Friday night features a beautiful 12-game MLB DFS slate with many ways to get your fantasy baseball fix on DraftKings, including GPPs, Tiers and Pick6.
However, in this post, we’ll be keying in on some great picks for cash games, contests where your entry fee is doubled and almost half of the players are paid out. In on-diamond terms, we’re looking to hit singles with these lineups, not home runs. Variance is not as much of a factor here, as we look for player with high floors regardless of their ceilings. In short, these should be the safest and most consistent MLB DFS plays of the slate.
With all that in mind, let’s dive into my top picks.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB Single Entry $10 Double Up
SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants, $10,600
Yamamoto is sure to be a popular play as his Dodgers host the Giants in the final game of the night, but for cash game plays, we’re not as worried about hunting players with low ownership like in GPP. Yamamoto has been very consistent this year and has at least 19.9 fantasy points in four of his last five starts, with the one outlier coming against the Yankees.
Overall, he is 6-4 with a 2.20 ERA and 2.90 FIP while piling up 86 strikeouts in 72 2/3 innings. At home, he has 41 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings and has held oppontents to a .198 batting average.
The Giants have scored the fifth-fewest runs in MLB in the last month with a .229 batting average that is the third-lowest during that timeframe. Yamamoto has a high floor since he should be able to hold them in check on Friday night and also has a good ceiling because of his strikeout potential.
2B Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres, $5,500
I love the Diamondbacks’ matchup on Friday night against Stephen Kolek ($8,200) and the Padres, and I included them in my MLB Stacks. Stacking is risky in cash games since you want to be as diversified as possible in this style of contest, but that doesn’t mean Marte isn’t a great option as a standalone play at 2B, which can be a tricky spot to fill.
Marte has been limited to 42 games this season due to injury, but he has been picking things up lately and is locked into a premium lineup spot against Kolek. In his last 23 games, Marte has picked up 29 hits, going 29-for-87 (.333) with two doubles, nine home runs and a .474 wOBA. On top of that, he has added a pair of stolen bases, scored 33 runs and picked up 22 RBI. He has at least seven fantasy points in eight of his last 10 games while averaging 12.3 fantasy points per contest.
On the strong side of the splits against Kolek, he’s a solid play on Friday if you can work his salary into your cash game lineup.
1B Romy Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees, $3,900
Gonzalez only has one homer on the season, but he has filled in fairly decently at 1B for the Red Sox on defense and with a solid batting average. He is hitting .321 in his 24 games with 15 singles, nine doubles, one home run and an average of 8.5 fantasy points per game. He had two hits on Monday against the Rays but has not played since then.
Last week, Gonzalez hit his lone homer of the season in this same matchup against Ryan Yarbrough ($7,000), but for cash games, we’re playing him more for his consistency than for that upside. He is hitting .353 with a .415 wOBA against southpaws like Yabrough in his limited time this year and hit .302 with a .375 wOBA against them last year as well.
On this side of the split in a matchup where he has had success, Gonzalez is a solid play under $4,000 in cash game contests this Friday night.
