ownership due to his sub-$5,500 price-tag but I won’t be touching him. In cash games I will likely look to pair Gausman with Kershaw and spend-down on my hitters. As for GPPs, Dean Kremer looks good to me at projected ownership but overall I might just force in the top SPs and rely on cheaper stacks for this slate.
Building Blocks
Giancarlo Stanton
I can’t believe I’m writing up a Yankees player at this point, but I can’t argue the spot. Mackenzie Gore has been great for the Nationals in his first season there, especially in the strikeout department. He’s shown flashes of the top prospect we once saw, and he does look like he is on the path to developing into the player they thought he could be. That being said, he has struggled with power at times and is allowing a near .200 ISO to right-handed hitters. Stanton has made a career off crushing left-handed pitching and that hasn’t changed in 2023. Despite how bad he has been and the Yankees in general – he still owns a .370 ISO against LHP this season. He matches up well with Gore’s pitch-mix – and can be used in all formats on Wednesday evening.
Brandon Belt
Belt has survived a cold start to 2023, and actually ranks 9th overall in baseball in barrel rate over the last 14 days. For the season, he grades out as the Blue Jays best hitter against right-handed pitching sporting a .378 wOBA and .229 ISO. Dean Kremer has been solid overall for the O’s — but is significantly worse against left-handed hitters than right. Belt is affordable despite his recent hot streak, and will likely be one of the higher-owned plays on Wednesday’s main slate.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
