Jared Levitt 
TGIF! We made it to Friday. In a few hours, we’ll get to sit back and count the hours left we have until the new work week starts. Until that happens though, I have you covered for tonight’s massive 13-game slate of MLB DFS. This is going to be a tricky slate as the top pitchers aren’t in the best of matchups. The pitchers with the highest K rates are facing off against teams that don’t K much. However, we do have some clear-cut stacks to play around with.
Let’s Dig in and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Tarik Skubal ($10k on DK) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
I don’t love the matchup, but I do love the pitcher. Tarik Skubal has been nothing short of masterful this season. On the year, he’s averaging a shade of 25 DK points per game. His ERA is at a career low of 2.02 and his xFIP of 2.53 indicates that he’s not getting lucky to have such a low ERA. He’s pitching as expected. After reaching 11 K/9 in 2023, he’s followed that up with another solid K season with a K/9 of 11.02 through his first 8 starts. His walks are also down as they are 1.47 BB/9, also a career-best number. Nearly every metric is at or near a career-best level.
My only concern here is that the Diamondbacks do not strike out much vs. lefties as they K only 18% of the time vs. them. Skubal is a different animal though and I can see him mowing down some Dbacks tonight. He’s the cheapest he’s been in a month. I’m locking him in as my SP1 tonight.
Christian Scott ($8.4k on DK) vs. Miami Marlins
I’m going to go a bit cheaper for my SP2 tonight and that’s going to be Mets prospect Christian Scott. Scott has only made 2 starts so far in the Show, but they’ve both been solid. While he gave up 3 ER against the Braves, he also struck out 8 of them. That was on the heels of a 6 K performance against the Rays. The kid has legit stuff and if he can K 8 Braves, it will be interesting to see what he can do against a far inferior team in the Marlins.
Scott has been able to do a great job in limiting contact. Hitters have just a 69% contact rate against him and he also has an impressive 17% swinging strike rate. That trails just Jesus Luzardo of tonight’s pitchers. Look for him to continue with his impressive start to his hopefully long and successful career.
Other pitchers that will be in my pool today will be Nestor Cortes vs. the White Sox, Cole Ragans vs. Oakland, and Brayan Bello vs. St. Louis.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
New York Yankees vs. Mike Clevinger
Only 2 teams in baseball currently have 30+ wins. They happen to be the 2 teams I loathe the most the Yankees and Phillies. While I hate it, it’s hard to argue that they aren’t 2 of the best teams in baseball. Both lineups are strong and both have solid pitching. I’m going to target that strong lineup the Yankees have today as they get a strong matchup vs. Mike Clevinger.
Thanks to signing late, he’s only made 2 starts so far. One of those starts was pretty poor and the other wasn’t bad. Overall though, he’s getting hit extremely hard so far this season as hitters have a 40% hard-hit vs. him so far. He’s also letting way too many runners on base so far as he has a 2.1 WHIP. If the Yankees can be patient tonight, they should smash.
Core Bats: Aaron Judge, Juan Soto (if you can only afford one, Soto is my preference)
Secondary Bats: Alex Verdugo, Austin Wells, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Tyler Alexander
This may the first time this season I’m playing the Toronto Blue Jays. As I dig into the numbers, this is a really strong matchup on paper. Tyler Alexander is a below-average pitcher. Through his first 8 outings, 5 of which have been starts, Alexander owns a 5.45 ERA and an xFIP nearing 4.75. While he can occasionally throw together a solid start or 2, he’s also known to throw some duds. He’s coming off his worst start of the year, a game that saw him give up 6 ER to the above-mentioned Yankees.
This seems to be a start that could go south just like his last one. He’s someone that we can count on to give up some hard contact as hitters have a 40% hard-hit rate vs. him this year. He’s only had one start without giving up a barrel and gave up a whopping 6 vs. the Yankees. That’s more than some pitchers will give up in a year. From a pitch standpoint, the Blue Jays lineup well with him. He mostly throws a cutter and although it’s a small sample size, there are a handful of Blue Jays that crush this pitch from lefties.
Core Bats: Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero, Davis Schneider
Secondary Bats: Danny Jensen, Justin Turner, George Springer
Other stacks I like tonight will be the Braves vs. Matt Waldron, Rangers vs. Tyler Anderson, and Angels vs. Andrew Heaney
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