This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Next Monday is Memorial Day, which is when a lot of people first take a serious assessment of how the MLB season is going. Of course, when you play DFS baseball, you have to dig into the numbers a bit earlier. While there are eight games taking place in MLB on Monday, one of those – Rays versus Jays – is at 3:07 p.m. ET. That one isn't included in the main contests on FanDuel, and neither is the 6:40 p.m. ET start between the Phillies and Marlins. When did MLB become so into 6:40 starts? As such, here are my fantasy recommendations for the six games starting at 7:10 p.m. ET or later.
PITCHING
Blake Snell, SD at MIL ($9,300): Snell may never again look like he did when he won the Cy Young, but a 3.71 FIP is perfectly acceptable. Additionally, he's struck out 13.39 batters per nine innings, which is impressive even in this strikeout-happy era. The Brewers are down in the bottom five in runs scored, so I think Snell could be improving his ERA on Monday while also keeping his strikeout numbers robust.
Spencer Turnbull, DET vs. CLE ($8,600): I'm not making this recommendation based on the fact Turnbull is coming off a no-hitter, especially in a year where it seems like I could accidentally throw a no-hitter if things broke right. However, the Tigers pitcher has a 2.88 ERA through six starts and a 2.60 ERA at home. That's notable, as Turnbull had a 2.22 ERA in Detroit last season. Cleveland has a sub-.300 OBP, and while that's disconcertingly not rare this season, it is still terrible.
Frankie Montas, OAK vs. SEA ($8,400): I'm willing to overlook Montas' middling numbers, because Oakland tends to be a great place to pitch. I'm also overlooking his 6.21 ERA at home in 29 innings because he had a 3.16 ERA in Oakland last year and a 3.00 home ERA in 2019. Mostly, this is about the matchup. The Mariners have the lowest team OPS in the league and are flirting with the Mendoza line when it comes to their collective batting average.
TOP TARGETS
Trevor Story, COL at NYM ($3,700): Sure, I'd prefer to have Story at home at Coors Field, but in each of his last two full seasons, he hit more than 30 home runs and stole more than 20 bases. Elevation doesn't help you swipe bags. Plus, lefty David Peterson is in line to start for the Mets, and he has a 4.97 ERA. Story may not be at home, but getting to face a left-handed pitcher is also beneficial to him. The shortstop has a .945 OPS versus southpaws since 2019.
Francisco Lindor, NYM vs. COL ($2,900): I know. Lindor has been a disaster with the Mets so far. It's been 40 games. Like Story, in each of his last two full seasons he had more than 30 home runs and 20 stolen bases. He's averaged .282 in his career, and he's never been a guy to flirt with hitting .200. At some point, Lindor is going to turn things around. Monday he faces Austin Gomber, who has a 4.96 ERA through nine starts. Don't chalk it up to Coors, either. He actually has a 6.39 ERA on the road.
VALUE BATS
Cedric Mullins, BAL at MIN ($2,600): Mullins hit .271 last season, which is a good number these days, but he's improved significantly in a couple ways from last year as well. He's walking more, boosting his OBP, and he's shown more power. The lefty has six home runs to go with five stolen bases. Matt Shoemaker has a 6.49 FIP, and it's definitely a concern that he's allowed more than two home runs per nine innings since the start of 2020.
Niko Goodrum, DET vs. CLE ($2,700): Goodrum has the speed to steal a base, but there's more to like about this matchup. For example, Goodrum has a .911 OPS versus lefties since 2019. He's a switch hitter, and I expect him to be batting from the right side against southpaw Sam Hentges. Hentges is in his first season, and he's only pitched 15.1 innings. However, he has a 6.46 ERA. On top of that, while it's a sample size of only 54 batters, Hentges has allowed right-handed batters to hit .375 against him.
STACK TO CONSIDER
Athletics vs. Yusei Kikuchi: Ramon Laureano ($3,600), Mark Canha ($3,300), Matt Olson ($3,100)
This was not a great day for stacks, so I only have the one stack recommendation for Monday. In fact, I'm not even necessarily loving this one, mostly because Olson versus Kikuchi will be lefty-on-lefty. Nevertheless, Kikuchi has a career 5.18 ERA in MLB and has allowed 1.67 homers per nine innings in his career as well. If you write off the 54 games from 2020, Laureano is on pace to slug more than .500 again after doing so in 2019 as well. On top of that, he's stolen eight bases. Speaking of stolen bases, Canha has six of them this year. He's also become quite adept at getting on base, as he has a .391 OBP over the last three seasons. Olson has a lot of power, including slugging .562 with 12 home runs this year. He's not bad against lefties either, as he has a .781 OPS against lefties since 2019.
