By Andrew Dewhirst
Wwe have a ten-game main slate on Sunday with the first pitch at 1:05 pm EST. We should have another fun day, with the Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees, going head to head with Austin Meadows and the Tampa Bay Rays.
There is some risk that the Angels and the Blue Jays in Dunedin this afternoon will be rained out or delayed, with a 84 percent chance of rain at game time. We also have some risk with the Marlins and the Mets as there is a 50 percent chance of rain at game time but it will move up to 70 percent by 3pm.
Here’s our 50-50 MLB DFS lineup for 4/2/21 (using DraftKings Values)
| Pitcher | Dylan Cease | $7,200 | |
| Pitcher | |||
| Catcher | Zack Collins | $3,200 | |
| First Base | Trey Mancini | $4,700 | |
| Second Base | |||
| Third Base | |||
| Short Stop | Gleyber Torres | $4,600 | |
| Outfield 1 | Nelson Cruz | $5,800 | |
| Outfield 2 | |||
| Outfield 3 |
Salary Remaining $400
Dylan Cease ($7,200)
Cease is a bit more of a dice roll than I would like in a cash game, but with no really great pitching options, we are going to spend down and take the matchup with a pitcher who has some strikeout upside. Cease didn’t have a terrible start against the Angels last weekend as he only gave up five hits in four and two-thirds innings, but one of those was a home run which ended his day. This matchup against the Royals is a little more friendly, and if he can get to five innings he should have a good chance to get a win too.
Zack Collins ($3,200)
Collins will get the start today going against the Royals. Collins has hits in three straight games, including a double and a home run. Collins is among the better hitting catchers with the White Sox also using him as a DH, and I look to him as a player who can easily return value and then some today from the catcher position.
Trey Mancini ($4,700)
First Mancini crushed baseballs, then he crushed cancer, now he is back to crushing baseballs again. He hit his first home run of the year yesterday, and he is going against a weak Red Sox pitching staff again today, so he should be in line for another nice day again today.
Gleyber Torres ($4,600)
Out of the gate Torres has struggled a bit with just one extra base hit, but Torres is too good of a hitter to stay in a slump for too long. He will be facing Brent Honeywell Jr. today who will be pitching in a game for the first time in four years due to injuries. Torres continues to have a prime position in the lineup, so he should have lots of opportunities to bust out of his slump today.
Nelson Cruz ($5,800)
While Cruz is the most expensive player on the slate today, he also leads all batters in SLG percentage over the last week at 1.045. He will face Chris Flexen of the Mariners today, who had a decent first start since coming back to MLB, but I think he will find that the Twins are a very different offence than the Giants who he faced in that first meeting.
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• A number of alternative picks that you mix in for some variations on your core lineups.
Here’s our full 50-50 MLB DFS lineup for 4/1/21 (using DraftKings Values)
| Pitcher | Dylan Cease | $7,200 | |
| Pitcher | Matt Shoemaker | $6,900 | |
| Catcher | Zack Collins | $3,200 | |
| First Base | Trey Mancini | $4,700 | |
| Second Base | Ha-Seong Kim | $3,000 | |
| Third Base | Manny Machado | $5,300 | |
| Short Stop | Gleyber Torres | $4,600 | |
| Outfield 1 | Nelson Cruz | $5,800 | |
| Outfield 2 | Cedric Mullins | $3,900 | |
| Outfield 3 | Aaron Judge | $5,400 |
Salary Remaining $400
Matt Shoemaker ($6,900)
Shoemaker had a good start earlier in the week giving up one run on three hits while striking out five. Today against the Mariners we could see a similar outcome. On the season the Mariners are striking out 28 percent of the time, and this is a very winnable game for the Twins, which adds up to great value with Shoemaker.
Ha-seong Kim ($3,000)
Kim has gotten lots of at-bats due to Tatis’s injury, and that started to pay off yesterday when he hit his first home run. With the Padres facing Mike Foltynewicz ,who has really struggled with giving up home runs, pitching today for the Rangers we could see a second big day for Kim and get it at a discount price.
Manny Machado ($5,300)
Machado is another player who we can look to when trying to take advantage of a poor starter on the Texas side. The Padres have a 5.4 implied runs scored total today, and we should try to take advantage of Machado and his prime place in the batting order. On top of all of that Machado has hits in five straight games, and doubles in back to back games so there is lots of reason to expect him to have a good game today.
Cedric Mullins ($3,900)
Over the last week Mullins has been a top 20 player in slugging percentage, and he has a couple of steals as well. He paid off for us yesterday with a double and a steal, and the situation for him today isn’t any worse, and his price only went up $100. He remains a solid value.
Aaron Judge ($5,400)
Judge has started the year off with a hot start. He has six hits in his last three games, including two home runs. When healthy, Judge is always an option, and facing a rookie starter(likely more of an opener today) and a bullpen day is a solid opportunity to get Judge into your DFS lineup.
Alternative Moves…
Randy Arozerana – OF ($5,300 DK) Thus far in his MLB career Arozerana has shown no troubles against left-handed pitching. He has four home runs and a double in his last 29 plate appearances against lefties and will face one today in Jordan Montgomery of the Yankees.
Trevor Williams – P ($8,300 DK) If you’re looking to spend up a bit on a pitcher you could look at Williams. He had a good start against the Brewers and he should be motivated facing his old team in the Pirates today. Oh and the Pirates also have one of the worst lineups in baseball which should help his cause as well.
Go win your lineup and tell us how you did. Twitter (@FantasyDFSX) is a good place for that.
