UPDATE: Nationals at Rockies has been postponed due to inclement weather.
What will sports fans be watching today, the NBA’s SoFi Play-In Tournament or the 11-game featured evening MLB slate? If you’re the latter, this article’s for you.
For the slate, DraftKings is offering a DFS contest with $200,000 in prizes. Here are two pitchers, three infielders, and three outfielders I’m targeting for tonight’s action.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $200K Rally Cap [$50K to 1st
PITCHER
Stud
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers at Texas Rangers, $10,200 – If I see the ace for my favorite team — who I’m convinced will only fail to become the first Japanese pitcher to win a Cy Young Award if the Dodgers’ plan to limit his workload dissuades voters — I’m picking him. Yamamoto doesn’t typically go deep into games, since Los Angeles is planning for its season to stretch through the end of October, but he’s been incredibly effective, posting a 1.23 ERA and giving up three or fewer hits in three of his four starts so far this season. Combine that with the fact that he’s playing a Texas team that has ranked in the bottom 10 in most important hitting categories so far this season, and he seems like an infallible target.
Value
Hunter Dobbins, Boston Red Sox vs. Chicago White Sox – Dobbins is a rookie with just one career start to his name, and he’ll likely be sent back to Triple-A Worcester after this game, but his one start was pretty good — he picked up the win, going five innings and giving up just two runs on eight hits and two walks (14.7 FPTS) in an 18-7 domination of the St. Louis Cardinals on April 6. In that one start, he arguably got unlucky; his FIP was 2.80 and he surrendered a .500 batting average on balls in play. It’s always possible that rookie woes will set in in his second start, but he couldn’t ask for a kinder opponent: the cellar-dwelling White Sox, who rank last in the league in batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage.
INFIELDER
Stud
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros vs. San Diego Padres, $5,100 – The 34-year-old former AL MVP has moved to the outfield for the first time in his career, switching to left field to account for the arrival of Brendan Rodgers ($2,800), who signed a one-year, $2 million pact in free agency after leaving the Colorado Rockies. But since he’s eligible in both positions, I’ll put him here. He’s off to an excellent start in his 15th season, slashing .311/.342/.446 and averaging 8.2 fantasy points per game. He’s also starting to break out of a cold stretch, going three-for-eight combined between his last two games with a double, scoring one run (13 total FPTS). Meanwhile, he’s going against a starter — Padres southpaw Kyle Hart ($6,200) — who allowed five runs in two-thirds of an inning (-12.1 FPTS) the last time he faced a competent major league offense.
Stud
Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics at Milwaukee Brewers, $4,900 – I picked Soderstrom on Tuesday, and he rewarded my faith with a three-for-five performance, including two home runs and six runs batted in (41 FPTS). I’m not expecting a performance like that from him again today, but after another bomb last night against Chicago, he now has nine home runs on the season, which leads all of the major leagues. He’s just 23 years old and a former first-round pick, so there’s reason to believe his improvement is real. Plus, Milwaukee has allowed the second-most home runs of any team and plays in the league’s eighth-most homer-friendly park, according to Statcast. Brewers starter Freddy Peralta ($9,500) has allowed an above-average homer rate among 86 qualified pitchers so far this season.
Value
Mark Vientos, New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals, $3,800 – Vientos had struggled mightily to begin the season — he’s slashing just .152/.253/.258 — but there are signs that he’s starting to turn that around. The 25-year-old has now recorded a hit in each of his last five games, scored a run in each of his last four, and recorded an RBI in three of those four. He finally hit his first homer of the season in last night’s 4-1 win, taking Andre Pallante deep in the second inning (14 FPTS). He should have a great opportunity to continue raking against Miles Mikolas ($6,800), who unbelievably gave up 11 hits and eight earned runs in 2.2 innings (-15.2 FPTS) on April 6 against the Red Sox, and even his bounce-back performance the following week — five innings, three hits, and three earned runs (14.3 FPTS) — was hardly elite. Mikolas has induced whiffs at just a fourth-percentile rate this season, neutralizing one of Vientos’ weaknesses.
OUTFIELDER
Stud
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, $6,500 – Picking Judge is akin to picking Nikola Jokić in fantasy basketball or Saquon Barkley in fantasy football; the reigning AL MVP is simply too talented not to, even though he’s the most expensive outfielder on tonight’s slate. Judge’s stat lines so far this season are plainly ridiculous: a .400/.512/.771 slash line — all figures that lead all of the major leagues — and an AL-leading 22 RBI’s, 20 runs, and 1.7 WAR. The fact that he’s not leading the league with his seven home runs speaks only to how brilliant Soderstrom and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh ($4,100) have been. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen ($8,300) has been elite, pitching to a 0.60 ERA and giving up no homers so far, but there’s no matchup that would convince me not to pick Judge.
Stud
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins at Atlanta Braves, $4,400 – Atlanta has rebounded somewhat after a hellish 0-7 start to the season, as the Braves now sit a somewhat more respectable 5-13. But today’s starter, Bryce Elder ($6,500), hasn’t really been the reason, as he’s given up three or more runs in both of his starts this season and given up two home runs in each (6.1 FPTS per game). Elder’s presence on the mound presents Buxton with a good opportunity to turn things around; although he’s only slashing .215/.261/400 this season, he has a combination of speed (four stolen bases) and power (three home runs) that make him a viable fantasy option, given that homers are worth 10 fantasy points and stolen bases five. He’s a good candidate to steal a base today; Elder’s fastball ranks in just the 10th percentile in terms of velocity, and catcher Sean Murphy ($4,300) also has a slower-than-average pop time.
Value
Dylan Crews, Washington Nationals at Colorado Rockies, $3,900 – It’s anyone’s guess on any given night who’s going to patrol center field for Washington between Crews and Jacob Young ($3,500). But Crews has earned four or more plate appearances in three of his last four games and gotten a hit in each of his last three, scoring a run in two of them to improve his slash line to a still-awful .140/.183/.140. As bad as Crews has been, he should continue to get opportunities; he was the second overall pick in the 2023 draft and, last season, hit three homers and stole 12 bases in just 31 games. I’m going to bank on the 23-year-old with star potential, who could be due for a breakout against a homer-prone pitcher at Coors Field, and based on their lineup patterns, it seems the Nationals are too.
