Daily Fantasy Baseball 2015: Best DraftKings MLB Pitcher Picks for July 8 – Bleacher Report

It’s a full 15-game slate today for the boys in the big leagues and the men and women playing the big-money daily leagues on draftkings.com. However, there’s a severe-weather warning, and many of the day’s games are in danger of a delay or cancellation.

At 7:30 a.m. ET, draftkings.com is listing six games with the little rain icon. Beware the little rain icon!

No player is more affected by a rain-out or rain-delay than a starting pitcher. It’s the most expensive position by far, and missing a start can devastate any lineup’s chance at big money. So while you’re running through your pregame checklist before you set that lineup, make sure you swing by weather.com for the take from each home team’s local meteorologist. 

Clayton Kershaw ($13,300) vs. Phillies

It seems like I include Kershaw every week in this column. Should I stop? Per baseball-reference.com, the best pitcher in the world is having his worst season since his rookie year in 2008. 

But Kershaw leads the league in strikeouts and allows just north of three earned runs per nine innings in his “down” years. 

Kershaw provides the highest floor by far of any pitcher on the slate. He’ll be taking the hill in Los Angeles, where rain is a foreign subject matter, and, most importantly, the lowly Phillies are in town. NumberFire.com projects Kershaw to score seven more fantasy points than any other pitcher on the slate. That’s a chasm in daily fantasy terms. 

Chris Archer ($10,600) at Royals

Archer is having a great season. He’s probably the biggest reason that the Rays are still in the hunt in the AL East. His nine wins, sub-1.0 WHIP, 141 strikeouts, 115.2 innings pitched and 2.18 ERA all rank in the top six in the league, according to baseball-reference.com.

However, I prefer Kershaw today (despite the difference in price) for two reasons:

1. The Phillies are terrible, and the Royals are the best team in the American League. 
2. Kansas City and Tampa Bay might get rained out. 

Mike Fiers ($9,100) vs. Braves

After a horrendous start to the season, Milwaukee showed some fight by rattling off eight straight wins. Though they’ve lost their last two, the Brewers get to turn to Mike Fiers tonight to try to make it nine wins in 11 games. 

Fiers has allowed just three runs in his last 20 innings and hopes to continue to provide quality against a Braves club that, per fangraphs.com, ranks dead last in home runs.

Charlie Morton ($6,100) vs. Padres

Aside from the disastrous June 21 outing in which he allowed nine earned runs in less than one inning, Charlie Morton has been a reliable fantasy starter. Per draftkings.com, he’s posting 12 fantasy points per game—a fair number for a player at his price point. 

Plus, Morton owns San Diego. Per espn.com’s team vs. pitcher statistics, in 90 career at-bats against Morton, the Padres roster is hitting 0.178 with zero home runs and 20 strikeouts. Yikes!

Matt Harrison ($5,000) vs. Diamondbacks

After 14 mo. rehab, pitcher returns from spinal fusion. #perseverance #modernmedicine #rehab #first… http://t.co/0ja06Pwk84

— Providence Home Care (@ProvidenceHHC) July 8, 2015

Quite frankly, this is a gamble. Heck, Harrison is coming off spinal fusion surgery!

Per baseball-reference.com, Harrison hasn’t made a start in the bigs since May 13…2014. In fact, he’s only thrown 27.2 innings since his all-star 2012 campaign!

But Harrison won’t be on that short of a leash. He’s been held to around 100 pitches in his last few minor league rehab starts. If he gets to 100 tonight, he’ll be well worth the $5,000 price tag. With all due respect to Alex Rodriguez and teammate Josh Hamilton, if Matt Harrison gets anywhere close to his 2012 form, he’ll be the front-runner for comeback player of the year.