Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks: Starting pitcher rankings, advice for May 14 – Sporting News

Our daily fantasy baseball picks continue with starting pitcher rankings and advice for Saturday’s MLB slate.

Before we get into today’s rankings, we should point out that as of Friday night, the Nationals official website says Stephen Strasburg, not Tanner Roark, is pitching the first game of Saturday’s Marlins-Nats doubleheader. Both FanDuel and DraftKings have Roark listed among the early starters, so hopefully the Nats’ site is wrong and DFS players will still get to use Roark early and Strasburg late.

MORE FANTASY: Prospect rankings | Waiver wire | DFS Playbook

Aside from that, it’s not a particularly exciting day for pitchers. Jake Arrieta is starting, so he’ll be widely owned despite his high price tag, but after him and Strasburg, there aren’t a lot of “true aces.” However, the dropoff in talent is fairly steep after our top nine or 10, so it would take some real guts to use someone from lower in our rankings.

Let’s take a look at the full starting pitcher rankings and picks. As usual, we’ll also have daily fantasy baseball hitter picks and the DFS Playbook from Fantasy Alarm to help you find the best values on FanDuel and DraftKings. Good luck!

Daily fantasy baseball picks

Splurge: Jose Quintana, White Sox at Yankees. If you want to really splurge you can pay up for Jake Arrieta, who costs $12,000 on FanDuel and $12,600 on DraftKings, but we’ll save a few bucks and spend on Quintana ($9,200 on FD; $10,600 on DK). The Yankees were just shut down by Chris Sale, and while Quintana doesn’t have quite as much strikeout upside, his numbers are almost identical to his more famous teammate this year. The Yankees have just a .683 OPS vs. lefties this year, so it’s a nice matchup for Quintana.

Sell: Tanner Roark, Nationals vs. Marlins. Roark hasn’t allowed an earned run in three of his past four starts, so it’s easy to see why he’d be a popular play today, but keep in mind the Marlins are ninth in the majors in OPS vs. righthanders and have one of the lowest K-rates against righties. Roark is the fifth most expensive pitcher on FD ($8,400) and fourth most on DK ($9,900), but those are steep prices to pay given the matchup and Roark’s usual lack of strikeout upside (his 15-K game against the Twins notwithstanding).

MORE: Hitter picks | DFS Playbook PRO | Play FanDuel

Save: Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners vs. Angels. The Angels rank 26th in OPS vs. righties, and Iwakuma has a 2.67/0.95 line against them in his career. At $8,000 on FD and $7,700 on DK, Iwakuma gives you plenty of upside for a reasonable price.

Editor’s note: Play one-day fantasy baseball leagues for real money at FanDuel! Claim your free entry and deposit bonus here.

Daily fantasy baseball rankings

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