MLB DFS Pitching Primer: Saturday, 8/17 – Marquee matchup for Marquez on main slate
By Dan Palyo
MLB DFS Pitching Primer: Cash Game Ace
Jacob DeGrom (11.5k FD, 11.6k DK) @ Kansas City
DeGrom is only one of three aces going tonight, but he has a significantly better matchup than Hyun-Jin Ryu and is more trustworthy than Jose Berrios. DeGrom is a -200 favorite on the road tonight against a Kansas City team that is a sub-par offensive team and implied for only 3.5 runs.
DeGrom is actually coming off his worst start in the last month, scoring only 36 FanDuel points while blanking the Nats over five innings and “only” striking out seven. He’s been so good all year long that you tend to get spoiled with 50+ FanDuel points or 30+ Draftkings points almost every time he goes out there.
Anyway, DeGrom is expensive, but this is a pretty safe spot. He has a solid floor with 7-8 strikeouts pretty much built-in and an excellent ground ball rate that allows him to get quick outs and usually pitch deep into games. With the Mets in the playoff hunt, I could see them going with him deeper into games if they are close and not trusting their bullpen with small leads.
It’s tough to fit many attractive bats in on FanDuel with this big salary, but he is still the best cash play. On Draftkings there is a really cheap option that I like that might allow you to cram in DeGrom with some of the better high-priced bats, too.