Tuesday brings us a 14-game MLB DFS main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET. FanDuel also offers a full-day slate that includes White Sox vs. Indians, which begins at 6:10 p.m. ET. DraftKings only offers White Sox vs. Indians and its associated players via Showdown rather than the Classic DFS format.
Pitchers
Tuesday’s MLB DFS slate is more flexible and deeper at the pitching position, with a lot of the highest-priced options in concerning matchups.
Eric Lauer, LHP, Milwaukee Brewers ($8,400 DraftKings; $7,800 FanDuel)
One of the favorites on the Bales Model is Eric Lauer. That may be a name that not everyone knows.
Lauer pitches for the Milwaukee Brewers and has been hurt for various parts of the season. He has served as Milwaukee’s sixth starter for during the last two seasons and has even seen time pitching in relief.
In his career, he boasts just under one strikeout per inning, and in 22 innings this season has a 2.45 ERA.
Lauer faces the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, which immediately elevates his fantasy floor. The Tigers batting lineup leads MLB in strikeouts, which makes Detroit’s opposing pitchers premier targets in MLB DFS.
In Lauer’s previous appearance, he threw 85 pitches in six innings; so, he is fully stretched out. Lauer should at least be in consideration on Tuesday night.
Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays ($9,800 DraftKings; $10,700 FanDuel)
Among Tuesday’s “big name” pitchers, Tyler Glasnow stands out as likely the most usable. Glasnow faces the New York Yankees — which feels counterintuitive to call a great matchup, but it clearly is in 2021. The Yankees are 11th-worst in strikeout percentage (K%) and have scored two or fewer runs in nine out of 12 games.
In my estimation, is nearly a 50-50 proposition that Glasnow reaches double-digit strikeouts against New York. The Bales Model projects him to have 7.61 strikeouts.
He has already faced the Yankees once this season. He went five innings, giving up one run and striking out seven batters.
Shane Bieber, RHP, Cleveland Indians ($11,100 on FanDuel only)
Note: DraftKings does not include White Sox vs. Indians in any classic-format DFS contests on Tuesday. However, FanDuel offers an “All Day” slate that incorporates the aforementioned Chicago-Cleveland matchup, including Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber ($11,100).
The White Sox are a much stronger offense than the other three that I have discussed so far. That does not always matter to Bieber.
The chief benefit to rostering Bieber is his pitch-count efficiency, which enables him to reliably pitch more deeply into games. He has completed six innings in nine of 11 starts this season. Especially given that the Indians played a doubleheader on Monday, manager Terry Francona hopes that Bieber’s reliability and endurance will pay dividends again tonight.
In his two previous outings against the White Sox this season, Bieber has pitched a combined 16 innings, given up three earned runs and struck out 22 batters.
I like Bieber as a “safer” cash option. That safety is going to cost you, of course. But, he should avoid the big blow-up game that would hamper an otherwise stellar cash lineup.
Brady Singer, RHP, Kansas City Royals ($6,900 DraftKings; $7,800 FanDuel)
Brady Singer is in a strong matchup as well, as he gets to face the Pittsburgh Pirates. Other than the Tigers, I am not sure that I would want my starter facing any team other than Pittsburgh.
In fairness to the Pirates, they are actually quite better than the Tigers at avoiding strikeouts. However, that discipline has not translated to increased scoring: Pittsburgh has scored the fewest runs per game (3.36) in MLB.
Locking in Singer will not be for the faint of heart; he fits more naturally onto GPP lineups than cash game lineups. Singer has a 6.66 ERA in the month of May, which is obviously concerning. However, he also logged a 3.09 ERA in the month of April. So, he does have the ability to get big league hitters out.
One benefit for Singer is that he has only allowed four home runs this year. So, even though he is allowing one hit per inning, he is nonetheless avoiding the big flies.
I like him as a high risk, high reward play tonight.
Sonny Gray, RHP, Cincinnati Reds ($8,900 DraftKings; $7,700 FanDuel)
The other premier game to discuss is Phillies vs. Reds, which features a great pitching matchup in Aaron Nola vs. Sonny Gray. This has all the signs of a classic pitchers’ duel and is a true pick ’em in Vegas. That limits the upside of either starter to earn the win.
Still, if I really wanted to target this game, I would lean towards locking in Gray. The Phillies are the better offense to target as they average fewer runs and strike out much more frequently. In fairness, the Reds also have the ability to throw up some big numbers, but I do not necessarily expect that tonight.
Moreover, Gray is significantly cheaper than Nola.
Hitters
Notable Stacks
The Colorado Rockies are the best stack of the night on DraftKings:
- 4. C.J Cron (R)
- 5. Charlie Blackmon (L)
- 1. Raimel Tapia (L)
- 2. Garrett Hampson (R)
This group is projected for 36.2 DraftKings points on a salary of $20,500. The Rockies are a completely different team at home than on the road. They average 3.5 more runs per game at home than on the road — and they are in the friendly confines of Coors Field tonight. Colorado faces Rangers starting pitcher Dane Dunning, who has not been as strong in 2021. All four Rockies players in this stack boast at least five ProTrends tonight.
Meanwhile, on FanDuel, the Los Angeles Dodgers feature the best stack of the night:
- 2. Max Muncy (L)
- 3. Justin Turner (R)
- 1. Mookie Betts (R)
- 4. Cody Bellinger (L)
This group is projected for 48.2 FanDuel points on a salary of $14,100. The Dodgers have the highest implied run total of the night at 5.1. They are facing John Gant who has not had a bad 2021 thus far. He has a 1.81 ERA but is mostly a pitch-to-contact pitcher. The Dodgers may be able to take advantage of that tonight.
Other Hitters
Matt Chapman has looked like a shell of himself for the majority of 2021. Still, he is simply too good to stay around .200 for an entire season. He is at least continuing to work his walks (16 in the month of May). He faces a mediocre left-hander in Marco Gonzales tonight, which could help him shrug off his early-season rut.
The Minnesota Twins have been disappointing for nearly all of 2021, but Nelson Cruz has not been. Tonight, Cruz gets to face below-average left-hander Bruce Zimmerman, and he has probably been licking his chops for a week in eager anticipation. Cruz has an OPS of .885 vs. left-handed pitchers as opposed to .817 against right-handers.
I still think Francisco Lindor is too cheap, and his matchup on Tuesday may enable him to find another gear. He is 5-for-13 in his last three games with a double and home run. He faces Caleb Smith tonight, against whom Lindor has gone 2-for-5 lifetime with two home runs. Akin to Chapman, do we really think that Lindor will continue to hit .200 for the entire year?
Photo Credit: John Fisher/Getty Images.
Pictured, from left: Omar Narvaez #10 and Eric Lauer #52 of the Milwaukee Brewers.
