The Lord may rest on a Sunday, but we here at Razzball are doing the heavy lifting so that you can sit back, relax, watch an afternoon full of games, and hopefully see your account increase due to our suggestions. If they work, then you can keep coming back daily for more, and if they don’t, well…even the best hitters fail 70% of the time, right? I guess time will tell if we’re more of the .247 Kris Davis who doesn’t hit much, but when he does, it’s a tank, or if we’re Tony Gwynn who .340s his way to the HOF but doesn’t give the chicks much to dig in the way of the longball. Let’s get to today’s picks!
New to DFS? You can start playing right now on FanDuel and put our picks to the test. If you’re scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray, it helps support your Razzball team!
Zach Eflin, SP: FD: $8,ooo/DK: $7,700 – While the Oakland A’s have sold off nearly everything that isn’t nailed down, the Phillies were buyers this off-season, bolstering their offense with Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. Add those guys to Bryce Harper, JT Realmuto, Rhys Hoskins, and the rest of the gang, and the Phils should score plenty of runs. Streamonator has Eflin tied for the second-most innings projection for SPs on Sunday, and should be able to go 5+ innings. That’s an important qualifier to use when deciding between higher-upside plays who may K more people, but also may not qualify for the dub.
Steven Matz, SP: FD: $7,900/DK: $7,100 – Another pitcher who should be able to get 5+ innings, (tied with Eflin for the second-most projected innings by Streamonator) while also pitching against what should be as bad of an offense as Oakland’s. The only minor quibble a person could make here is that the wind should be strong blowing out to right field, but do the Bucs have anybody to take advantage of that?
Freddie Freeman, C/1B: FD: $4,300 – With all the money I just saved you on pitching, let’s splurge a little on hitting, starting with the newest Dodgers slugger. Freddie gets to face off against Antoni-oh-no Senzatela in Coors Field. Freddie’s price isn’t “Free” but this is the kind of matchup and venue where you’ll be glad you spent on him.
Jared Walsh, C/1B: FD $3,300 – With nasty platoon splits, Walsh is a guy you want to avoid at all costs against lefties. However, righty Jose Urquidy is on the mound to start this game, and if Walsh gets 3 ABs against Jose, you’ll be happy you went to Jared.
Ketel Marte, 2B: FD: $3,300 – Marte crushes LHPs, hitting over .300 in his career vs LHPs and knocking only four fewer HRs than vs RHPs in just under 1,000 fewer plate appearances. He’s facing Blake Snell, who finished last year on a heater, but I’ll wager on Ketel’s career split vs. Blake’s hot two-month stretch 7 months ago.
Kris Bryant, 3B: FD: $4,000 – Bryant is another player with a major split advantage against LHPs, batting nearly 30 points higher, getting on base nearly 40 points higher, and slugging over 80 points higher against southpaws. Bryant faces Julio Urias, and the venue? Coors Field. It’s not summer yet, but thinking about Bryant’s splits vs LHPs is making me hot.
Carlos Correa, SS: FD: $3,500/DK: $5,200 – Correa bet on himself, signing a large one-year contract in the Twin Cities, and we should all bet big Sunday on Correa vs. lefty Marco Gonzales and his 1.8 HR/9 with Seattle last year.
Luis Robert, OF: FD: $4,000/DK: $5,700 – The hitter with the most ridiculously favorable splits out of these picks is La Pantera, who gets to face Tarik Skubal and his 2.2 career HR/9. Robert is already off to a fast start, and he could kick off an early MVP-candidacy with a big day against such a HR-prone hurler.
Dylan Carlson, OF: FD: $3,100/DK: $4,500 – Carlson sat atop the Cardinal lineup on Saturday, hitting in front of guys like Goldy, O’Neill, and Arenado. This could be a really affordable way to bank a lot of DFS points today, as he’s only got Bryse Wilson and the gas cans called the Pittsburgh bullpen in his way, and if/when he’s on base, you can count on those mashers behind him to drive him in.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Surprisingly for this early in the year, the weather looks dry across the slate, so full speed ahead for your favorite teams/players in the northern/northeastern locales. The wind will be blowing out to left at Comerica Park, so the RH sluggers on the White Sox (Luis Robert, Jose Abreu, Eloy Jimenez, Andrew Vaughn) could feast against homer-prone Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal, and the wind will be blowing out more strongly to right field in St. Louis, so the LH hitters in that game may be more juicy.
Doing Lines In Vegas
BetMGM and Caesars both have Milwaukee at -149 over the Cubs, and with the Brew Crew trotting out the best pitcher of all the games on Sunday (Freddy Peralta), they’ve got to be under consideration here. We may rest on Sunday, but Milwaukee’s bats won’t. As mentioned above in the weather section, Chicago (AL) -128 over Detroit (BetMGM) looks pretty tasty with all of those righties looking to tee off on Tarik.
