Early DraftKings MLB Picks April 13: Snellzilla invades Canada

Early DraftKings MLB Picks April 13: Snellzilla invades Canada

We have an even split today with seven early and seven late games for our DraftKings MLB tournaments. The Phillies and Marlins are off in no man’s land, but are available in the all day one.

More from DFS

• DraftKings Open Championship picks 2023: Best PGA DFS golf lineup
• Genesis Scottish Open DraftKings picks 2023: Best PGA DFS golf lineup
• Rocket Mortgage Classic DraftKings picks 2023: Best PGA DFS golf lineup
• US Open DraftKings picks 2023: Best PGA DFS golf lineup
• RBC Canadian Open DraftKings picks 2023: Best PGA DFS golf lineup

There is one ace in the early DraftKings MLB tournaments and a couple that used to be. A couple that are regaining form, and a game that we really don’t know what it going on with between the Pirates and Nationals.

Other than a very slight chance of rain in the Twin Cities, it looks like weather will be kind this afternoon. There are slight breezes of 10 mph blowing out to right center in Chicago and Minnesota and to center in Boston.

Khrush Davis was at it again with his fifth homer in the last three games, but the Houston offense torched the Seattle pen. Not enough late night exposure and too much Carrasco had me closer to last than first. Who would have thought that Giolito as half the price of Carrasco would outscore him by 25 DraftKings points.

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!

DraftKings MLB Early Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Blake Snell ($10,700): Big shock here, but Snellzilla has dominated the current Blue Jays in his career. They are just 6-48(.125) against him with no runs and 21 strikeouts. Snell looks like a slam dunk here. Especially when you consider his 3-1 record and 2.96 ERA in five career starts at Rogers (SKYDOME) Centre.

Rick Porcello ($8,900): The Orioles’ career numbers against Porcello are pretty good, but if you take out the numbers of the struggling Chris Davis, his teammates are just 5-21 with one homer and six RBI. The RBI total is high, but I’m willing to overlook it here. Porcello isn’t going to pick up a ton of points, but he will get enough strikeouts to counteract the runs and likely a win. That’s about all we can ask for with pitching lately.

Middle Tier:

Chris Archer ($8,500): Archer is off to a strong start this year, striking out 15 in 11 innings while allowing only three runs. The current Nationals are only hitting .212 against Archer in 66 at bats with only one homer and five runs to go with 19 strikeouts. There is quite a bit of upside here.

Kyle Freeland ($8,200): Freeland has a 2.29 ERA in three career starts at AT&T Park. The Giants are only hitting .244 against Freeland with two homers and five runs in 82 at bats. The only knock against Freeland here is that he has only struck out 12 in those 82 at bats. This is a lot to pay for a pitcher that doesn’t rack up strikeouts, but is still going to be a strong start for Freeland. Strong enough to use him against this offense.

Michael Pineda ($7,800): The Twins haven’t taken the kid gloves off of Pineda yet, and they likely wont for at least a few more starts. Pineda has only allowed two runs in nine innings this year while striking out ten. He was a strong pitcher before arm problems derailed him. The early returns are outstanding for the Twins. Against an offense like the Tigers that has struggled this year, Pineda has really good upside even if he only goes five innings.

Bargain Pitchers:

CC Sabathia ($7,100): CC is making his first start of the season, so there could be a couple of speed bumps here. However, the White Sox have just one home run in 109 at bats against left handed pitching this year. CC isn’t going to rack up strikeouts like he used to, nor is he going to eat a lot of innings in this game. We would be playing him on the cheap hoping for five or six innings with a half dozen strikeouts and the win.

Tyson Ross ($6,700): Ross has proven that he can be a good pitcher when healthy. He just hasn’t been healthy all that often. Ross has only allowed three earned runs in 12 innings this year against the Yankees and Royals. The Twins are somewhere in between those offenses. The 12 strikeouts also show the promise of Ross. He looks too cheap here, which makes him a great bargain play.

My picks: Snell, Ross

DraftKings MLB: Early stack options

Chicago Cubs vs. Chris Stratton:

Stratton is struggling with walks and keeping runners from crossing the plate. That’s exactly what you don’t want with the wind blowing out at Wrigley. Baez and Schwarber have homered off of Stratton in the past. The red hot Jason Heyward will be in my lineup. Rizzo and Daniel Descalso are worth a look too. I want all the lefties here, including Ben Zobrist if he leads off again.

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Clay Buchholz:

The current Rays have mostly struggled against Buchholz, but Buchholz was rocked in his rehab starts. This Rays offense is doing very well right now, particularly Austin Meadows and Tommy Pham. Brandon Lowe homered twice yesterday as did Meadows. I want all of them against Buchholz in his 2019 debut with maybe some Kiermaier and Ji-Man Choi sprinkled in. This is a very reasonably priced stack to pair with Snell.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Anibal Sanchez:

The Pirates have been shut down lately, but that was by lefties. This is a middling righty. The Pirates are hitting .362 with a homer and 11 runs in just 69 at bats against Sanchez. Melky Cabrera, if he plays, is 18-45(.400) with six runs and seven RBI. Starling Marte has the homer. Adam Frazier, Jason Martin, and JB Shuck are worth a look in a very cheap afternoon stack.

DraftKings MLB Early daily notes:

I can name a few dozen reasons why Andrew Cashner is a bad idea in Fenway, but his solid overall numbers against Boston have me deciding against a stack. Xander Bogaerts is 3-6 with a homer and four RBI against Cashner, so I’ll have some exposure. Beyond that, the rest of the lineup is 7-37 with no homers and three runs. However, Mookie Betts does have the second highest exit velocity on the slate at 98.5 mph and his xSLG and xwOBA of .944 and .610 respectively suggest Betts has had some bad luck against Cashner thus far.

More from FanSided

• Thunder projected lineup and rotations heading into 2023-24 season
• NWSL Challenge Cup news: Courage ruthless against Washington, Racing remain perfect
• 2023 Women’s World Cup: Ary Borges and Brazil showed the entire world what they are about
• Trea Turner’s rough season goes from bad to worse
• Brewers attempt to troll Elly De La Cruz backfires 456 feet

Chris Davis has to break out sometime, right? Right?? If so, it will be here. Davis is only 10-50 against Porcello, but he has four homers and eight RBI. Dwight Smith Jr.‘s only hit against Porcello was a three run homer in his only game against him.

I don’t know that I really trust the Yankees offense right now. They were shut down by Giolito last night. However, if you want to take the shot, former Yankee Ivan Nova has a 4.35 ERA in 67 career Yankee Stadium starts. DJ LeMahieu is the logical place to start since he is 5-7 with four runs and the only Yankee RBI against Nova.

Tim Anderson and Welington Castillo have both homered off of CC Sabathia before. However, beyond them the rest of this team has struggled against Carsten Charles.

The Twins are 9-22(.409) in a small sample size against Tyson Ross, but the way he is pitching this year, I’m not sure I want a lot of exposure here. Jonathan Schoop and Marwin Gonzalez are the ones I would use. Nelson Cruz if looking for a homer.

Miggy is 6-10 lifetime against Michael Pineda, but he only has three runs and no RBI to show for it.

Kyle Hendricks has superb career numbers at Wrigley and solid numbers against the Angels, but I just don’t trust him against a hot offense (even if they shouldn’t be) with the wind blowing out. I would rather throw Lucroy, Justin Bour, and Zack Cozart at him and see what sticks. All three have homered off of Hendricks in the past.

Randal Grichuk has hit a few balls hard against Blake Snell, but he’s about the only Blue Jay I would consider using.

I still don’t feel that MadBum is right, and the Rockies have hit him hard in his career, but a bulk of that came at Coors Field. Trevor Story has three homers and seven RBI off of MadBum. Arenado has slugged two homers against him as well. This is the place to take a couple of shots with Rockies righties.

Adam Eaton is the only National that has had any kind of success against Chris Archer. Eaton is 5-12 off of him, but has nothing to show for it. You could take a shot with the hot Anthony Rendon, but there are better places to spend this afternoon.

We promised some big news for Fantasy CPR, right? Well here it is! We are now looking for PAID writers to join our team to write about fantasy sports. Seasonal or DFS, any sport you want – get your voice heard and get paid for talking fantasy sports. Apply today HERE!