DraftKings MLB Picks May 6: Mad Max or deGOAT?

ATLANTA, GA – APRIL 30: Julio Teheran #49 of the Atlanta Braves pitches in the first inning against the San Diego Padres at SunTrust Park on April 30, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Picks May 6: Mad Max or deGOAT?

We have a nine game main slate for our DraftKings MLB picks tonight. The two early games are in their own little turbo tournament. If you plan on playing that, it’s simple. Use Bauer and CC and stack as many Cleveland bats as you can.

DraftKings MLB Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Jacob deGrom ($10,200): The Padres are hitting a decent .250 against deGrom in 56 at bats, but he has 18 strikeouts and only allowed three runs. We saw deGrom turn in a dominant outing against the Reds last week. The Padres are at least that bad. Oh, and deGrom has a 1.59 ERA in four career starts at Petco Park.

Max Scherzer ($10,000): The Brewers are hitting just .179 in 112 at bats against Mad Max, but they have smacked five homers against him. The good news ends there for the Brewers. Despite the homers, they only have eight runs and have struck out a whopping 38 times. Despite a tougher matchup, Scherzer has the best upside on the slate.

Chris Paddack ($9,200): Paddack has a 1.91 ERA in six career starts. That alone puts him in play. The Mets are a solid offense, but they have cooled down a little bit of late. There’s enough to like about Paddack here, most notably the 0.70 WHIP, to keep him in play even on a loaded slate.

Middle Tier:

Cole Hamels ($9,000): Hamels worked over the Marlins for 34 DraftKings points earlier this year. This isn’t the NBA. If you can get 5x value out of anyone in baseball, you take it, no questions asked. Only Martin Prado has hit Hamels well in the past, and I would wager that he wont here. Hamels could score like an ace on a slate full of them.

Vince Velasquez ($8,800): The Cardinals are only hitting .206 against Velasquez in 68 at bats while allowing just two solo homers. The 15 strikeouts do leave something to be desired. Velasquez is a much safer pick on the road, but the Cardinals just got swept by the Cubs. They’re gonna come home mad.

Marcus Stroman ($8,000): Stroman could go unnoticed with the aces on the slate, but maybe he shouldn’t. He hasn’t pitched all that well against the Twins, but if we have learned anything from Stroman this year, it’s that past stats mean nothing. Stromanis dealing right now despite the 1-4 record, and has especially dominated at home with a 0.76 ERA in four starts in Toronto this year.

Bargain Pitchers:

Jhoulys Chacin ($6,900): We are going to need value somewhere today, and I will admit that this feels like a strange place to get it. After all, Chacin has a 5.24 ERA in seven starts this year. So why use Chacin? He has a 2.76 ERA in three home starts this year and has a 3.87 career ERA at Miller Park. On top of that, the Nationals haven’t homered against Chacin in 46 at bats. There wont be any strikeouts here, which makes this a dangerous play without a ton of upside.

Josh Smith ($4,000): This looks like a bullpen day for the Red Sox since Smith has pitched just one inning in the majors this year. He is the only pitcher that Boston has announced thus far, which makes this a risk. A 31 year old that has only pitched one inning in the majors is a big risk too. However, the Orioles are soooooo bad!

My picks: Scherzer, Hamels; Scherzer, Stroman

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 23: Michael Chavis #23 of the Boston Red Sox hits his first career home-run in the eighth inning during the second game of a double header against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park on April 23, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB stack options

Boston Red Sox vs. John Means:

John Means has actually pitched pretty well. Not enough that I would use him against a team like Boston, but enough to at least think about not stacking. Xander Bogaerts is on fire right now. Beyond that, there isn’t a lot to get excited about, but I can’t argue with using any of them. Mookie is hitting well right now and Christian Vazquez homered against Cashner before. Michael Chavis and Benintendi will round out my stack.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Miles Mikolas:

Until Mikolas starts showing promise again, I’m not using him. The Phillies are also 9-30 with three homers and seven runs off of him. That means that beat him to a pulp at least once. Odubel Herrera, Sean Rodriguez, and Bryce Harper have the homers. Don’t rule out Rhys Hoskins, Maikel Franco, or McCutchen here either. All of them are in play.

Chicago Cubs vs. Sandy Alcantara:

Alcantara has been pretty solid at home, but the road is a different story. Go listen to Tenacious D’s song about The Road. It will tell you all you need to know about Alcantara on the road. The Cubs got five runs off of Alcantara last year, but they didn’t get a homer. The only issue here is that the Cubs are expensive. Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber look really good. I do like Javy Baez and Willson Contreras as well, but maybe not for the price. You can’t stack Cubs and get a reasonable pitcher. That’s the major drawback here.

Houston Astros vs. Jake Junis:

Junis has been solid enough in his young career, but not against Houston. The Astros have destroyed him for a .390 average with two homers and 12 runs in just 41 at bats. Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman have the homers. Springer, Josh Reddick, and Michael Brantley are all hitting better than .350 against Junis. There isn’t a wrong answer in an Astros uniform here.

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – APRIL 23: Billy Hamilton #6 of the Kansas City Royals runs to first in the third inning during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on April 23, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

I honestly can’t find five Orioles that I want to use. If you can, they’re a huge bargain against the Boston bullpen. Stevie Wilkerson and Chris Davis are free spaces if you need the cash. Dwight Smith Jr. is about the only one I’m really excited about though.

More from FanSided

The Blue Jays have hammered Martin Perez in a small sample size. However, Teoscar Hernandez is the only one that has homered off of him. Justin Smoak is 8-20 with five walks and four doubles, but no counting stats. Randal Grichuk and Vlad Jr. look tempting too.

The Twins hit righties pretty well, but with as well as Stroman is pitching at home right now, I don’t want a lot of exposure here. If you want to take a shot with Eddie Rosario or Kepler that’s fine, but I wouldn’t go anything beyond that.

The Rays’ bats are slowing down some, but I’m still not in a big hurry to use a pitcher against them, especially a rookie. Tommy Pham and Kevin Kiermaier look like the best plays here. Brandon Lowe and Nate Lowe both look very good too.

There is no way that I’m using Snellzilla after the Royals just smashed him in back to back starts. He’s not right. I wouldn’t be shocked if he had to go back on the IL. This is a solid matchup against Arizona, but I would rather use Adam Jones against him instead.

It’s Christian Yelich day. Yelich is 10-26(.385) with three homers and five RBI against Scherzer. I wouldn’t play any other Brewer though.

This Nationals lineup is far less dangerous with Soto out of the lineup, but Howie Kendrick and Adam Eaton seem to be safe plays here.

Kolten Wong and Marcell Ozuna are the only ones that have been able to get to Vince Velasquez so far. I’m really not all that crazy about the Cardinals here.

The strikeout totals on Gerrit Cole are elite. Even better than Scherzer. However, Cole’s ERA is near 4 on the season. I’m sure he’s worth the lofty price tag, but I’ll sure use Billy Hamilton against him. Hamilton is 7-23(.304) against Cole with three walks. That’s ten times on base, right? Hamilton has stolen a staggering 14 bases on Cole already. 14!

Walker Buehler dominated the Braves last year, but this is not last year. Buehler hasn’t looked anything like he did last year. I wouldn’t go heavily on Braves here, but I want some exposure. Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, and Nick Markakis look great here.

I suppose you could take a shot with Michael Conforto, but I wont be using any Mets tonight. Someone will get to Paddack at some point, but I doubt it’s at home.

Kevin Gausman (unfairly) got tossed in the second inning for throwing behind Urena over the weekend, so he gets another start here. I wont stack Dodgers on principle right now, but I still like Cody Bellinger here. Good luck with the price though.

dark. Next. DraftKings Love, Like, and Leave MLB picks May 6

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!