This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Baseball series.
Saturday, you can watch baseball all afternoon and then put together your DFS lineup for the evening in the process. There are five games starting at 7:05 p.m. EDT or later on the DFS schedule. A rainout in Denver led to a doubleheader being schedule, which frankly stole an easy Mets stack from us. Ah well. Sure, that leaves you with fewer options than a loaded evening of action, but there are still plenty of choices for the MLB daily fantasy enthusiast. Here are my lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Justin Verlander, HOU vs. TEX ($54): Verlander looks like a modern marvel. He's 39, he had Tommy John not all that long ago and through seven starts he has a 1.38 ERA. The Rangers rank in the middle in runs scored, but they have a sub-.300 OBP as a team.
Joe Ryan, MIN at KC ($52): Ryan showed potential last season with a 3.43 FIP in five starts. This year he has a 2.39 ERA, and 3.41 FIP, in seven outings. The Royals are in the bottom six in runs scored, which bodes well for Ryan.
Michael Lorenzen, LAA vs. OAK ($41): Lorenzen moved from Cincinnati to Anaheim (masquerading as Los Angeles) and from the bullpen to the starting rotation. He has a 3.57 ERA, which is solid, and definitely solid enough for this matchup. The Athletics are last in the majors in team OPS.
Top Targets
Counting stats are where it's at for fantasy, and Kyle Tucker ($21) has seven home runs and nine stolen bases. That comes after he had 30 home runs and 14 stolen bases in 2021. Jon Gray left Colorado, but his numbers haven't gotten better. Through five starts with Texas he has a 5.73 ERA.
You know a player is an elite bat when he has a .390 OBP and you think to yourself, "Huh, he's off to a slow start." That's the case with Juan Soto ($19), who still has eight homers and four stolen bases. He also has an 1.079 OPS against righties since 2020. Brandon Woodruff is a righty, and he's off to a tough start as he has a 5.35 ERA.
Bargain Bats
Randy Arozarena ($15) is off to a slow start, but even with that he has two home runs and six stolen bases. He had a .276 average prior to this season, so I expect him to start hitting better (four hits Friday helps). In his first season as an MLB pitcher, Kyle Bradish has allowed righties to hit .347 against him. Plus, he's allowed a home run in all four of his starts.
Last season, Max Kepler ($15) had 19 home runs and 10 stolen bases. This year he has a .355 OBP and has five homers. The lefty faces the righty Brad Keller. Keller has a 2.89 ERA, but a 4.06 FIP. This comes after he had a 4.71 FIP last season.
Stack to Consider
Angels vs. Frankie Montas: Shohei Ohtani ($18), Anthony Rendon ($17), Jared Walsh ($15)
Montas has a 3.67 ERA through eight starts, but a 5.09 ERA away from the friendly confines of Oakland's ballpark. Since 2020, he has a 4.77 ERA on the road. With this game at Anaheim, I'm down to stack a few of Angels bats.
I'm not really worried about Ohtani's average, given that he hit .257 in his MVP campaign and still managed to rack up 46 homers and 26 stolen bases. This season he's gone yard eight times and added six swiped bags. It happened in 2020, so it can be hard to remember that Rendon had a .915 OPS in his first season with the Angels. He seems like he might be rounding into form, as he's batted .246./.340/.425. Walsh has a .968 OPS against righties since 2020 and has eight homers after he hit 29 last season.
Brewers vs. Patrick Corbin: Hunter Renfroe ($22), Luis Urias ($19), Keston Hiura ($11)
Corbin's numbers have gotten worse by the season. In 2020, he had a 4.66 ERA, last year he had a 5.82 ERA and this season his ERA has risen to 6.28. He was keeping his home runs down, but he just allowed three homers in his last start. Since he is a lefty, I have three righties in this stack. Corbin has allowed righties to hit .302 against him since 2020.
Renfroe doesn't walk, but walks don't do the talking in DFS. He's slugged .502 the last two seasons and has nine home runs this year. Urias has a .283 average and .409 OBP. Last year he hit 23 home runs as well. With a lefty on the mound, there's a good chance Hiura is in the lineup. He has an .802 OPS at home this year, and he's hit 39 home runs in 220 career games.
