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.
On this fine Wednesday, we have a nice-sized 8-game slate of MLB DFS. Pitching, as has been the case on most slates this season, is very dicey. Outside of Shohei Ohtani, there are few pitchers in good spots. That said, we have a bunch of offense in solid spots so this should be a fun slate of MLB DFS.
Let’s dig and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Shohei Ohtani vs. St. Louis Cardinals
The 2023 version of the Cardinals is an absolute mess. A team that was dominant vs. lefties last season was held in check last night by Patrick Sandoval. He let up just a single run. This was a matchup that a year ago they would have scored a healthy amount of runs. Well, it’s 2023 and the Cardinals are really struggling. With how badly they are struggling this season, Ohtani should be able to have a ceiling type of game tonight.
He doesn’t come without risk though. Ohtani is coming off a start that saw him give up 5 ER against the Oakland Athletics. Anything can happen on any given day, but I do like the chances of Ohtani having one of his normal dominant outings tonight.
Louie Varland vs. Chicago White Sox
There’s no shot at double aces tonight so I’m going to drop down right to the very bottom of the salary range tonight. Varland is coming off a very strong initial start. Although he gave up 3 homers to the Yankees in that start, he also struck out 8 of them. His groundball rate of 50% in that start was also very impressive. If he can continue to keep the ball on the ground and have his 32% strikeout rate that he did against the Yankees, he could be one of the top values tonight on the mound.
Similar to the Cardinals, this is also a team really struggling. The 2023 White Sox are already 12 games under .500 and after tonight will more than likely be 13. When you’re dealing with a $6k pitcher there’s almost always a high level of risk, but I’m willing to ride that because there’s also a great level of reward here
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
Chicago Cubs vs. Jake Irvin
The Washington Nationals will turn the ball over to Jake Irvin tonight, a pitcher making his major league debut. With Irvin, we’re not talking about a pitcher that is a top prospect. Most scouts predict he’ll be a back end of the rotation guy. Irvin has struggled so far in the minors this season. In 5 starts for Rochester, he has as 5.64 ERA and a strike out rate of just 20%. He’s someone that will most certainly struggle against big league hitting at the start.
It looks like all Cody Bellinger needed was a change of scenery to get back his once MVP-caliber bat. Since coming from paternity leave, he’s 4 for 15 with 2 homers and 5 runs scored. He’s a force in the middle of this lineup and one that I’ll be locking into my MLB DFS stacks tonight.
I’ll also look to add in Dansby Swanson. Swanson is one of the hotter hitters in the game right now. Over the last week, he has 8 hits and has 4 RBI. He also has an OPS of over 1.000. Other bats I like here will be Ian Happ, Patrick Wisdom, and Trey Mancini
Baltimore Orioles vs. Zack Greinke
With each start, it’s becoming more and more obvious that Zack Greinke is washed up. Greinke is coming off by far his worst outing of the year as he gave up 7 ER to the Minnesota Twins last week. Over his last 3 starts, he’s given up 15 ER. I’m expecting more of the same tonight vs. a very solid Orioles lineup. Greinke has been pretty abysmal vs. both sides of the plate so I won’t be overly concerned with splits here.
I’m starting my O’s stack off with Adley Rutschman. While the power hasn’t been there for me recently, it’s only a matter of time. He’s hitting the ball hard (45% hard-hit rate over the last week) and putting the ball in play as he has 9 hits in his last 20 AB. With a launch angle of around 12%, a slight adjustment and those hard-hit balls will leave the park.
I also like Cedric Mullins here and Ryan Mountcaslte. Mountcastle is coming off a monster night so his ownership may be exaggerated, but he’s always a solid play vs. a bad pitcher. I’ll also look to include guys like Austin Hayes, Anthony Santander, and Jorge Mateo.
Other stacks I like tonight are both ends of the Coors game, Boston vs. Alek Manoah (Verdugo would be the priority), and Seattle vs. JP Sears.
MLB DFS Summary
I plan on loading up on O’s bats once again. They helped me last night and they’ll help me again tonight. Pitching, I’m not straying from the 2 names I mentioned.
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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