This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Baseball series.
We get off to a busy start to the week with 15 games on the schedule Monday. There are a few early start times, but the majority of the games will be played in the evening. With so many options to sift through on Yahoo, let's get right to it and highlight some pitchers and hitters to consider for your lineups.
Pitchers
The injury to Lance McCullers Jr. (forearm) opened up a spot in the starting rotation for Hunter Brown ($44). He had impressive numbers in the minor leagues, including a 2.55 ERA and a 3.27 FIP at Triple-A last season. He also allowed just 0.4 HR/9. His first opponent will be the Tigers, who hit the fewest home runs in baseball last season, while also posting the second-lowest on-base percentage.
Given his first extended look as a starting pitcher last season, Drew Rasmussen ($43) came through with a 2.84 ERA and a 3.26 FIP for the Rays. While he didn't record a ton of strikeouts, he used his 5.3 percent walk rate to record a 1.04 WHIP. His first matchup of the season is an excellent one against the Nationals, who are in the early stages of a rebuilding process and lack imposing bats in their lineup.
Jose Berrios ($34) had a disappointing first full season with the Blue Jays. His strikeout rate plummeted to 19.8 percent, which was more than six percentage points lower than the season prior. His WHIP also jumped up to 1.42, which contributed to his 5.23 ERA and 4.55 FIP. Those were the highest marks of his career by a wide margin, so even if his strikeouts don't return to his prior rates, his ERA and WHIP should improve some. His first start is a favorable one against the Royals, who scored the seventh-fewest runs in baseball last season.
Top Targets
Not much of an argument needs to be made for deploying Shohei Ohtani ($24) in DFS whenever the Angels are on the schedule. However, he really stands out as a great option in a matchup against Athletics starter James Kaprielian ($31). Kaprielian's strikeout rate dropped to 17.0 percent last year, while his walk rate came in at 10.2 percent. The result was a 4.23 ERA and a 4.63 FIP across his 26 starts.
Whenever he is facing a left-handed pitcher, Jose Abreu ($19) has to be strongly considered in DFS. He had a .376 wOBA versus southpaws last season, and he has a .389 wOBA against them for his career. He also has a career .243 ISO versus lefties, compared to a .206 ISO versus righties. Starting against him for the Tigers will be Matthew Boyd ($26), who has allowed 1.6 HR/9 for his career.
Bargain Bats
Despite Joe Musgrove (toe) being on the 15-day IL, the Padres are rolling with a six-man rotation. Getting the starting nod against the Diamondbacks will be Ryan Weathers ($27), who was awful last season with a 6.73 ERA and an even worse 7.21 FIP at Triple-A. The Diamondbacks are heavy on left-handed hitters, but two righties to target for this matchup are Christian Walker ($13) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ($13). Weathers allowed 31 home runs over 123 innings last year at Triple-A, so he could especially be in trouble against Walker, who had a .235 ISO last season while hitting 36 home runs.
Stacks to Consider
Dodgers vs. Ryan Feltner ($24), Rockies: Freddie Freeman ($22), Mookie Betts ($21), James Outman ($18)
The Dodgers are going to be a good team to stack most nights with Freeman and Betts leading the way. They will have another favorable matchup against Feltner, who made 20 appearances (19 starts) for the Rockies last season. They mostly didn't go well, leaving him with a 5.83 ERA and a 4.76 FIP. One of his problems was as inability to miss bats, generating just a 19.6 percent strikeout rate.
Red Sox vs. Johan Oviedo ($31), Pirates: Rafael Devers ($24), Masataka Yoshida ($14), Alex Verdugo ($17)
The Red Sox showed in their first series against the Orioles that, even though their lineup might not be as imposing as in seasons past, they can still score runs at home. Oviedo did not pitch poorly last season, recording a 3.21 ERA and a 3.74 FIP over 56 innings. However, his career 10.9 percent walk rate and 1.43 WHIP are concerns. The centerpiece of any Red Sox stack should be Devers, who had a career high 140 wRC+ last season.
Rangers vs. Kyle Bradish ($33), Orioles: Corey Seager ($16), Marcus Semien ($23), Nathaniel Lowe ($16)
With a lack of viable options for their starting rotation, Bradish made the leap to the majors for Orioles last season. After recording plenty of punchouts throughout the minors, he only had a 21.8 percent strikeout rate across 117.2 innings. Better days might be ahead, but he'll need to show significant improvement, specifically lowering his 1.40 WHIP. This won't be an easy matchup against the Rangers, who scored 29 runs in their first three games of the season. Arguably their most dangerous hitter is Seager, who slugged a career high 33 home runs last season.
