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The top daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for FanDuel and DraftKings on May 20th, 2022. Thunder Dan's MLB DFS analysis and sleepers for building optimal DFS rosters.
It's a Friday in May with the weather warming up, school winding down and we have twelve baseball games on tap - what else could you possibly want? Am I right? Oh, you want to win some money playing DFS, too? It's never as easy as it seems, but let's give it a shot, shall we? It's snowing in Colorado, so watch out for a postponement there (though that could make for a more compelling slate).
As always, this article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 5/20/2022 at 7:05 PM EST. The lineup picks will range from some elite high-priced players to mid-priced options, and value plays. I'll give you a few of my top pitching options and then some infielders, outfielders, and teams to stack!
You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports here. It's also essential to monitor injury news and today's MLB starting lineups. Now that we got all of that out of the way, it's onto the picks!
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DraftKings, FanDuel Pitchers - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Chase Silseth, LAA @ OAK ($7,800 DK, $6,400 FD)
I think Silseth is a compelling SP2 today for cash games or tournaments. Or heck, maybe he's your SP1 and you pay down at both pitcher spots on DK to try to load up on bats (although it looks like Coors Field could be a weather postponement today).
We have only one game to go off, but Silseth turned in an excellent performance in his debut against Oakland last time around and now gets them again. I hate picking on the same teams all the time in MLB DFS, but Oakland has really given us very few reasons not to target them often this year - they're very, very bad at the plate. Silseth isn't a strikeout guy, but we saw him put up a very useable score just from pitching deep enough for the win with solid run prevention. On FanDuel, he's so freaking cheap that you could fit a lot of big bats in there with him and I just might do that.
Nestor Cortes Jr, NYY vs. CHW ($10,600 DK, $10,400 FD)
UPDATE: This game has been postponed.
I know you probably think I am nuts for going here and paying top dollar for Super Mario, right? It's a weird slate for pitching today because we have some really solid arms but all of the high-priced pitchers have match-ups that scare me one way or another. I don't want to pay for Lauer as I think regression is coming there and Washington doesn't strike out much. Manaea is facing the Giants who are pesky against LHP and my boy Skubal gets Cleveland who really doesn't strike out much either.
So Cortes is, in some ways by default, my top high-priced arm. I'm usually a bit wary of going with a pitcher who just saw the same offense in their last start, but Cortes was simply magnificent in that last outing, striking out seven White Sox over eight frames. He continues to get it done and as much as I thought the strikeouts were unsustainable (and they probably still are), it doesn't mean that he can't continue to pitch effectively and get guys out either. Chicago's offense has been in a rut of late and picking on them probably isn't entirely safe, but it feels like the best spot for any of the high-priced arms today.
Also consider: Martin Perez (yeah, I know!), Jakob Junis, Daniel Lynch
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Justin Turner - 3B, LAD vs. Ranger Suarez ($4,500 DK, $2,900 FD)
Turner took his good old time getting going this season, but he just might finally be "hot" (don' tell my buddy Jon Anderson that hitters get hot) as he's homered in two straight games. He's always hit lefties well and gets Suarez on the bump tonight, a lefty who has struggled early this year compared to what we saw from him in 2021.
Rhys Hoskins - 1B, PHI vs. Julio Urias ($4,800 DK, $3,600 FD)
Staying in the same game, I like some Phillies' righties here against the lefty Urias, too, who has also looked much more hittable this year compared to last. I love that Hoskins is now leading off against lefties and that we are likely going to get 4-5 at-bats for him here. He's been rolling the last few weeks and I am going to keep targeting him in spots where he has the platoon advantage, as he does here tonight.
Miguel Cabrera - 1B, DET vs. Aaron Civale ($3,000 DK, $2,600 FD)
Miggy is my value play of the day. I like attacking Civale, especially with RHH as he's had very strong reverse splits this year and last. Miggy has been swinging a solid bat over the last few weeks and is one of the few Tigers hitters who is doing anything at the dish. I'm probably not stacking against Civale with how bad Detroit is slumping, but Miggy makes for a nice cheap play here on either site.
Trevor Story - 2B, BOS vs. Robbie Ray ($4,400 DK, $3,400 FD)
Here is my chase play of the day! Story hit THREE home runs last night and was already showing some positive trends at the plate before that. Can he keep it going tonight against Robbie Ray? The Mariners lefty is very HR prone and while Story is a guy who whiffs a lot, he does match up really well against the Ray slider. I'd make him a priority in cash games as I am sure the field is going to be on him today at his affordable price and recency bias.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
J.D. Martinez - OF, BOS vs. Robbie Ray ($4,600 DK, $3,800 FD)
Death, taxes, and J.D. Martinez vs. lefties - isn't that how the old adage goes? We used to say that about Nelson Cruz, but he's struggling this year and might be at the end of the road. Martinez still has a few good years left and has been having a solid start to his 2022 campaign, hitting .325 with five home runs. He was 4-5 last night and a quick glance at his game logs shows you that he's been very productive of late. He smashes fastballs and sliders, which is pretty much all that Robbie Ray throws!
Julio Rodriguez - OF, SEA vs. Michael Wacha ($3,200 DK, $3,100 FD)
Normally I would probably be on J-Rod against a lefty, but Wacha is a reverse-splits righty and Rodriguez just continues to show that he can hit big-league pitching. I have him firmly ahead of Bobby Witt Jr. in the ROY race as he's easily been more consistent and has now stolen 11 bases. He was 3-5 last night with another home run and I'm simply going to keep playing him while he's this cheap because I think he's going to be a 4k or more player on DK very soon.
Kyle Garlick - OF, MIN vs. Daniel Lynch ($2,000 DK, $2,000 FD)
I'm not sure why the sites don't price up Garlick, but here we are again with him at the bare minimum hitting cleanup against a lefty. And while I'm coming around on Lynch as being a decent MLB starter, he still hasn't shown us enough to totally avoid him with bats just yet as he's still walking too many guys and giving up loud contact.
Darin Ruf - 1B/OF, SFG vs. Sean Manaea ($3,800 DK, $2,800 FD)
I usually wouldn't target Manaea, but Ruf has elite splits vs. LHP and is finally hitting the ball well after a really bad April. If you need value, he's usually good for some fantasy points and once in awhile he may even reward you with a homer.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
Boston Red Sox vs. Robbie Ray
You probably noticed already that I like Boston, and it could totally be some recency bias here as they went off last, but this lineup is built to torture left-handers. They have such awesome power from the right side of the plate with Martinez, Boegarts, Story, Dalbec, and even Kiki Hernandez. I'm definitely taking some shots on them here and hoping Robbie Ray is serving up some gopher balls.
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Erick Fedde
Fedde is a tough guy to figure out. He can certainly be an effective pitcher at times when he's getting ground balls, but he's certainly not a guy that we have to avoid with bats either. He seems to have ditched his sinker for a cutter this season and has some decent results with that, but his curveball still gets crushed and he doesn't throw hard enough to blow any fastballs by anyone. The Brewers have the bats to put up a big number here and I really like the lefties, of course, with Rowdy Tellez, Kolten Wong, and Christian Yelich leading the way.
Also consider: Dodgers vs. Suarez, Orioles vs. Beeks/Yarbrough
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