The Friday night before the All-Star break includes a gigantic 15-game MLB DFS slate, and DraftKings has a wide variety of ways to get in on the fantasy baseball action including GPPs, Tiers and Pick6.
However, in this post we’ll be keying in on some great picks for fantasy baseball 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 players 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 $5 Double Up
SP Ranger Suarez, Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres, $9,200
Suarez and the Phillies are in San Diego at pitcher-friendly Petco Park, and Suarez has been cruising lately, making him a great cash game play against the Padres.
He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in six straight starts with at least 17 fantasy points in each of those outings. During this run he has four games over 25 fantasy points including two over 30 fantasy points. He is 3-2 with a 1.33 ERA, 3.38 FIP and a 0.89 WHIP, and he has 40 strikeouts across 40 2/3 innings in those six starts.
The Padres are only hitting only .227 over their last 13 games and scoring 2.8 runs per game. While the Padres are usually good at strikeout suppression, which limits Suarez’s ceiling, he has been solid enough to be a reliable play in cash game lineups.
Suarez gets a favorable matchup against Ryan Bergert ($5,000), who will be activated from the IL before the game, so he should get enough run support to have a good shot at a win with another strong start.
SS Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles vs. Miami Marlins, $4,500
Henderson is hitting .314 over his last 12 games with four doubles, a triple and three homers. He has a .396 wOBA and .294 ISO over that span with a 53.8% hard-hit rate. He homered off the bench on Thursday in the first game of the team’s doubleheader, and then went 3-for-5 with a double and 13 more fantasy points in Game 2.
Henderson is still very affordable after a slow start to the season but has picked up momentum lately and is averaging 10.1 fantasy points over the last 12 contests. He takes on Edward Cabrera ($7,200) and the Marlins on Friday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where he has averaged 8.4 fantasy points per game on the season.
OF Nathan Lukes, Toronto Blue Jays at Athletics, $3,700
Lukes has hit leadoff in five of his last six games and has become a key part of the Blue Jays offense since rejoining the team in June. He is 12-for-30 (.400) in his last 10 games with three doubles and a home run. He has scored nine runs and had six RBIs in those games as well, averaging 8.7 fantasy points per game.
The Blue Jays are in a great spot, and I have them as my top MLB DFS stack as they go up against Luis Severino. As I laid out in that article, Severino has been hammered lately and especially at home all season. Lukes should have a great chance to return value at this salary at the top of the order that should score plenty of runs.
