Jared Levitt 
It’s the first Friday of the season and MLB has blessed us with a nice sized 8-game slate of MLB DFS. Unlike yesterday when the slates were filled with aces, we’re back to some second-tier pitching today. That will mean our choices for offense will be a little bit more spread open. Pitching-wise, it also means we’re going to have to scrape a little bit harder to find a patch to success.
Let’s Dig in and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Merrill Kelly ($9.4k on DK) vs. Colorado Rockies
The Rockies are going to be a team that we more than likely attack with pitchers all season long. That even stands when they play in Colorado. This is a bad lineup and they proved that last night as they mustered just 4 hits against Zac Gallen and the rest of the bullpen for the defending NL Champions.
Tonight it won’t get any easier for the Rockies as they take on Merrill Kelly. Kelly had a very solid 2023 campaign, finishing up 12-8 and also setting a career-high 9.47 K/9. 2023 was one of Kelly’s finer seasons and with a date against the Rockies today, he should continue with the momentum he had last year. He’s the second most expensive pitcher on the slate, but the matchup speaks for itself. Lock him in a relatively safe matchup.
Logan Allen ($7.4k on DK) vs. Oakland Athletics
I should preface this by saying that Logan Allen and Shane Bieber are 2 pitchers with very different pedigrees. One has been around the block now for a while and one is entering his second season. Bieber dominated the Athletics last night, with 11 K’s in 6 innings and allowing just 4 measly hits. I’m not expecting the same thing out of Allen tonight, but I’m expecting him to be able to shut down the Athletics with relative ease.
This is a bad A’s team. 100 losses for them in a third consecutive season is not out of the question, and it’s more likely than it isn’t. We’ll continue to pick on them with pitchers and tonight is no different. Allen is coming off a very respectable rookie season, a season that saw him go 7-8 and have a sub-3.5 ERA. I’m expecting him to have a strong opening start today.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Cal Quantrill
This will probably be a chalky stack, but for good reason. The defending NL Champs had their way with the Rockies last night, scoring an impressive 16 runs against Kyle Freeland and the rest of the Rockies bullpen. Do I expect that many runs today? Probably not. I do expect them to put up a solid amount of runs though against Cal Quantrill. After a couple of solid season for the Guardians, Quantrill regressed in 2023. 2023 was his worst season by just about every measure. His K’s were down and his xFIP/ERA were up. It was a struggle for him for most of the season and that should continue this season as he calls Coors Stadium home.
Quantrill struggled vs. lefties last season, giving up an OPS well over .800. He’ll likely face a lineup today that has at least 5 lefties in it. I’ll start with last year’s rookie sensation, Corbin Carroll. He’s primed for a monster night. 21 of his 25 homers last season were against righties. His OPS was also 200 points higher vs. righties than lefties. This is a really solid spot for him against a contact pitcher. I’ll also look to include guys like Ketel Marte, Joc Pederson, and Alek Thomas in my stack. Complimentary pieces to this stack will Lourdes Gurriel and Christian Walker.
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Chris Bassitt
Paging 2lock! When in doubt, we rock the Rays. Don’t get me wrong, Chris Bassitt isn’t a bad pitcher. I’d say he is an average pitcher on his normal days, but when he gets bad he’s really bad. Of all the pitchers throwing today, no one gave up more homers than Bassitt last year. His 28 homers against last year lead this slate by a few homers. With how much power the Rays have, they should be able to get to Bassitt.
The Rays lineup is one that put up a bunch of runs quickly and I think they do that today. My core will be the 2 lefties in this lineup as Bassitt really struggles against them. Those 2 are Brandon Lowe and Richie Palacios. Lowe rebounded after a down year in 2022 with 21 homers in 2023. All of his offensive metrics were back and I hope he continues with his solid play this season as I have him on my season-long team. After the lefties, we’ll want to grab the usual suspects. Randy Arozerena, Yandy Diaz, and Isaac Parades.
I didn’t touch on them, but a complete game stack of the Yankees/Astros game is very much in play. Rodon was horrendous last year and I’ve never been a fan of Christian Javier. There should be plenty of runs scored in this one.
Favorite Prop Bets:
Aaron Judge – Over 1.5 Total Bases – (-130 on DK)
Jose Ramirez – Over 1.5 Total Bases – (+100 on DK)
Corbin Carroll – Over 1.5 Total Bases – (-110 on DK)
Good luck and hope to see you in the green.
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