Main DraftKings Picks August 5: Charlie Morton Provides Most Bang For The Buck

NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 04: Yu Darvish #21 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates the last out of the seventh inning against the New York Mets on August 4, 2017 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

DraftKings Main MLB Picks For August 5

12 of the 15 games are in the main DraftKings tournament tonight. There are a lot of good pitching options out there tonight, and most of them are reasonably priced. There are also plenty of pitchers worth stacking against, so just how do we save money? Let’s start by checking out some stats!

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The money line last night was pretty high again at 124. Both of my lineups missed. One because of Kyle Freeland leaving after 11 pitches. The other had zero offense and an average game from deGrom.

The winning lineup was up a bit to 230.7. He used Yu Darvish in his Dodger debut and had both Brian Dozier and Yuli Gurriel.

These picks are based mostly on statistical analysis . If you have a gut feeling, then by all means, follow that. This is not an exact science. The best lineups usually have a mix of proven stats and hot players. Check out this post from Matt McGarvey for great tips about whether to use a hot player in DFS or not.

For you first time players, if you would like $10 worth of free entry tickets, use this link for the referral bonus! Then continue reading for tips on how to turn that $10 into more!

Next: DraftKings Lineup

BOSTON, MA – AUGUST 3: Rafael Devers #11 of the Boston Red Sox at bat during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park on August 2, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

P: Charlie Morton ($9,500): Estrada has been awful lately, and his team scores a ton of runs anyway. Tyler White, who was called up to take the place of Carlos Correa by assuming Marwin Gonzalez‘s role, hit two homers last night. That’s how loaded this team is. The Jays are hitting just .224 in 58 at bats off Morton with just two runs and 13 strikeouts. The Jays had a dreadful July, and Morton posted a 3.23 ERA last month. You see where this is going.

P: Drew Pomeranz ($9,000): Starting off my Red Sox stack is the pitcher. Eduardo Rodriguez became the second lefty to shut down the White Sox in the last three days. All of their lefty mashers are gone. What’s left is a shell of the Opening Day lineup, but they have a lot of bright spots for the future. The present, however, makes the White Sox the easiest team to stream against. Poermanz has held them to a .240 average with no runs and eight strikeouts in 25 at bats. He may even improve on those numbers tonight at a very reasonable price.

C: Salvador Perez ($3,100): Perez is 5-16(.312) with two walks, two doubles, a run scored, and two RBI in his career against Felix Hernandez. Those aren’t great numbers, but Perez is much too good of a hitter to be priced this low. I’m trying to take advantage.

1B: Hanley Ramirez ($4,000): If you stacked Red Sox last night like many did, you likely missed out on the cash line. Carlos Rodon isn’t that bad of a pitcher. James Shields is. The Red Sox are hitting .306 against him in 108 at bats with eight homers. Hanley is 10-36(.278) with a walk, a double, a homer, three runs scored and three RBI. Some of that is from when Shields was one of the best pitchers in the league. Now Shields boasts an unsightly 6.19 ERA. Stacking Red Sox will likely work tonight, even if it didn’t last night.

2B: Kaleb Cowart ($2,000): His price has not yet caught up to what he has done at the plate so far. He is hitting .438 with a homer and four RBI in his first ten games in the big leagues this year. His track record at AAA suggests that it might stick this year where he struggled over the last two years in his brief stints in the majors. I am taking full advantage while his price is this low!

3B: Rafael Devers ($4,100): All Devers has done it hit since his promotion. He is hitting .389 with three homers and six RBI in nine games. He has also walked five times. He is on base a lot, and gets a pitcher that has problems allowing homers. Devers is a bargain at this price.

SS: Xander Bogaerts ($3,700): Bogaerts is struggling lately, but he is still getting on base. His is showing signs of breaking out of his slump as well, collecting a hit in each of the last five games. He is a strong play against the weak Shields.

OF: Mookie Betts ($5,300): Betts had a great matchup last night and did nothing with it. However, he still gets the same catcher to try and run on and a pitcher that he is 2-3 against lifetime. He is worth giving another shot. Shields has allowed eight homers in his last five games. You can count on at least one Red Sox player going deep tonight.

OF: Eduardo Nunez ($5,000): Nunez is hitting a staggering .556 with three homers and 11 RBI in just seven games with Boston. I’m playing cold hitters against James Shields, so you know I’m rolling with the hottest as the anchor to this stack!

OF: Melky Cabrera ($4,000): Melky is 11-28(.393) with two walks, two doubles, a triple, a homer, seven runs scored, and five RBI in his career against King Felix. Unlike other movers at the deadline, he hasn’t exploded with his new team, but he is still solid and is hitting third in the lineup. He should be in line for solid production tonight.

Next: DraftKings Main Lineup 2

MIAMI, FL – JULY 30: Luis Castillo #58 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches in the seventh inning during the game between the Miami Marlins and the Cincinnati Reds at Marlins Park on July 30, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

P: Luis Castillo ($8,000): Castillo has posted a 3.56 ERA in his first eight major league starts. Solid numbers, but not up to that of say, Jacob Faria. What makes Castillo’s more impressive is that seven of those starts have come against the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Nationals, Brewers, and Rockies at Coors Field. Combine that with how hitter-friendly his own home park is, and you realize that Busch Stadium will be a break for him. Then when you realize that the team inside Busch Stadium is not hitting all that well, Castillo becomes one of the best plays of the night at a very low price.

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P: Jon Gray ($7,000): For you loyal readers, this is the third straight game that a Colorado pitcher has occupied this slot at home. Freeland last night wasn’t a product of anything the Phillies did. In fact, the Philadelphia offense was cold. Gray has a nice 3.71 home ERA compared to 5.52 on the road. Someone needs to explain that one to me. Anyway, that makes Gray a great play against a suddenly cool Philadelphia offense.

C: Robinson Chirinos ($2,800): Seeing Kyle Gibson‘s name pop up means it’s a good time to stack Rangers. Even though Gibson was serviceable in his last stint in the majors, he still has a 6.19 ERA on the season. It doesn’t hurt that Chirinos is 4-5 with a solo homer in his career against Gibson.

1B: Miguel Cabrera ($4,300): Miggy has only faced Wade Miley three times. He has a walk and a run scored. However, with as bad as Miley has been lately, Miggy is a great way to save money against arguably the worst pitcher of the night.

2B: Jose Altuve ($5,200): Altuve is 5-14(.357) with a walk, a double, two steals, five runs scored, and two RBI in his career against Marco Estrada. Estrada has hit more than just a bump in the road. He has an ugly 7.16 ERA over his last ten starts. Now he gets an Astros team that scored 15 runs last night. Altuve himself is hitting everything in sight. He has a .425 average in the last ten games, and he didn’t even participate in last night’s shellacking!

3B: Joey Gallo ($4,600): Kyle Gibson has allowed ten homers in ten home starts this year. As we saw with Gallo a few years ago in the Future’s Game at Target Field, he has more than enough power to get it out of there. Especially with pitching machine Kyle Gibson throwing him grapefruits.

SS: Tim Beckham ($4,900): Normally, I would be all over an unproven pitcher like Drew VerHagen in a hitter’s park, especially considering his lack of success at AAA (4.90 ERA). However, the only Oriole that I really trust right now is Beckham. And yes, it does help a little that he hit a two run homer off of VerHagen in his only at bat against him. Beckham has four multi-hit games in four games in an Orioles uniform. The streak will end at some point, but I doubt it’s tonight.

OF: Justin Upton ($5,500): Something in the back of my mind whispers that “he isn’t this bad ” every time Wade Miley takes the mound. His career ERA is 4.32, which though not great, is much better than his current 5.60 mark. He has been even worse lately with a 8.80 ERA in his last ten starts, including a 8.68 ERA in the month of July, easily the worst month of his seven year career. Upton is 3-10 with a homer against Miley, so he definitely has to be in the stack. He also hit a grand slam off of the Oriole bullpen last night, so there’s that.

OF: Shin-soo Choo ($4,600): Choo is leading off against a pitcher likely to get lit up, and he has the platoon advantage. We really don’t need to get too far into this one. I’m sure you get it.

OF: Andrew Romine ($3,100): Romine seems to be in a platoon with Jim Adduci while Alex Presley is out. He is nothing flashy, but like Adduci, he is a capable hitter batting second against a horrible pitcher. That’s good enough for me. And Detroit comes at a steep discount from the Rockies. Also, Nick Pivetta and Gray could both end up pitching relatively well. Miley at sea level is likely worst than both of them.

Next: Early Slate DraftKings MLB Picks

Good luck out there, and check out our picks for FanDuel baseball, along with our PGA picks. We also have plenty of NFL stuff to get you ready for football!