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DraftKings MLB Early Picks April 5: GlasNOW or never!

By Mike Marteny

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - MARCH 30: Tyler Glasnow #20 of the Tampa Bay Rays throws his first pitch in the first innning against the Houston Astros at Tropicana Field on March 30, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - MARCH 30: Tyler Glasnow #20 of the Tampa Bay Rays throws his first pitch in the first innning against the Houston Astros at Tropicana Field on March 30, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /
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DraftKings MLB
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 04: Stephen Piscotty #25 of the Oakland Athletics hits a three run home run in the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on April 04, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Early Picks April 5: GlasNOW or never!

A couple of games were added to the DraftKings MLB early slate thanks to rainouts yesterday. There are a few interesting places to go here, most notably the Dodgers at Coors Field for the Colorado home opener. It’s going to be a nice ay in Denver, so the ball could jump a little more than it usually does in April games in Coors.

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The other games look clear as well without even any wind to worry about. The biggest thing to note is that the Rays lose the DH in the National League park.

My all day lineup placed again. The early was doomed by exposure to the wrong Red Sox and no Piscotty.

These tips are based mostly on past performance. This is a nice tool for building a lineup, but should not be the only pieces of information you use. We have plenty of writers on here who give you relevant information no matter which site you play on, and we all attack the slate from different angles.

For you first time players, if you would like a free $10 ticket on DraftKings, use this link for the referral bonus with your first deposit of $5 or more!

With only six total pitchers, all of them get their name in lights today so I can highlight the pros and cons of all of them.

DraftKings MLB
ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 14: Jack Flaherty #32 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning at Busch Stadium on September 14, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Early Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Jack Flaherty ($10,200): Flaherty dominated the Padres in his only start against them last season. He was roughed up a bit by the Brewers in his first start, but there is still quite a chasm between the Brewers and Padres. The Padres are going to mostly struggle against right handed pitching this season with a righty heavy lineup. Flaherty’s splits slightly favor right handed power though, so that’s something to watch. After his first start, I’m not sure if we want to risk this or not.

Tyler Glasnow ($9,700): Glasnow was sharp in his first outing against the Astros, so what do you think he’s going to do to the Giants? Why take a risk with Flaherty when you can have all the Glasnow for $500 less. Flaherty has more strikeout upside, but Glasnow is the cash game lock. Even if he only goes five innings again, Glasnow should clear 20 DraftKings points.

Middle Tier:

Kenta Maeda ($7,700): The Rockies are only hitting .234 off of Maeda in 111 at bats, but they do have five homers off of him. The kicker is the 42 strikeouts. The Rockies obviously aren’t seeing the ball well from Maeda. Before you let Coors Field scare you off, consider this: Maeda is 4-1 with a 3.19 ERA in 31 career innings in Coors Field. I expect ownership to be fairly low, and Maeda is a strong play for the price even if he only goes six innings.

Dereck Rodriguez ($7,300): The Rays aren’t a great hitting team anyway. They really wont be going three hours west and losing the DH. Rodriguez was solid against the Padres in his first start of the season and there is reason to believe he will be again. Rodriguez posted a 2.68 ERA in 13 home games last year. The middle tier of pitching is actually strong enough this afternoon that we can avoid the top tier if we really want to stack bats.

Bargain Pitchers:

Nick Margevicius ($6,900): Margevicius was strong in his debut, but this doesn’t really feel like a place to use him. A road start against a Cardinals team that has a lot of good right handed hitting and two of the hottest lefties going right now in Kolten Wong and Matt Carpenter. I don’t see the upside here. Margevicius wont clear five innings anyway.

Tyler Anderson ($6,000): I get why Anderson is cheap, but like Maeda, he has also been solid at Coors Field. Anderson is 11-11 with a 3.73 ERA in 37 career Coors Field starts. Anderson has also faced the Dodgers far more than any other team and has a solid 3.99 career ERA against them. This isn’t a total avoid spot for me, though the current Dodgers have hit Anderson pretty hard. They are hitting .284 with five homers and 22 runs in only 134 at bats. With the strikeout upside pretty much absent for Anderson, he is probably better left alone.

My picks: Maeda, Rodriguez

DraftKings MLB
LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 29: Enrique Hernandez #14 of the Los Angeles Dodgers at bat in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants during the 2018 Major League Baseball opening day at Dodger Stadium on March 29, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

I’m not a huge fan of taking a run at Flaherty, mostly because there are better places to attack. However, if you want to try and leverage the Flaherty ownership, Eric Hosmer is a good way to do that and he’s cheap. Wil Myers and Fernando Tatis Jr. are tempting as well, especially since Tatis’s father played for St. Louis for several years.

Chris Iannetta has homered twice off of Maeda in 14 at bats. Charlie Blackmon, Ian Desmond, and David Dahl have the other homers. Fun fact: Nolan Arenado is just 3-24(.125) against Maeda with no counting stats in 13 strikeouts.

Kike. Lefty. You know how that goes. His .269 average in 26 at bats isn’t all that great, but the five walks, to homers, seven runs, a steal and four RBI are. Corey Seager, Justin Turner, and Cody Bellinger have all homered off of Anderson as well. Just be aware that a Dodgers stack is probably going to be really popular today.

Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong stand out there against the Padres’ young lefty. Margevicius was strong in his debut, but the Cardinals are a good team and road starts can be very different. Look out for the hot Harrison Bader as well. Marcell Ozuna is a strong play if he is able to rejoin the Cardinals lineup.

The big ballpark and two strong pitchers going in San Francisco kind of make me want to avoid this whole situation from a hitter’s standpoint. I have a slight interest in some lefties like Brandon Belt, Austin Meadows, or possibly Kiermaier, but I just don’t see this as being high scoring enough to want to go after it. However, Steven Duggar batting leadoff for $3,400 is almost too good to pass up.

Next. DraftKings Pitcher plays April 5. dark

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