Main DraftKings MLB Picks May 8: For Sale by Orioles

OAKLAND, CA – MAY 07: Mike Fiers #50 of the Oakland Athletics celebrates after pitching a no hitter against the Cincinnati Reds at the Oakland Coliseum on May 7, 2019 in Oakland, California. The Oakland Athletics defeated the Cincinnati Reds 2-0. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images) /

Main DraftKings MLB Picks May 8: For Sale by Orioles

The early slate was literally chopped liver, but the eight game main DraftKings MLB slate is a little more coherent. Most of the good pitching is on here as well. Only seven pitchers are below $8,000, and all of them scare the hell out of me in one way or another.

DraftKings MLB Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Chris Sale ($10,400): Sale seems to be back on track. He should really look like it after this. The Orioles are hitting just .190 against Sale in 88 at bats with no homers, five runs, and a staggering 40 strikeouts. That’s right, Sale is striking out almost every other Oriole he faces! Are you still not convinced? Sale has a 1.97 ERA in 50.1 career innings in Camden Yards. Just play him. Don’t talk yourself out of it.

Clayton Kershaw ($10,200): The Braves are hitting a respectable .244 against Kershaw, but the good news ends there. Atlanta has just one homer and three runs in 78 at bats with 24 strikeouts. Kershaw is still especially dominant at home. The Braves are a good team, but I’m not going out of my way to play any of them.

Matt Boyd ($9,500): The Angels struggle against lefties anyway. What happens when they have to face a good one? It could be ugly. The Angels are only hitting .194 in 34 at bats, but they do have two homers and four runs against Boyd. As I have said though, past numbers don’t mean much with Boyd right now. He has had such a good year that he has spent his time rectifying those past numbers. This should be another one of those games.

Middle Tier:

Tyler Skaggs ($8,800): How much do you trust past stats? If it’s a lot and you are considering using Skaggs, you should bypass this paragraph. The Tigers are 12-20 with five runs and only one strikeout against Skaggs. However, the Tigers offense has scored just 111 runs in 32 games. The chances of them getting to Skaggs are pretty slim and they has struck out 311 times in those 32 games. There’s a lot of strikeouts to go around.

Kyle Hendricks ($8,400): Hendricks has been brilliant in the Friendly Confines so far this year. He has a 0.76 WHIP and 0.86 ERA in three Wrigley starts. Now he gets the wind blowing in with a weak and dominantly right handed Marlins lineup. Hendricks made news by throwing a shutout in just 81 pitches in his last start. You know he doesn’t rack up strikeouts, but Hendricks still piled up 71.7 DraftKings points in his last two home starts. He is a cash game staple tonight.

Sonny Gray ($8,200): Gray has a 3.50 ERA in 50 career starts at Oakland Coliseum. His return here should go pretty well too. Gray is a ground ball pitcher, so this park suits him well. His former teammates are hitting just .218 wtih two homers and six runs in 55 at bats with 14 strikeouts. Not world beating numbers, but plenty good enough for Gray’s price tag.

Bargain Pitchers:

Kyle Gibson ($7,700): The Blue Jays have been shut out twice in a row by the Twins. I’m not saying this will be the third, but the Jays are only hitting .200 with no homers and five runs against Gibson. The lack of strikeouts means that Gibson wont bail you out if he gets in trouble, but the Twins might. That bullpen is well rested right now, so Gibson could have a short leash. That could keep him from getting blasted and losing us double digit points *coughcollinmchughcough*

Brett Anderson ($6,500): Someone with worse metrics and numbers than Anderson just no hit the Reds last night. That isn’t a guarantee that Anderson will have a good night, especially when you consider all of the right handed power in the Cincinnati lineup. That said, Anderson is an extreme ground ball pitcher just like his counterpart tonight. We could have single digit balls hit in the air against both starters combined tonight.

My picks: Sale, Boyd; Sale, Hendricks, Kershaw, Gibson

PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 04: Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies high-fives Nolan Arenado #28 after Story hit a three-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the third inning of the MLB opening day game at Chase Field on April 4, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB stack options

Houston Astros vs. Jorge Lopez:

I like the upside on Jorge Lopez as much as the next person, but this is not the place to chase it on a humid night with the wind blowing out in Houston. Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa both still look too cheap. Even though the wind isn’t blowing to right, I still like Josh Reddick here as cap relief. George Springer is pretty much a must too. Depending on how low you’re willing to go at pitcher will determine who your fifth member is. Do you pay for Bregman or go cheap with Chirinos? There is no wrong answer.

Kansas City Royals vs. Brad Peacock:

The chances of Peacock getting smashed like McHugh did are pretty slim, but it bears noting that this current Royals roster is 5-17 against Peacock. Merrifield, Mondesi, and Hunter Dozier are the place to start if you’re going to stack this one. I also like the thought of using Billy Hamilton as part of a wrap around stack. Hamilton is 3-3 with a double, a steal, and run, and a RBI against Peacock.

Colorado Rockies vs. Derek Holland:

The baseball Gods must hate Holland. Bringing him back at Coors is a pretty cruel joke. The Rockies are hitting .327 in 110 at bats with six homers and 25 runs. They are probably going to clobber him again. Both Arenado and Ian Desmond have homered twice against Holland. Blackmon and Chris Iannetta have the other homers. Trevor Story is 6-13 with three RBI even though he hasn’t taken Holland deep yet. If you are spending for offense tonight, it should be here.

Cincinnati Reds vs. Brett Anderson:

Yes, I know I wrote up Anderson, but I may go back to the Reds well anyway. There is a lot of power potential. Eugenio Suarez and Nick Senzel have the power to get it out of this stadium. Yasiel Puig and Phillip Ervin have that muscle too. And are you really going to jump off of Derek Dietrich after one bad game? I didn’t think so. This stack is here and reasonably priced if you want to take another crack at the Oakland staff.

SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 28: Joe Panik #12 of the San Francisco Giants, right, is congratulated by Brandon Crawford #35 after hitting a two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at PETCO Park on August 28, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

I am actually considering an Oriole tonight. Trey Mancini is 7-19(.368) with two RBI against Chris Sale. The downside is that he isn’t a huge discount at $4,300.

Every time I go to stack against Andrew Cashner, he trolls me. Cashner isn’t a good pitcher, but there’s a chance he gets bombed by the Red Sox. The issue is that if we miss this with the price of the Red Sox bats we have no chance. Christian Vazquez and Xander have the homers. Benintendi is really the only other one that has gotten to Cashner. I think I’m limiting my exposure to these three.

More from FanSided

Kyle Gibson isn’t a great pitcher by any means, but he also doesn’t give up a lot of home runs. I’m not sure I trust anyone in this offense right now besides maybe a Justin Smoak one off.

Trent Thornton pitched well the only time he faced the Twins, but he still gave up a couple of runs, and this offense is cruising right now. Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler are definitely worth a look. So is Nelson Cruz considering he has driven in two runs off of Thornton already.

Andrelton Simmons has homered off of Matt Boyd. So has Brian Goodwin. On the other side, Miggy is the only one to take Tyler Skaggs deep. Honestly, I don’t know if I will play a bat from this game. I really don’t see a reason to unless you want a cheap Jeimer Candelario batting leadoff.

Jose Urena has actually been worse at home then on the road. He gets a huge favor with the wind blowing in from right tonight. I would still consider Anthony Rizzo, but that wind factor scares me with the Cubs prices as high as they are.

I avoided Giants last night, and that wasn’t a great idea. That could happen again tonight. Jon Gray is a decent pitcher, but the Giants have scored 12 runs off of him in just 71 at bats. Kevin Pillar and Brandon Belt have the homers. Joe Panik and Brandon Crawford are dirt cheap for Coors, and both have three RBI against Gray.

Matt Chapman and Khris Davis have the homers against Sonny Gray, but they weren’t hit in Oakland. I’m not sure I want a lot of exposure in his homecoming.

The last outing for Mike Folynewicz made me nervous. Nervous enough to keep me off of him tonight despite the good numbers against the Dodgers so far. Alex Verdugo is the only Dodger to homer against Folty so far. Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger are worth a look too.

Next. Early DraftKings MLB picks May 8. dark

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