If you've never played daily fantasy baseball before, it's time to start. Unlike traditional leagues, you're able to select the players you want on that specific day only, giving you a different squad to root for each and every day.
And while there are many platforms to play daily fantasy baseball on, one of our favorites is from our partners over at DraftKings.com, a place where over $300,000,000 will be won this baseball season. Never played over there before? It's time for that to change. Sign up now and use our optimal lineups here at numberFire.com to crush the competition. You won't regret it.
As for today's lineups -- those can be found here. The information below is to help you understand why particular players are being picked, because we don't want you going into the things completely blind. We want to help you. Keep in mind, however, that things often change up until the games start, so make sure you're refreshing the optimal lineups as close to the start of games as possible.
Top Pitchers
High-Cost Pitcher
DraftKings chart at just $8,400, but he's not our top option. That would be Karns against the Cleveland Indians. Karns projects for just shy of five strikeouts today, which is the highest mark among all starters. That makes sense, as his strikeouts per nine innings of 8.41 is third among the starters today.
The Indians rank 14th against righties in wRC+ (99) this season and 17th in wOBA (.308), so there's no reason to be fearful, but the fact of the matter is that there are no clear-cut pitching options tonight. Karns, then, is as trustworthy as anyone else.
Alternative Options: DraftKings. The Astros are tied for ninth in wOBA (.321) against righties this year and are seventh in wRC+ (105). Yikes.
But they do own a strikeout rate of 26.0% against righties, highest in the Majors (the Cubs are second at 24.9% and are the only other team above 23.0%) this season. Blanton has an xFIP of 2.94 this year and a strikeouts-per-nine-innings mark of 8.31 over 26.0 innings. He likely won't last longer than six innings, but dollar-for-dollar, he's the top pitching option on the slate, according to our algorithms.
Alternative Options: DraftKings isn't necessarily cheap, but this is all about being cost-effective.
He's the surest bet we have to get a single tonight, too, but the whole Dodgers team is a viable target today given the matchup and the park factor in Arizona. If Kendrick is on base, good things should be in store for him given the bats behind him.
DraftKings points in six of his last 10 games (though just once in his last five), and the price, situation, and upside make him a good, affordable play tonight.
Alternative Option: Chris Parmelee, Brock Holt