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
Shohei Ohtani + Kevin Gausman
We have two high priced aces toeing the rubber tonight in Ohtani and Gausman. Both have extreme strikeout upside, and both are priced above $10,800 on DraftKings. Current ownership projections have them both over 20% while Ohtani paces the field at 36%. Both have above-average match-ups against the Giants and Guardians respectively – and both can be used in all formats. We also have the presence of Yu Darvish against the Mariners, and I think that pairing two of these three together is a fine strategy in cash game formats. It will leave you a bit thin when it comes to bats, but there is more than enough value to make it work in double-up formats. As for tournaments, I would prefer to save some money with my SP2 and Jack Flaherty checks in as my favorite option. His velocity was back up to the highest number of the season in his first action for the Orioles, and I think he is underpriced even in a tough match-up against the Astros.
We also have Emerson Hancock priced at just $4,000 starting for the Mariners. He was a former top-overall pick that has displayed strikeout ability at the minor league-level. It’s unclear how long the leash will be – but anytime we get a starter with some juice at the minimum price I want to be over the field.
Building Blocks
Ozzie Albies
Albies and the Braves are once again in a top spot tonight when they face off with Quinn Priester. Priester is a top prospect for the Pirates, but I haven’t been extremely impressed with what I’ve seen and he’s really struggled with left-handed batters. Since getting called up, he’s allowing a monster .465 wOBA in the split while Albies best split has been against righties. He has a huge .247 ISO against right-handed pitching this season and matches up very well against Priester’s pitch mix. Atlanta will be a popular stack tonight, but with some of the cheap pitching options I think getting in Albies and at least two other Braves is a priority for me.
Jarren Duran
Duran has been a popular play on many slates this season, and continues to fully break out for the Red Sox. Boston has the highest team total on the slate tonight at almost 7 runs, and they will clearly be the highest-owned stack in all formats. Of all their players, Duran comes in as my favorite option when factoring in price. He has the highest wOBA on the team against RHP this season, and has tapped into his power potential as well. He will be one of the highest-owned players on Wednesday’s slate, but can be considered a building block for cash game formats.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
