TGIF, am I right?
Except I’m happy its Friday because that means there’s a massive 13-game MLB DFS featured slate on DraftKings. I care not for the weekend. I’m just built different, I guess. Addicted to the grind.
Let’s dive in and break down some must-starts for tonight’s action on the diamond.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: MLB $200K Rally Cap [$50K to 1st]
SP Hunter Brown, Houston Astros at Los Angeles Angels, $11,200
Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and spend up on the highest-priced player. That’s how good the matchup is for Hunter Brown on Friday. There are other appealing assets above $9,000 — Joe Ryan ($9,500) and Nick Pivetta ($9,300) spring to mind — but Brown will face-off with an Angels squad that leads MLB in strikeout rate coming into Friday’s action (26.5%). That bump in ceiling is too much to ignore.
It’s not like Brown wasn’t already working with a pretty high ceiling to begin with, too. Across 14 starts and 86.0 innings, Brown owns the American League’s lowest qualified ERA at 1.88. In all of MLB, the right-hander sits third in strikeout rate (32.3%) and sixth in FIP (2.65). It’s safe to say that the former fifth-round pick has now squarely established himself as an ace in this league. Brown has yet to see Los Angeles in 2025, but in his last meeting with the squad, back in June of 2024, the 26-year-old tossed six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. I’d take a duplicate performance on Friday in a heartbeat.
OF Lourdes Gurriel, Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies, $4,600
Considering how expensive Gurriel’s teammates are on in this Coors Field tilt, I’m almost considering the veteran outfielder a value on this slate. Gurriel got off to a nightmarish start to 2025, but things have been much better since the beginning of May. In fact, the Cuban import is slashing .306/.367/.488 with a 138 wRC+ over his last 177 plate appearances. 50 of those PAs have happened to come against LHPs and that’s where Gurriel has truly shined, as the 31-year-old has managed a .943 OPS within the split in that span of time. For the season as a whole? Gurriel leads all qualified Diamondbacks in expected wOBA versus southpaws (.367).
The lefty in question will be Austin Gomber ($5,500), who is set to make just his second start of the season, after tossing five scoreless inning in Atlanta on Sunday. Gomber has long struggled with the long ball — a trait certainly not assisted by the altitude in Colorado — and the veteran conceded 56 home runs in 2023 and 2024 combined. That was tied for the fifth-most of any pitcher. Gurriel should be able to do some real damage.
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays vs. Chicago White Sox, $4,800
We don’t really talk about “schedule losses” in MLB like we do in NFL, but goodness gracious is this a tough spot for the White Sox’s pitching staff. Chicago played a doubleheader against the Cardinals on Thursday and Game 2 even went into extra innings. All told, everyone in the team’s bullpen was forced to work yesterday aside from Tyler Alexander. That means a lot is riding on Davis Martin ($6,500) this evening in Toronto. If things go bad, he might just be asked to wear it for the team. It’s one of those situations.
In 80.2 innings this season, Martin sports an ugly 5.35 xERA. The right-hander has also registered a fourth percentile opponent expected batting average (.301) and just a ninth percentile strikeout rate (15.9%). That’s an underwhelming combination, to be sure. It’s also a dangerous combination to take to the mound when Guerrero Jr. is in the batter’s box. Vladdy has four extra-base hits in his last three games. Once again, he’s heating up in the summer months.
