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The top daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for FanDuel and DraftKings on July 2, 2022. Thunder Dan's MLB DFS analysis and sleepers for building optimal DFS rosters.
It's another split-slate Saturday and as much as I love having baseball games spread out all across the day for viewing and monitoring purposes, it makes it really tough as a content creator! DraftKings and FanDuel both have a 9-game slate at 4:05 posted already, with DraftKings also having a 5-game "night" slate up as well. Every team is in action today and the Yankees play the Guardians twice in a day-night doubleheader. For the purpose of this article, I am going to focus on the 4:05 slate that both sites have in common.
You will only find this game on the DK early slate or the FanDuel "all-day" slate, but I am super stoked about the Shane McClanahan and Kevin Gausman pitchers' duel in Toronto. I'll have my action on strikeout props there since I can't really roster those guys on any big DFS slates. Speaking of props, if you didn't know I have a FREE sports betting substack that you can sign up for here and get my personal betting picks delivered to your inbox daily! I might end up posting those picks on RotoBaller here soon, too, but for now - sign up for the substack!
As always, this article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Saturday's main slate locks at 7:05 EST on 7/2/2022. 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
Dylan Cease @ San Francisco ($9,500 DK, $10,700 FD)
Cease is in absolute peak form right now. With 24 strikeouts over his last two starts, he's reminding everyone that he should be very much in the conversation for the AL Cy Young award. What's really wild is that he's only allowed one earned run over his last five starts, spanning 27+ innings. I have his strikeout projection up over eight in this match-up and all those whiffs give him a really solid floor. Sure, he can implode from time to time like any hard-throwing fly-ball pitcher, but you're likely going to get a solid floor here and easily the highest ceiling of any pitcher on the board.
Spencer Strider @ Cincinnati ($8,200 DK, $7,700 FD)
I was a bit surprised that Strider's price dropped on both sites, considering he pitched a gem against the Dodgers his last time out. After he struggled against the Giants, I heard some say that he couldn't handle a good lineup and had been beating up on bad teams like the Pirates and Nationals. I don't really buy that. Not too many guys (other than Hunter Greene) can sit 98-100 MPH on their fastball for six innings and his strikeout upside continues to be substantial, even after he transitioned into a starter. Pitching in Cincy is dangerous for a fly-ball guy, but other than Votto and Moose he doesn't have any other power lefties to worry about in this lineup. He makes for a great SP2 on DK and I love his price on FD for GPPs.
George Kirby vs. Oakland ($7,800 DK, $8,500 FD)
Kirby is looking to bounce back here after a lackluster outing against the Orioles in his last start. The good news is that he gets one of the best match-ups in the league for RHP against this very poor Oakland squad. He pitched very effectively against them just 10 days ago, hurling six shutout innings with six strikeouts and I think that's my expectation for him today. DK continues to undervalue him in their algorithm, so take advantage there by pairing him with Cease (in cash) and Strider in GPPs.
Also consider - Aaron Ashby @ Pittsburgh, Jose Urquidy vs. Los Angeles Angels
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Austin Riley - 3B, ATL vs. Tyler Mahle ($4,700 DK, $3,400 FD)
There was a time when it would be Matt Olson as my first Braves click against Mahle instead of Riley. But Mahle has been solid this season and has really seemed to fix his strong splits from his past by throwing his splitter to lefties more and completely abandoning his slider. He's using a cutter as his third pitch to lefties and getting decent results there. That doesn't mean Olson won't drill a fastball into the seats, it just means my favorite play is the righty Austin Riley instead. For one, Riley has solid splits against righties and a ton of power in his bat. But he also hits the slider really well, which is what he will see from Mahle along with his fastball. A Swanson-Riley-Riley stack is firmly in play and I would even consider adding Marcell Ozuna and/or Travis d'Arnaud.
Rhys Hoskins - 1B, PHI vs. Matthew Liberatore ($4,200 DK, $3,300 FD)
This feels like an absolute no-brainer based on the price and match-up, but in case you didn't notice Hoskins has homered in three straight games and is still very fairly priced on both sites. With a .413 wOBA and .320 ISO against LHP this season, he has some incredible splits, and his profile against Liberatore is very tasty. He's an anchor in my cash game lineup and the first click into my Phillies stack!
Willy Adames - SS, MIL vs. Bryse Wilson ($5,000 DK, $3,500 FD)
After Milwaukee went nuts last night, I expect that they will be popular here, especially with a high Vegas total. I'm not sure we can avoid them, however. Adames had a huge game last night, going 2-6 at the dish with a home run, 4 RBI, and a stolen base. He hits RHP well, with a solid .264 ISO on the season, and is sandwiched between two excellent lefties in Yelich and Tellez. I love the 1-2-3 Brewers stack on FanDuel, where they are incredibly cheap.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Mike Trout - OF, LAA vs. Jose Urquidy ($6,300 DK, $4,500 FD)
I try to limit myself to just one big, expensive bat in these articles because I think it's cheating to just write up the top 5-6 projected hitters when YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN'T FIT THEM ALL INTO THE SAME LINEUP! I love this spot for Trout and other than Ohtani, he's the only Angels hitter I may ever play again. Trout smashes RHP (.406 wOBA, .387 ISO) and gets a reverse splits pitcher today in Urquidy who has allowed a .219 ISO to righties. Urquidy isn't good, even if he has gotten some decent results so far and his 5.17 xFIP and 17% K rate are numbers we would be targeting usually in a pitcher.
Nick Castellanos - OF, PHI vs. Matthew Liberatore ($3,700 DK, $2,800 FD)
I'm pretty committed to this spot for the Phils today. And while Casty has been relatively disappointing so far in the first half, he's offered a glimmer of hope lately that he's going to get it going again. This is a guy who has been a solid hitter for his entire career and he's far too cheap for a hitter of his ability in a match-up with a young lefty who has struggled. Like Hoskins, he hits Liberatore's pitch mix well and I love the price on him and Hoskins both - especially on FanDuel.
Christian Yelich - OF, MIL vs. Bryse Wilson ($4,500, $3,400 FD)
Yelich is thriving in the leadoff role for Milwaukee and his most recent two weeks of performance have been impressive. He's hitting, drawing walks, and in general - getting on base. He's up to 12 steals on the season and is always a threat to swipe a bag. I think he's a smash play today on FanDuel at this price and he should probably be over 5k on DraftKings, too, given his strong recent play, lineup position, and the Brewers' implied team total.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
Here are my top stacks for tonight (in the order in which I like them)
- Atlanta Braves ( 5.2 implied run total) vs. Tyler Mahle (4.65 xFIP)
- Philadelphia Phillies (5.4 implied run total) vs. Matthew Liberatore (6.70 xFIP)
- Milwaukee Brewers (5.6 implied run total) vs. Bryse Wilson (5.25 xFIP)
I talked a bit about all three stacks already in the player write-ups, but the Phillies are in a tremendous spot here against a pitcher who has been pretty bad in his short time in the bigs. The Braves are a boom/bust stack facing a pretty solid pitcher in Mahle, but they're in a great park today and Mahle is backed by a subpar bullpen. The Brewers just hung 17 runs on the Pirates last night, so maybe they'll be chalk, but you can't ignore them because Bryse Wilson sucks and their bullpen is overworked and not good.
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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