After a jam-packed afternoon of weekday baseball to celebrate Memorial Day, Major League Baseball has another solid slate of four games lined up for under the lights. The slate starts at 7:05 p.m. ET and includes the Twins-Rays matchup in Tampa, along with the three games hosted by NL West teams later in the evening. As you build your lineups for the night slate, check out these three MLB DFS Bargain Plays who can save significant salary but still bring plenty of upside as you assemble your squad for a fun night of fantasy baseball.
The weather looks solid across the board for these matchups with Chase Field and sunny southern California joining Tampa to provide great game environments. Both Chase Field and George M. Steinbrenner Field play as slightly hitter-friendly parks, and the wind is expected to be blowing out in Tampa. Before game time, it’s always important to check back on the weather forecast and to be sure that the value plays are starting and in solid spots in the batting order.
As you make out your lineup card for this Monday afternoon, be sure to check out the full range of MLB coverage from the team at DKNetwork, since these bargain values are just one piece of the MLB DFS picture to consider.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $88K Relay Throw [$20K to 1st]
SP Zack Littell, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Minnesota Twins, $7,700
The Rays welcome the Twins to Tampa on Monday night in the first game on the night slate, and it should be a solid pitching matchup between Littell and Chris Paddack ($7,300). Of the eight starting pitchers on the board for Monday night, five have salaries under $8,000, including both Paddack and Littell.
I highlighted how effective Littell has been lately and at home in my starting pitcher prop bets for today, and he has a slightly better matchup and has been more consistent than Paddack on the year. Littell has at least 13 fantasy points in four straight games and has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his last five starts. He’s not consistently a high strikeout option but did have five and six strikeouts in his last two home starts to earn 15.3 and 14.5 fantasy points.
Littell should be a strong option against the Twins, who only scored 16 runs in their five games over the last week while hitting .208 as a team with a 22.7% K%. Even when the Twins were hot, their offense wasn’t unstoppable, so Littell has a high floor and a high ceiling on Monday night’s slate.
OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, $3,500
Gurriel continues to be one of the best bargain plays on a regular basis since his salary is hovering around $3,500 while usually hitting third in a very productive lineup. Especially against lefty Andrew Heaney ($8,000) he should be a good option once again on Monday.
With six multi-hit games in his last 12 games, Gurriel is hitting .319 since mid-May with three doubles, a triple, a home run and a stolen base. Over that span, he produced exactly 100 fantasy points for an average of 8.3 fantasy points per game. He has a 36.6% hard-hit rate over that span and has regularly been involved in the middle of the Dbacks’ run production.
Against lefties this season, Gurriel is hitting .259 with three homers and a .337 wOBA. Most of his power comes on that side of the splits, and if he’s in the third spot in the order, he brings a good ceiling as part of a nice Snakes stack against Heaney, who is 1-2 with a 4.44 ERA and 6.29 FIP over his last five outings. In those starts, the veteran lefty has allowed 24 hits and 12 runs with just 11 strikeouts.
1B Spencer Horwitz, Pittsburgh Pirates at Arizona Diamondbacks, $2,700
Horwitz joined the Pirates in an offseason trade with the Guardians and Blue Jays, but he didn’t get into the lineup until mid-May due to a wrist injury. The lefty should get plenty of time on the strong side of the platoon at 1B for Pittsburgh, and he flashed a good ceiling while he was with Toronto last season.
In his 97 games with the Blue Jays, he hit .265 with 12 homers and a .344 wOBA last season. He started strong in his first nine games in Pittsburgh as well, going 7-for-31 (.226) with a home run, two doubles and an average of 5.3 fantasy points per game. He has also gotten a little unlucky since he has a 56.5% hard-hit rate that gives him a .338 xwOBA compared to his .290 wOBA.
He and the Pirates will be in a good matchup against Ryne Nelson ($6,700) in Phoenix. Nelson has allowed 16 runs in 31 innings this season for a 4.60 ERA and 3.56 FIP. He has held lefties to a .176 batting average this season, but that number should regress based on his career-long numbers. Horwitz brings solid power potential and should stay in a premium lineup spot for the Pirates.
