Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Aces and Bases, where I’ll be going through the top MLB DFS Aces and Stacks on DraftKings and Fanduel.
It’s Wednesday and that means we have day baseball as it’s getaway day for most teams. We have an 8 game early slate of MLB DFS today. This is going to be a slate packed with offense. We have a Coors game and we also have a warm and windy game in Wrigley. At first glance, pitching is limited on this slate.
Let’s dig and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Zack Wheeler vs. Miami Marlins
With a lack of solid arms this afternoon, I suspect that Wheeler will be extremely popular tonight. He gets a nice matchup vs. a below-average Marlins lineup. Yes, they put an 8 spot vs. the Phillies last night. Aaron Nola has been mostly ineffective this season. Wheeler on the other hand has been pretty good.
After a questionable start to open the year vs. the Rangers, he settled down nicely against the Reds. This is a Marlins lineup that has essentially been terrible vs. righties this season. The projected lineup this afternoon has a K rate over 28% and a wOBA below .290. It’s baseball and anything can happen, but this has ceiling game written all over it for Wheels.
Sonny Gray vs. Chicago White Sox
This is where things start to get a little dicey. After Wheeler, there’s a ton of risk with all pitchers. Sonny Gray has been really solid to start the year. In his last outing, he was absolutely dominant. In 7 innings of work, he struck out 13 Astros. Yes, the lineup is missing Jose Altuve but it’s still a mighty lineup that he was able to beat.
The White Sox also possess a strong lineup, but that is much better against lefties. I tend to only attack them with righties and that’s what we’ll do today with Gray. He’s a slight risk, but he’s been really good to start the year. Look for him to have another really strong outing this afternoon at just $8.3k.
Blake Snell vs. New York Mets
This is also a risky pick, but the New York Mets just haven’t looked good vs. lefties for the past couple of seasons. As a Mets fan, I hope I’m wrong about this one, but I can really see Snell walking through this lineup this afternoon.
Outside of some control issues, Snell was able to do well against mostly the same lineup in the Wild Card Series last year. I’ll more than likely stick with Gray and Wheeler this afternoon, but if you can stomach it, Snell should do well today.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Jose Urena
I normally try to avoid this, but I’m going to a Coors team as my top stack today. The Cardinals get just a monster matchup today vs. an awful pitcher in Jose Urena. In 2 starts this year, Urena hasn’t made it past 2 innings of work. In each game, he’s given 4 ER and at least 1 homer. That trend should continue today vs. one of the better lineups in all of baseball.
Against Urena, I’m going to slightly favor lefties here. Since the start of the 2022 season, lefties have a wOBA of nearly .400 vs. him compared to just .300 for righties. That said, righties are still very much in play here.
I’m going to prioritize getting guys like Nolan Gorman, Brendan Donovan, and Alec Burleson into my stack. Both Gorman and Burleson are priced under $4k today in what should be a splendid environment for baseball in Colorado today. They’ll each have the platoon advantage as well.
With the 2 of them being on the cheaper end, it will make paying up for Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt a smidge easier. If you can only afford one of the expensive pieces here, my lean would be Arenado as he’s swinging a better bat right now. We also can’t forget about rookie phenom Jordan Walker at just $3.4k today. Walker has so far hit safely in every game that he’s played. While he hasn’t full stat lines, the Cardinals should go ham today and Walker very well could be in the middle of it. And he’s dirt cheap.
Philadelphia Phillies vs. Edward Cabrera
It’s going to be warm in Philly today and when it is, the ball travels in good ole Citizens Bank Ball Park. Cabrera has been shaky to start the season. In his 2 starts, he’s faced the Mets both times. He’s walked at least 6 in each of those outings. Against a strong Phillies lineup, you can’t put that many guys on and expect to survive very long.
If his control is off, he’s going to get pounded by this Phillies team. We’re going to want to actually prioritize the righties for the Phillies today. Righties have much better offensive metrics vs. him since the start of the last year.
Knowing that I’ll want to get Trea Turner, JT Realmuto, and Nick Castellanos into my stack. Castle is my favorite of the 3 as he’s the one really hitting the ball well right now. Over his last 3 games, he has 6 hits and has scored or driven in 8 runs. At just $4.2k in this matchup, he’ll be a lock in my stack today.
Just because we like the righties here, doesn’t take away from my love for Kyle Schwarber today. I love targeting him when he faces pitch to contact pitchers. This is the type of matchup where Schwarber can take one very deep into the right-field seats today. With Cabrera’s walk tendencies this season, the Phillies are a full stack for me today. He’ll be putting lots of men on and we’ll want to secure that correlation.
Seattle Mariners vs. Marcus Stroman
I want at least a piece of this game today in Wrigley. It’s supposed to be 80 degrees and the wind blowing 20 mph out to dead center. When the weather is like this, regardless of who is on the mound, the stadium plays like Coors. The ball just absolutely flies and runs get scored. Vegas currently has both teams with an expected run total over 5.
Stroman has yet to yield a run this season, blanking both the Brewers and the Rangers. I just don’t see that happening again today with how the weather is expected to be. These 2 teams combined for 23 runs last night and the weather will be even better today. The pitching will be better, but again, when the weather is like this it doesn’t matter much.
My core with the Mariners today is going to be Julio Rodriguez, Eugenio Suarez, Ty France, and Jarred Kelenic. Let’s get to Kelenic. After struggling mightily in his Major League stints prior to this season, he finally appears to be putting it together. With Edwin Diaz out for the season, it’s making that trade look even worse for the New York Mets. It’s still very early in the season, but Kelenic’s average is up to .330 and most importantly his OBP is over .400. The kid has all the talent in the world and appears to finally be comfortable facing major league pitching. He’s also only $3k today. He’s a lock for me.
Cal Raleigh isn’t in my core, but he’s also in play. He’s crushing the ball right now, with 5 barrels over the last week. At $3.8k, he’s a cheap way to get a piece of an offense with a 5 projected total.
MLB DFS Summary
There’s going to be a lot of offense today. It’s one of the warmer days to start the season and pitching is suspect today. Two of the better pitchers on the slate will be pitching in an environment primed for offense.
Make sure to drop into Discord where we’re constantly talking about plays for every slate.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green.
Make sure you follow me on Twitter at @rangerzfan79 and be sure to sign up for an ALL ACCESS GOLD ACCOUNT here at Win Daily Sports. Gain access to our Projection Models and jump into our Discord where we will have our experts talking plays across every sport and slate!
