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Early DraftKings MLB Picks July 6: The day of Max’s

By Mike Marteny

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 22: Starting pitcher Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals throws to an Atlanta Braves batter in the fourth inning at Nationals Park on July 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 22: Starting pitcher Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals throws to an Atlanta Braves batter in the fourth inning at Nationals Park on July 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 09: Starting pitcher Max Fried #54 of the Atlanta Braves throws in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on April 09, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Max Scherzer ($12,200): Scherzer’s career numbers against the Royals aren’t very good, but that was from his time with the Tigers. That seems like a whole career ago. The Royals will be facing a guy that has a double digit strikeout game in all but one game since June 1st (he struck out nine in that one game). Mad Max also has at least 32 DraftKings points in every game since Memorial Day weekend. That’s the kind of consistent dominance we demand when spending this much on a pitcher. I don’t think we can fade Max in cash games, and it’s going to be really hard to do so in GPP formats as well.

Shane Bieber ($10,800): If you are playing Bieber here you are chasing strikeouts. It’s not a bad chase. The Reds do strike out quite a bit. Bieber also has a 3.33 road ERA this year. There’s enough to like about Bieber to consider using him as a Max fade in GPP’s, but I wouldn’t do it if only playing one lineup. Now, if you want to try and cram him and Max in the same lineup, I’m listening, but it wont be easy.

Middle Tier:

CC Sabathia ($8,800): Sabathia is in the same boat as Tanaka last night. Tanaka still had a decent outing, but not for the price. I think CC winds up there today. First off, CC’s road ERA is a dreadful 6.30 in six starts. However, one of those was at the Trop where CC only allowed one run. In fact, he has only allowed four runs in three starts against the Rays this year. The bad part is that CC only has 13 strikeouts in 17 innings. The mid tier is pretty awful today, but Sabathia would need a pretty flawless game to be worth this price.

Bargain Pitchers:

Trevor Williams ($6,700): The Brewers are hitting just .138 in 58 at bats against Williams with no homers, just two runs, and 17 strikeouts. That’s a lot for Williams. This offense aside from Yelich is still struggling, so it looks safe to go with Williams again. Especially when you consider the fact that Yelich is just 1-11 in his career against Williams. Now the bad news: Williams has given up 18 runs in three starts since his return from the IL. How brave are you?

NOTE: Williams has been moved back. Dario Agrazal will start in his place. What does that change? Well, I’m moderately more interested in left handed Brewers here. Judging by the fact that Agrazal racked up 16.7 DraftKings points against Houston, I think he can handle himself against the Brewers. He’s a sneaky good play at just $5,300.

Max Fried ($6,500): Fried is too cheap against the Marlins. Even if he only gets the 17.4 DraftKings points that he did the first time against him, we’re in good shape at this price. Fried has allowed three runs or less in each of his last four starts after hitting a rough patch in early June. He isn’t putting up the numbers that he did to start the season, but Fried is pitching plenty well enough to use at this price.

My picks: Scherzer, Fried; Scherzer, Sabathia; Agrazal, Fried