Major League Baseball has all 30 teams in action on Friday, and many teams will send their top starting pitcher to the mound to start off their Rivalry Weekend. With 12 of the 15 games on the main DFS fantasy baseball slate that begins at 7:05 p.m. ET, there are 24 scheduled starting pitchers to consider for your roster this Friday. Let’s sort through the options and pinpoint the top five in my MLB DFS pitcher picks.
Before we get into the rankings, a quick note about what to expect. I’ve selected my top five starting pitcher picks from the slate and tried to hit a variety of price points. Depending on what the rest of your roster looks like and how much risk you can tolerate, you can choose the options that best fit your roster build. Based on lineup constructions, ownership projections and value expectations, these are the top five that I’m targeting for my lineups.
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1. Nathan Eovaldi, Texas Rangers ($10,400)
Nasty Nate has been outstanding for the Rangers this season and has the highest fantasy points per game average on Friday’s stacked pitching slate. He has earned 24.1 fantasy points per game in his nine outings with a 4-2 record, 1.78 ERA, 2.13 FIP and 9.7 K/9.
He has at least seven strikeouts in five straight games, totaling 36 strikeouts in 31 innings, while allowing only four earned runs. During that stretch he’s faced the Dodgers, Tigers and Red Sox, so it hasn’t been all easy matchups.
Eovaldi has 23+ fantasy points in four straight starts and has been a reliably productive anchor for the Rangers’ rotation so far this year.
He’s at home on Friday night against the Astros, who are below league average in most offensive stats this season, although they typically don’t strike out a ton. They are a slightly favorable matchup, but given how locked in Eovaldi has been lately, he’s still a strong option to build your MLB DFS lineups around on Friday.
2. Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox ($10,600)
Crochet is the highest priced starting pitcher on the slate as he goes head-to-head with Chris Sale ($8,900) in a matchup of two former White Sox lefties who were both traded to Boston. Crochet has been excellent in his first season after changing his Sox. He is 4-2 in nine starts with a 1.93 ERA, 2.60 FIP and 10.45 K/9.
Crochet had one rough outing against the Mariners, but has allowed two earned runs or fewer in the other eight starts he has made this season. He’s totaled at least six strikeouts in each of his last six starts with over 23 fantasy points in four of those outings. In his last start, he held the Royals to one run on seven hits in seven strong innings with nine strikeouts on his way to 31 fantasy points.
The Braves have struggled to hit away from Truist Park, with a team road batting average of only .216 and a 23.0% strikeout rate. They also have only hit .204 against southpaws this year, and over the last two weeks, they’re averaging only 3.4 runs per game with a .230 average.
3. Corbin Burnes, Arizona Diamondbacks ($9,100)
Burnes gets a great home matchup against the Rockies, who are bad offensively almost any way you slice it. As a team, the have just a 65 wRC+, which means they are 35% below average as a team compared to the rest of the MLB. That does include park factor, but even wth Coors Field, they have scored the second-fewest runs in the majors, producing 3.3 runs per game while hitting .217 as a team. Away from Coors, they are hitting only .189 as a team with a 50 wRC+.
In his last start, Burnes held the mighty Dodgers scoreless for seven innings, allowing just five hits en route to his second win of the season. He posted 25.6 fantasy points in that game and has over 16 fantasy points in each of his last three outings while giving up a total of two earned runs over 18 1/3 innings. His strikeout numbers have been a little down, but facing the free-swinging Rockies should help him get back on track in that category.
Burnes and the Diamondbacks are heavily favored in this matchup, and he should be set up in a good spot for a win if he continues to pitch like he has lately.
4. MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals ($8,600)
Gore and the Nats are in Baltimore for a regional rivalry series this weekend, and the left-hander will look to continue to establish himself as one of the top young pitchers in the majors. In his nine starts, Gore has averaged 21.9 fantasy points per game with a 3.59 ERA, 3.19 FIP and an impressive 12.8 K/9.
I highlighted Gore’s strikeout props as one of my top starting pitcher prop bets of the night, and I love getting him under $9K in this matchup against the Orioles due to his high strikeout ceiling. He had eight strikeouts in six innings against the O’s four starts ago to earn 22.5 fantasy points. He has over 16 fantasy points in five straight games dating back to a dominant performance at Coors Field that earned him 35.9 fantasy points.
His record is only 2-4, but he has pitched much better than that indicates, allowing two runs or fewer in three of his last five outings. He almost always has enough strikeouts to compensate for any runs he does allow. He’s a great mid-range play in today’s MLB DFS slate, one that brings elite upside without a top-tier salary.
5. Taj Bradley, Tampa Bay Rays ($7,000)
To round out my MLB DFS pitcher rankings, Bradley is a great bargain at just $7K, and I highlighted his full outlook in my top bargain picks for the day. If you’re looking to balance out one of the top arms listed above with a cheaper option that allows plenty of salary for your batters, Bradley is a great way to go with your second starting pitcher selection.
Bradley has pitched at least six innings in three of his last four starts, allowing three runs or fewer in each outing. He has a 3-2 record on the year to go with a 4.24 ERA, 4.83 FIP and 1.26 WHIP. His strikeout numbers are down this year with 35 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings after posting a 10.0 K/9 last year, but he has still managed to limit damage with only one bad outing against the Yankees as the exception.
He earned 16.5 fantasy points in six innings against the Brewers in his last start despite working around a rain delay. He had five strikeouts and just one walk, which are positive trends in both categories and could indicate he’s starting to have better control and be set for more strikeouts going forward.
Bradley and the Rays host the Marlins on Friday night to start Rivalry Weekend. While Miami’s offense is much better this year than the last few seasons, they still rank in the bottom-third of the league in runs scored and in the top 10 in strikeout rate. Bradley has a very high ceiling and has been able to avoid enough trouble to also offer a solid floor at $7K.
