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 we actually have a large main slate of MLB DFS. Tonight brings us 10 games of MLB DFS to navigate through. We have some top pitchers in tough spots and some above average pitchers in good spots. It may be a night to hang out in the mid-tier of pitching as the top ones give plenty of risk. We also have some solid spots for offense.
Let’s dig and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Jon Gray vs. St. Louis Cardinals
With news breaking yesterday that Jacob deGrom will need season-ending TJ surgery, the Rangers are going to need someone to step into the ace role. Luckily for them, they have 2 guys that have been performing at an ace level all year, one of those being Jon Gray. Gray has been outstanding of late. Over the last month, Gray has pitched to an insane .79 ERA. Now we can’t expect that to last, especially against a good Cardinals lineup. That said, there aren’t many indicators that are screaming that Gray is due for massive regression.
He’s doing a good job of keeping the contact at a minimum as hitters have just a 73% contact rate vs. him. He’s also done a great job of keeping the ball in the ballpark as he’s surrendered just 2 homers over his last 34 innings of work. Gray’s been an ace and I’m willing to take the risk with him today against the Cardinals with his price being just $8.9k.
Jamie Barria vs. Chicago Cubs
Jamie Barria threw a season-high 90 pitches in his last outing vs. the White Sox and boy was he impressive. He went 5 innings, striking out 6 and giving up just 1 ER. His outing was good enough for 21 DK points. While the Chicago Cubs are a bit better than their cross-town rivals, they haven’t been that much better of late. The Cubs offense over the last week has been essentially dormant.
Outside of their 7-run outburst, they’ve been shut out twice and scored 1 run once. They’re also striking out 34% of the time over the last week. I’m willing to roll the dice tonight with Barria as he’s shown the ability to get guys out consistently and has been rather dominant on the mound. It also helps that he’s just $7k tonight on DK.
I don’t mind either guy in the Mets/Braves game tonight. That game should be low-scoring tonight, strikeouts may be at a minimum though because neither team strikes out that much. I also don’t mind Logan Webb tonight, even though the game is in Colorado. He’s a groundball pitcher so that should help pitching in Colorado.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
Los Angeles Angels vs. Jameson Taillon
James Taillon shocked the world in his last outing by allowing just 1 ER against the San Diego Padres. Up until then, he had allowed at least 4 ER in 4 consecutive starts. A new streak starts today! If we look at the start against the Padres, he benefited from an extremely lucky BABIP of just .176.
You can’t expect to put that many balls in play and they all get caught. I’m hoping for the return of the old Taillon tonight against the Angels. The priority here with the Angels will be the lefties. Taillon has been way worse against them, by a significant margin.
Knowing that I’m going to load up on Shohei Ohtani tonight. He has multiple home run potential tonight in this matchup. His $6.1k price tag is a bit prohibitive, but he has as much upside as anyone in the game. Other lefties in this lineup I’ll look to include tonight will be Matt Thaiss and Jared Walsh. Both guys are sub $3k and will make paying for Ohtani that much easier.
Don’t shy away from the righties here either. If Taillon struggles, we’ll get to the Cubs bullpen early. Trout, Ward, and Drury would be the other main targets here that I’d like to include in my stack.
Cincinnati Reds vs. Noah Syndergaard
At one point, the New York Mets had a trio of starters named Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard. They were as dominant of a threesome of pitchers as there was in the game. This was only 8 years ago and all 3 were in their 20’s. Now, Harvey is retired, deGrom is facing TJ surgery at the age of 35 after years of injuries, and Noah Syndergaard is a shell of the pitcher that got him the nickname Thor.
Syndergaard is now a pitcher we can regularly stack against. Over the last month, he’s pitched to an ERA that’s pushing 7 and has allowed 5 homers in just 21 innings of work. Hitters have a nearly 43% hard-hit rate vs. him and an 84% contact rate. He no longer has the swing-and-miss stuff. I’m not going to be overly concerned with splits vs. Thor.
I’m starting this stack with the top prospect in baseball, Elly De La Cruz. He absolutely annihilated pitches last night in his debut. In just one game, he already has the hardest-hit ball of any Reds player this season. His combination of speed and power is going to be something that will be extremely fun to watch as he grows into the player he will be. He’s also just $2.7k on DK.
Other bats I also like here will be Spencer Steer, Jake Freely, and Matt McLain. The future for the once-storied franchise appears bright again. Reds fans have fun, you’ve deserved it after the last decade of duds.
Other stacks I also like today are the Dodgers vs. Williamson, Yankees vs. Lance Lynn, and Giants vs. Connor Seabold if rain doesn’t cancel the game in Colorado. A complete game stack of the Reds/Dodgers game is very much in play tonight.
MLB DFS Summary
Pitching is blah today, but hitting is plenty. I’m not going to force the top priced arms today because they carry risk.
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.
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