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The top daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings on 5/31/21. Mike Marteny's MLB DFS analysis and sleepers for building optimal DFS rosters.
Hello, RotoBallers, and let me just start by saying Happy Memorial Day! Today is not only the day we often use to kick off summertime, but also an important day to remember those who have served this fine nation in the Armed Forces. Memorial Day brings us plenty of day baseball, with the majority of today's MLB games taking place in the early or mid-afternoon.
We have a 9-game main slate on DraftKings today starting at 1:05 pm Eastern. There's no shortage of good pitching either, as we have several aces on the hill and some other pitchers in great form with good matchups as well. I'll do my best to give you some quality picks for your lineup today and get you started on the right track towards building some winners.
This article will provide you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings on 5/31/2021. The lineup will range from some of the elite players to mid-priced options and value plays. You can also check out today's FanDuel MLB DFS lineup picks and read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports too. It’s also important to monitor injury news and today's MLB starting lineups. If you have any questions or comments, contact me on Twitter.
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DraftKings DFS Starting Pitchers
Corbin Burnes - MIL vs. DET ($9,900)
If you're playing cash games, you should have Burnes in your lineup, it's that simple. His price is comical, really, as he's been one of the best pitchers in the league so far this season and has one of the best matchups of any pitcher going today against the Tigers. Detroit has been picking up recently at the dish, but this is still a team with very poor overall numbers against RHP and a hefty K rate, too. Burnes is a solid favorite here at home and a good bet for 8-10 strikeouts. We saw Cole fail in this spot just a few days ago, but it's still the right spot to attack and Burnes should be heavily owned as a result.
Jose Berrios - MIN @ BAL ($9,400)
After watching Giolito strike out 12 Orioles on Sunday, Berrios should be licking his chops here. He is facing them in consecutive starts, which isn't always ideal, but the recent struggles for the Orioles hitters against RHP make this too good of a play to pass up. After a slow start to the year, Berrios is finally rounding into form and should also be a fairly popular play based on his reputation and the matchup. It's pretty easy to fit both these top two pitchers into cash game builds, and that's probably what I will do.
Other Options: Rich Hill ($8,800), James Kaprielian ($9,100)
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DraftKings DFS Infielders
Mike Zunino - C, TB at NYY ($3,900)
Zunino is having one heck of a season this year with 12 homers already in only a little over 100 at-bats. He has an elite launch angle and is among the league leaders in barrels. Sure, he still strikes out plenty, but when he makes contact it's incredibly good contact and the ball is traveling a long way. I will keep playing him until they finally price him up with the other top-hitting catchers, he has elite power and gets 3-4 at-bats in a great hitters' park today.
Alex Bregman - 3B, HOU vs. BOS ($5,200)
Bregman is a lefty-masher who will face lefty Eduardo Rodriguez today. E-Rod has labored at times this season and now has an ERA over 5 and a 1.40 WHIP. That's a big red flag for me in this matchup because Houston is about the worst possible matchup for lefties, especially if they are struggling to throw strikes. The Astros are patient at the dish, will take walks, and simply don't strike out all that often. Bregman is a tad pricey, but he and the Astros should be on our radar today and we saw them just totally dismantle Blake Snell yesterday.
Jose Altuve - 2B, HOU vs. BOS ($4,600)
Altuve is really fairly priced on this slate. I hate paying over 5k for him with his lack of power, but 4.6k isn't all that bad considering he's about as safe as they come in a DFS play against lefties. He's a great contact hitter who bats .300+ year in and year out and does a great job of getting on base for the big bats behind him. I like attacking E-Rod here with Houston bats and Altuve, Bregman, and Carlos Correa are all firmly in play here.
Willy Adames - SS, MIL vs. DET ($4,100)
Adames looks to be rejuvenated since arriving in Milwaukee after coming over from Tampa. He's hitting up the in the order, too, making him more attractive for DFS. Adames has some solid splits against LHP and some pop in his bat. A matchup with Tyler Alexander and a bad Detroit bullpen should put him firmly on our radar at this very affordable price tag.
DraftKings DFS Outfielders
Trevor Larnach - OF, MIN @ BAL ($2500)
The Twins youngster has been forced into action often this season and has responded with a .845 OPS so far in his rookie year. His average is still down at .228 but we are starting to see him make some really good contact including two homers in his last six games. He's dirt cheap and has a good matchup here against Jorge Lopez, a pitcher who has some very poor overall numbers to LHH over the last several years.
Avisail Garcia - OF, MIL vs. DET ($4,000)
Garcia has been crushing the ball over the last several weeks and hit a deep bomb off Mad Max yesterday. He's now up to 10 homers this season and will have the platoon advantage over lefty Tyler Alexander from the Tigers today. Alexander is making a spot start and won't last long, leaving Garcia with 2-3 at-bats against the league's worst bullpen. You have to love his price here as the clean-up hitter in this Brewers offense that is slowly ramping things up.
Nick Castellanos - OF, CIN vs. PHI ($4,500)
This price almost feels like a total mistake, right? Casty is having another great year at the dish with a .359 average and a massive 1.063 OPS. He's hitting for average and power and will face a pitcher today who's likely to challenge him with fastballs in Velasquez. Vince has been pretty solid for the Phillies since re-entering the rotation, but he's still a fly-ball pitcher who has shown some reverse splits tendencies over the last few years. The Reds are a dangerous team against RHP and I would start my Cincy stacks with an underprice Casty.
DraftKings DFS Stacks
- Cincinnati Reds vs. Vince Velasquez
- Minnesota Twins vs. Jorge Lopez
- Houston Astros vs. Eduardo Rodriguez
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