This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Sometimes Mondays are fairly light in MLB, but not this week. There are 10 games on the slate. Not a full docket, but plenty of options for your DFS lineups. Here are the guys I would want to target Monday for DFS success.
Pitching
Alek Manoah, TOR vs. BAL ($10,800): Kevin Gausman has been stellar, but don't overlook Manoah. He's helped give the Blue Jays a one-two punch in the rotation. The sophomore pitcher is 7-1 with an 1.81 ERA. The Orioles, meanwhile, are sub-.300 in team OBP and down in the bottom 10 in runs scored.
Cristian Javier, HOU at TEX ($8,800): Javier has been in and out of the rotation, but he's posted a 3.22 ERA overall. Maybe the Astros want to use him in this matchup, because in two starts against the Rangers in 2022, Javier has gone 11 innings and allowed only three runs. The Rangers are floating just above the bottom 10 in runs scored, but they are only above the lowly Tigers and Athletics in team OBP.
Lance Lynn, CWS at DET ($5,500): Speaking of the Tigers, they are last in team OPS and also last in runs scored by more than 30 runs. That's absolutely wild. Lynn will be making his season debut after his knee injury, but last year he had a 2.69 ERA. The only concern is the White Sox may not let him go five innings for the potential win.
Top Targets
Although Jose Altuve ($3,800) is not a .300 hitter anymore, he still does plenty of damage at the plate. He's posted a .348 OBP and .536 slugging percentage with 12 home runs. In his first season as a full-time starter, Taylor Hearn has a 5.40 ERA, and he's allowed a .271 batting average to righties since 2020.
Jurickson Profar ($3,700) never lived up to his prospect status, but he's chipping in for the Padres this year. He's slashed .248/.342/.416 with seven homers and four stolen bases. In his first season as a full-time starter, Justin Steele has really suppressed home runs – arguably to an unsustainable degree – but he still has a 4.79 ERA.
Bargain Bats
Last season, Matt Olson ($3,500) hit 39 home runs, and in his career he's slugged .505. Josiah Gray has always had an issue allowing homers, as he's given up 2.23 home runs per nine innings. Not only that, he has a 7.14 ERA at home this year.
The Giants' lefty-heavy lineup will appreciate seeing Brady Singer on the mound for the Royals, and that includes Mike Yastrzemski ($3,100). Since 2020, Yaz has an .875 OPS versus right-handed pitchers, and this year he's hitting .275 with a .377 OBP. Singer, meanwhile, has a 4.33 ERA, in line with his career 4.58 ERA.
Stacks to Consider
Blue Jays vs. Orioles (Kyle Bradish): George Springer ($3,700), Vladimir Guerrero ($3,900), Santiago Espinal ($2,800)
Bradish is getting knocked around every time he takes the mound. He's allowed at least one home run in all eight of his starts. Also, somehow righties are hitting .358 against him. This is the perfect matchup for Toronto's righty-heavy lineup.
Speaking of going yard, Guerrero has 14 home runs this year after he had 48 last season. He got off to a slow start power-wise, but he's slugged .507 over the last three weeks. Springer has been red hot, posting an 1.003 OPS over the last three weeks. Since joining the Blue Jays he has an .897 OPS with 34 home runs in 133 games. Since hitting the majors, Espinal has an .847 OPS at home. In his career, he's hit .295 with a .353 OBP as well.
Cardinals vs. Pirates (Mitch Keller): Paul Goldschmidt ($4,000), Tommy Edman ($3,600), Nolan Gorman ($3,200)
In his first season Keller had a terrible ERA but a good FIP, leading some to think he had just been unlucky. Well, a few years later he has a 5.26 ERA in 2022 and a career 5.85 ERA. Yeah, he never really turned things around. A big problem? The fact he's allowed lefties to hit .306 against him since 2020.
Goldschmidt has been one of the best hitters in baseball this year, slashing .327/.411/.577 with 12 home runs. That's not surprising, given that he has a career .914 OPS. The switch-hitting Edman has hit six home runs and stolen 15 bases, and last year he had 11 of the former and 30 of the latter. He's also getting on base at a .358 clip. Gorman, one of the top hitting prospects in baseball, is a lefty. To start his career he's slashed .270/.352/.460 with three homers in 20 games.
Diamondbacks vs. Cubs (Mike Minor): Ketel Marte ($3,200), Christian Walker ($3,100), Josh Rojas ($3,100)
Minor joined the Cubs after posting a 5.05 ERA with the Royals in 2021. Through two starts, he has an 8.64 ERA. Now, with the Diamondbacks' roster, I didn't pick three righties to stack against the southpaw. However, Arizona has a hitter-friendly ballpark, Minor has been terrible and hasn't gone more than 4.1 innings in a start. The bullpen will likely be involved early.
Marte is a switch hitter, but he greatly prefers facing a lefty. Since 2020 he's put up an 1.073 OPS versus southpaw pitchers. Walker isn't hitting for average, but he is hitting for power. He has 15 home runs, and he has a .924 OPS against lefties as well. Rojas is a lefty, but he's off to a good start to the season so I'm including him. He's slashed .284/.365/.450 with four homers and three stolen bases.
