Opening Day is an exciting time for all baseball fans (perhaps with the exception of Rockies fans), but it’s not the easiest for daily fantasy players. Although events are back on, it can be hard without recent trends. Although difficult, we weeded through the lineups for the first slate of games to give you the best chance at cashing early on.
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MLB Daily Fantasy Lineup for Opening Day
P – Max Fried – ATL – $8,100
If you’re getting in on the early slate, there might not be a greater value than Max Fried. In addition to having the Braves’ big boppers behind him to add to his likelihood of getting a win, he’s facing a miserable Nationals lineup. Apart from giving up a potential bomb to Joey Meneses, I don’t see much danger on the horizon for the Braves ace.
P – Pablo Lopez – MIN – $7,500
The #MNTwins have announced their starting rotation to open the season in Kansas City:
March 30: RHP Pablo López
April 1: RHP Sonny Gray
April 2: RHP Joe Ryan pic.twitter.com/zKWTQhayu7— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) March 24, 2023
Much like with Fried, I’m looking for starters on Opening Day who have solid matchups. Everybody has a front-of-the-rotation guy, so why not take the one who gets to face the miserable Royals offense? Not to mention, Lopez was near a strikeout per inning last year in 32 starts with the Marlins.
C – Alejandro Kirk – TOR – $3,700
Alejandro Kirk was one of the best catchers in the league last year in terms of fantasy value. He hit .287 and belted 14 homers. All of those stats dropped off in the second half as he tired a bit. Now back to his usual self; I like him a lot in DFS formats.
1B – Yandy Diaz – TB – $4,300
With a guy shaped like Yandy Diaz, it can be frustrating to see him hit the number of ground balls he does. However, with the Rays being one of the better analytical teams out there, you have to like his chances of making an off-season adjustment. Even without one, he was good for 7.1 fantasy points a game and a .290 batting average, which is worth every cent of his salary here.
2B – Ozzie Albies – ATL – $3,900
I’m assuming that this number is just coming in as low as it is due to injuries. Seeing Albies under 4k is already alarming, but then you add in that he rips Patrick Corbin, and it’s even more perplexing. On his career, he’s 12-for 28 against the Nationals’ Opening Day starter with three dingers and seven extra-base hits.
3B – Brandon Donovan – STL – $3,600
It looks like Brandon Donovan is going to get some looks at the top of Oli Marmol’s lineup. While he wouldn’t commit already, Marmol did say that Goldschmidt, Arenado, and Contreras would be the 3-4-5 guys. That likely leaves Donovan getting more at-bats against a righty in Alex Manoah.
SS – Oneill Cruz – PIT – $5,100
This year, I’ll be looking for daily fantasy guys who can exploit the new bases for a few extra steals – especially early in the season when the data hasn’t shaken out yet. Cruz is a guy who said he has goals to go 30-30. His pop is there, and he’ll be hitting a flamethrower in Hunter Greene, who historically doesn’t go late into games. All of which are reasons to be bullish on the Pirates youngster.
Remembering that time Oneil Cruz posted the hardest hit ball of the Statcast era at 122.4 mph. pic.twitter.com/1nJEevY41D
— Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg) January 21, 2023
OF – Cedric Mullins – BAL – $5,400
I mentioned that I liked my starting pitchers thanks to weak matchups for them, which is the same reason I like Mullins. The Red Sox might be wheeling out one of the worst starters on Thursday in, Corey Kluber. He hit 70 points higher against righties last year and 128 points of slugging more. Getting a softer throwing righty on opening day seems like a gift.
OF – Masataka Yoshida – BOS – $4,400
Masataka Yoshida showing off that power. 👀 pic.twitter.com/TGmHWWcph9
— MLB (@MLB) March 28, 2023
In terms of an Opening Day starter, Kyle Gibson isn’t a big strikeout guy. He nabbed 144 in 167.2 innings pitched last season, which is good but not great. Although we have no MLB sample for Yoshida, people rave about his bat-to-ball skills. You have to imagine that’d play up against a low strikeout guy here in Gibson.
OF – Daulton Varsho – TOR – $3,800
Seeing Varsho as an outfielder has me all kinds of optimistic. He looks to be more comfortable not having to do any catch. Additionally, he seems to be more ready to steal bases as well. He’s nabbed a couple this spring, which, combined with a nice lefty-righty matchup in Miles Mikolas Thursday, may just net him some big numbers.
If you’d like even more information that could help your MLB daily fantasy lineup, be sure to check out the MLB Gambling Podcast. The guys are dropping daily episodes to make you the smartest guy at the bar.
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