Tuesday night features the fullest slate of daily fantasy baseball, which makes it one of our favorite nights of the week to play. Forget Cinco de Mayo, there should be a lot of “fish” in the sea at DraftKings, too. We help you rake with our best MLB pitcher picks for May 5.
Premium Ace Plays
Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers ($9,800)
The Milwaukee Brewers might have won in Craig Counsell’s managerial debut, but the warts that got the previous manager fired remain. Greinke (4-0, 1.93 ERA) figures to post another quality-start victory here. The Brewers rank 30th in on-base percentage and 27th in batting average and runs scored. Oh, and Greinke just happens to be pretty good, too.
Shelby Miller, Atlanta Braves ($8,200)
He is not quite in the ace category, but we feel Miller is going to eventually rise to that distinction. He has posted three consecutive quality starts and is coming off nine strikeouts against the Cincinnati Reds. The Philadelphia Phillies are 29th in runs scored and dead last in slugging percentage and OPS. This one looks tasty.
Ranking the Aces
- Zack Greinke, Dodgers ($9,800)
- Shelby Miller, Braves ($8,200)
- Andrew Cashner, San Diego Padres ($9,000)
- Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals ($10,200)
- Garrett Richards, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ($9,500)
Mid-Range Best Picks
Michael Pineda, New York Yankees ($7,600)
He will be facing the No. 1 offensive team in baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays, but Pineda is one of the pitchers we will be considering a DFS ace by season’s end. Pineda handled the Jays in his first start of the season, and we expect he will be quality with a strikeout per inning here. His price is still in a buy position.
- Bartolo Colon, New York Mets ($7,500)
Bargain Options
James Paxton, Seattle Mariners ($7,000)
After a bad spring training and a rough stretch in mid-April, Paxton has righted himself. He’s struck out 14 batters in his past two starts and is facing an Angels lineup that is struggling at the plate, save for Mike Trout, of course. The Angels rank 29th in average and OPS. Paxton is coming to us at a nice price still.
Jesse Chavez, Oakland Athletics ($6,300)
He is $1,300 cheaper than his past start, which wasn’t a good one. The plus side is he is stretched out as a starter and should settle in with some consistent production as a DFS bargain in the short-term. The Minnesota Twins offense isn’t performing badly, but it shouldn’t scare you either. We like Chavez as a bargain working in the pitcher’s park, too.
- Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox ($6,600)
- Jeff Locke, Pittsburgh Pirates ($6,100)
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Eric Mack, one of the giants among fantasy writers, is the Fantasy Football Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, where you can ask him endless questions about your team, rip him for his content and even challenge him to a head-to-head fantasy game.
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