Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to Friday’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 full-slate Friday and tonight we have a massive 14-game slate of MLB DFS to navigate through. This slate brings us a lack of high-end pitching, but it does bring us some competent starters that are in good spots. We also have a healthy amount of bats that are in solid spots so we should see some offense tonight.
Let’s dig and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Michael Kopech vs. Seattle Mariners
The former top prospect for the Chicago White Sox is finally living up to his potential.. Since May 12, Michael Kopech has 3 starts where he hasn’t allowed an ER. That’s over the course of 6 starts. Over those 6 starts, he’s also had no less than 5 strikeouts in any game, with 2 of the starts being in double digits. From a DK standpoint, Kopech has reached into the upper 20’s in 3 of his last 5 starts. The 2 starts that he didn’t, he was still in the upper teens.
Tonight, he’ll have the luxury of facing off against a Mariners lineup that for the most part has been extremely disappointing. With how well Kopech has been pitching and how inconsistent the Mariners have been, this sets up nicely for Kopech to have a solid night tonight.
Taijuan Walker vs. Oakland Athletics
After a nice stretch of baseball and their reverse boycott, the Oakland Athletics have come back down to earth and have lost back-to-back games. After tonight, it should be 3 straight losses as they face the streaking Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies have won 8 of their last 10 games and show no signs of slowing down. They’ll turn the ball over to Taijuan Walker tonight.
Walker is coming off back-to-back dominant starts and hasn’t allowed more than 3 ER in a start since May 17. He’s pitching some of his best baseball in a Phillies uniform and a date with the A’s shouldn’t slow him down. Walker is mostly a splitter pitcher as he throws it more than 30% of the time to both sides of the plate. Up and down the lineup, this is a pitch that the A’s struggle with. He should haven’t a dominant outing.
Other pitchers that I’m interested in tonight are going to be Rich Hill vs. Milwaukee and Julio Teheran vs. Pittsburgh. The Brewers have been awful vs. lefties this season and there is no lefty craftier than Hill. He very well could walk through this lineup tonight. On the other side of the game, Teheran has been brilliant since being recalled by the Brewers. Although the Pirates have been good this year, Teheran has a shot to really dominate them tonight.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
Atlanta Braves vs. Dinelson Lamet
We’ll be using the Braves often the rest of the way out. They are as good of a lineup in baseball as there is. Up and down the lineup they have studs and with a matchup against Dinelson Lamet tonight, they should crush. Lamet has struggled mightily this season as his ERA for the year is north of 10. When you’re talking about a pitcher in double digits in terms of ERA, that’s bad. Since being recalled at the end of May, Lamet has allowed a hard-hit rate of nearly 40%.
Although he’s only allowed 1 homer in the 11 innings, it’s only a matter of time before more balls leave the park when you combine his hard-hit rate and his nearly 37% fly ball rate. We have no reason to be selective with any specific side of the plate tonight as Lamet has been horrendous against both righties and lefties.
The obvious plays here are Ronald Acuna and Matt Olson. They are the 2 premier hitters in this lineup and have as much as upside as anyone else tonight. They’ll cost us a pretty penny though. If you play them together, they’re going to eat up nearly $13k of your budget on DK. The not-so-obvious plays tonight from the Braves will be Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris, and Marcel Ozuna.
The three of them rank 2,3, and 4 in terms of wRC over the last week on the Braves. They are also significantly cheaper than both Acuna and Olson. With all of that being said, this entire lineup is going to be in play tonight. They have a current implied run total of close to 6.5. This game is in Atlanta, not Colorado. Expect the Braves to score a ton tonight.
Kansas City Royals vs. Patrick Sandoval
Patrick Sandoval is having a season to forget. His strikeouts are down nearly 3 per 9 innings and his ERA is the highest it’s been since all the way back in the shortened season of 2020. If we look at what he’s done more recently, he’s been even worse. Over the last month, his ERA is over 7.5 and he’s allowing a ton of hard contact at 38%. He’s also allowing a ton of runners with a WHIP of 2.11.
If the Royals can be patient tonight, they’ll get some runners on. It’s simple math, more runners equals more opportunities for runs. Another reason for this route with the Royals is that they’re cheap. Outside of this Bobby Witt and Salvador Perez, there’s a ton of value in this lineup.
Like the Braves, we have some obvious plays and those are going to be Witt and Perez. They both stand to do well against Sandoval tonight. I’m going to look to some cheap guys though to help afford some of those expensive Braves. Both Maikel Garcia and Edward Olivares have done well vs. southpaws this season.
Garcia has a wOBA of .388 in 53 plate appearances and Olivares has a .353 wOBA in 116 plate appearances. MJ Melendez is also in play as he’s good vs. lefties and Sandoval has actually been slightly worse against lefties this season. He’s just $3.1k on DK tonight. Again, there’s a lot of value in this Royals lineup to get in the expensive Braves.
Other stacks I like tonight are going to be the Cardinals vs. Tylor Megill and the Phillies vs. JP Sears. The Phillies are red hot and are facing a pitcher in Sears that should see some negative regression. His xFIP is nearly 3 runs higher than his ERA. The Phillies should accelerate that regression tonight with how well they’ve been hitting.
MLB DFS Summary
This slate tonight has a little bit of everything. Solid pitching and solid spots for offense. There are many different routes to points tonight and the ones I laid out are my favorite.
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!
