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Sundays are all about day baseball, and now that we have a game that starts around lunchtime (or before) on the East coast, we get baseball earlier than ever before. There is no night game tonight, as we are on the cusp of the All-Star break! Don't be surprised if we see some star players being rested today to give them an extra day off on their break, and we usually get some wonky lineups on Sundays anyway, right?
Yesterday's picks went pretty well, other than the Coors Field offenses doing absolutely nothing! I usually am inclined to fade Coors, especially when bad teams are playing there but I got sucked into it. My sneaky stack, the Guardians, put up a crooked number, but I didn't have any Phillies - who also went for double-digits off the rookie Meyer (who still scored ok for fantasy) and the Miami bullpen.
As always, this article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Sunday's main slate locks at 1:35 PM EST on DraftKings and FanDuel on 7/17/2022. 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
If you like data, here are some projections for today's starting pitchers. Green is good for the pitcher, while red is bad!
As you can see from the data, I want nothing to do with the lefties today, well except one (stay tuned!)
This slate is loaded with aces, and I am having a hard time paring down my player pool as a result. I am crossing off Cole and Sale from the start, as I really don't want either guy in that game. The rest of the top-tier is firmly in play, but I have two guys I am prioritizing here. If you like Spencer Strider or Shane Bieber, absolutely go for it but I am putting them slightly behind these two.
Dylan Cease @ MIN ($9,000 DK, $10,600 FD)
Cease is the most expensive pitcher on FanDuel, and I think that factor alone may drive players towards some of the other options below him. But on DraftKings, he's only 9k, which is the cheapest price of the top aces. That could make him chalkier over there so plan accordingly. He and Strider are primarily the same pitcher, but we've seen Cease do his thing all season and we are still only dealing with a handful of starts for Strider. While Washington is a better match-up for run prevention, they do strike out significantly less than league average, so I am inclined to side with Cease here for the K upside he brings here against the Twins.
Aaron Nola @ MIA ($9,900 DK, $10,200 FD)
Will people bail on Nola today after two very average outings in his last two starts? I hope so, that will leave him all to me (and you if you choose to get on the Nola train with me). Nola has a strikeout projection over seven today and is on the road against a Miami team that hasn't hit at all so far in this series, managing just one run combined in the first two games. I think we see a big bounce-back performance from him here and I love that we are likely to get seven innings or more with how deep he has been pitching into games lately.
David Peterson @ CHC ($7,800 DK, $9,500 FD)
Here's my sneaky guy today, and it's mainly a DK play since FD priced him up near that top tier (meaning, don't spend 9500 on Peterson when you can find 500 more bucks to get up to the aces above 10k). But as a SP2 on DraftKings, Peterson is going to create an extra 2k of cap space for bats and I'm all about it. He's been really good over his last five starts and has seen a major increase in his strikeouts over that span. He really sold me on his breakout being real in his last start, when he whiffed 9 Braves over 5.1 innings. Walks can bite him in the butt sometimes, but when he's throwing strikes, he can be extremely effective and this Cubs team has been whiffing a ton against LHP lately (29% over the last 14 days).
Also consider - Corey Kluber, Jake Odorizzi
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B, STL vs. Graham Ashcraft ($4,900 DK, $4,000 FD)
Goldy has had simply an incredible first half and the Cards are firmly in play here today after scoring 18 runs in the first two games in this series. The Reds turn to a young, hard-throwing righty Ashcraft to try to slow St. Louis down, but I don't think that happens today. Ashcraft hasn't missed too many bats this year and has shown some strong reverse splits with RHH having significantly better numbers against him. That's trouble against the Cards, who have stud righties like Goldy, Tyler O'Neill, and (maybe) Nolan Arenado. Goldy has been crushing lefties as usual, but his numbers against RHP have been equally impressive (.385 wOBA, .225 ISO). He's about 1000 bucks too cheap on DK, take advantage of that and get him into cash builds.
Jose Ramirez - 3B, CLE vs. Tyler Alexander ($5,500 DK, $4,100 FD)
I'd be nervous to fade J-Ram after watching him explode for two home runs yesterday. Cleveland as an entire offense has struggled against lefties this season, but Ramirez hits everyone and has great splits against LHP in his career. The beauty of rostering J-Ram is that he could go 0-3 against the starter and then swing around from the left side and take a right-handed reliever deep. This Tigers team is limping into the break, and I think Cleveland handles them again today. Alexander isn't very good, either.
Jonathan India - 2B, CIN vs. Steven Matz ($3,500 DK, $2,700 FD)
India has been one of the few bright spots in this Reds lineup lately. He's riding a seven-game hitting streak and has launched two home runs during that stretch. He's just far too cheap for a leadoff man with his hit tool and speed, and I think Cincy is a sneaky spot on this slate as they face the left-handed Matz who is making his first start in two months.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Kyle Tucker - OF, HOU vs. James Kaprielian ($5,300 DK, $3,700 FD)
Tucker's game log shows a few zeroes in a row, but you have to trust me that today is the day that he does work and carries this Houston offense. Lefties have absolutely destroyed Kaprielian this season so far. 58% of the balls hit by LHH have come off the bat at 95 MPH or faster - now that's a stat! Tucker has elite power against righties and his .203 ISO is still low for his standards and what we saw from him last year. I look for him to have a big day at the plate and remind everyone that Yordan Alvarez isn't the only stud left-handed hitter on this team!
Michael Harris II - OF, ATL vs. Erasmo Ramirez ($4,400 DK, $3,300 FD)
Is he the best 9-hitter in baseball? Gavin Lux is probably in the discussion there, too, but Harris has the production to back it up and is now leading the NL ROY race among position players and second in odds only to his teammate, Spencer Strider. Harris and the Braves are basically getting a Nats bullpen game, which means Ramirez for a few innings and then a bunch of relievers. You simply can't sleep on this guy, he has all the tools, and frankly he's been outperforming Ronald Acuna Jr. on certain nights. One of those was yesterday when he was on base three times and swiped three bases. If he's going to have the green light to run like that, he has a massive ceiling and people keep forgetting about him just because he hits ninth!
Leody Taveras - OF, TEX vs. Chris Flexen ($2,400 DK, $3,100 FD)
I'm sorry but I can't stop playing this guy or recommending him, especially on DraftKings, where they raised his price only 100 bucks and he's still cheaper than 90% of the players on the slate. He went 1-4 with a double yesterday, and those 7 DK points that he scored were the fewest in his last seven games. I consider him a free square on DK and he has a much better match-up today against Flexen. On FD, he's now over 3k so I would probably use him only in Texas stacks if you decide to go that route.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
Here are my top stacks for tonight (in the order in which I like them)
- Houston Astros (5.2 implied run total) vs. James Kaprielian (5.97 xFIP)
- St. Louis Cardinals (5.2 implied run total) vs. Graham Ashcraft (4.64 xFIP)
- Seattle Mariners (4.9 implied run total) vs. Glenn Otto (5.56 xFIP)
So I didn't recommend the Braves, aren't you proud of me? Yeah, but you should definitely still consider them as we know the Nats bullpen is terrible. I have Houston and St. Louis as my two top stacks and I'm going to load up on those spots first, but Seattle always piques my interest a bit, too.
I hope I gave you a head start on your research today and I wish you the best of luck! If you ever have questions about DFS or fantasy baseball, my DMs are always open and I appreciate you taking the time to read my picks today.
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