MLB DFS picks and pivots September 13

MLB DFS picks and pivots September 13 – Friday the 13th

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 04: Pitcher Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals sits in the dugout during seventh inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on August 04, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – AUGUST 04: Pitcher Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals sits in the dugout during seventh inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on August 04, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

MLB DFS – Pitching Breakdown

It feels like recently, night after night, when looking at these MLB DFS slates that we have high-end elite K arms available to us which also likely means we are going to have a slate soon where Jason Vargas is the best available arm but that is a problem for another day.

Tonight we get a really interesting dillema and GPP decision point as we have two clear cut high-dollar studs like Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer but we also have a Coors Field slate and a 13 IRT so where are you going to go?

My guess is that most will anchor to one of Cole or Scherzer and drop down to a cheap SP2 like Tyler Beede in San Francisco against the Marlins so they can get Coors Field exposure, especially when you consider how cheap the Padres stack is with a slate high 6.8 IRT.

Rather than decide between Cole OR Scherzer, why not look at a way to get Cole AND Scherzer?

Let’s step back for a second – we have the 1st and 4th ranked arms in baseball this season when it comes to K rate as Cole leads the league with a 39.4% mark and Mad Max is not far behind at 35%. If you look at the swinging strike rate, you are going 1-2 with this duo as Scherzer leads the league with a 16.7% K rate and Cole is second at 16.6%.

Strikeout upside is always going to be the primary factor in my MLB DFS pitching picks but at this point in the season it is important to identify arms with something on the line and with the Astros fighting for home field and the Nationals in a tight Wild Card race, Cole and Scherzer give you length and pitch counts that support their lofty price tags.

Cole steps to the mound tonight with 5 straight starts of 30+ fantasy points, racking up 40+ twice in that span while Mad Max dropped 31 against the same Braves team he faces tonight in his first full start back from the IL.

Putting Cole and Max together is costly and it will mean going dumpster diving for a stack at around $7K per bat but you also have a build with a 50-60 point floor and 70+ point upside. Where everyone else will go high-low, can we pivot and go double-barrel aces tonight?