Our daily fantasy baseball picks continue with starting pitcher rankings and advice for Thursday's MLB slate.
Brace yourself: These rankings aren't pretty. That's somewhat expected on a light, nine-game slate, but come on. After the relative "safety" of Danny Salazar and John Lackey, it gets dicey quickly. Things get even trickier when you factor in that five of these games are on the afternoon slate, including Salazar (6:10 p.m. ET), leaving Lackey (9:40) as the best option at night.
MORE DAILY FANTASY: Hitter picks | DFS Playbook | Optimal lineup | Sporting News DFS
In other words, you may not even have the option to "pay up" for pitching in the evening slate. I'd recommend playing tournaments Thursday building around Salazar in the "early" slate and Lackey at night because finding profitable value pitchers is going to be risky (but not impossible).
With that in mind, let's take a look at our starting pitcher rankings (for daily and seasonal leagues) and picks below. As usual, we'll also have the day's best daily fantasy hitter picks and Fantasy Alarm's MLB DFS Playbook to help you find the best values on FanDuel and DraftKings. Good luck!
Daily fantasy baseball pitcher rankings
| Rank | Pitcher | Team | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Salazar | CLE | vs. Red Sox |
| 2 | John Lackey | CHC | at D-backs |
| 3 | Mike Fiers | HOU | at Yankees |
| 4 | Alex Wood | LAD | at Giants |
| 5 | Hector Santiago | LAA | vs. Rangers |
| 6 | Jake Peavy | SF | vs. Dodgers |
| 7 | Derek Holland | TEX | at Angels |
| 8 | Robert Stephenson | CIN | vs. Phillies |
| 9 | Mat Latos | CHW | at A's |
| 10 | Tanner Roark | WAS | vs. Marlins |
| 11 | Rubby De La Rosa | ARI | vs. Cubs |
| 12 | Ubaldo Jimenez | BAL | vs. Twins |
| 13 | Nathan Eovaldi | NYY | vs. Astros |
| 14 | Joe Kelly | BOS | at Indians |
| 15 | Charlie Morton | PHI | at Reds |
| 16 | Phil Hughes | MIN | at Orioles |
| 17 | Kendall Graveman | OAK | vs. White Sox |
| 18 | Adam Conley | MIA | at Nationals |
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Daily fantasy baseball picks
Splurge: Danny Salazar, Indians vs. Red Sox. There really isn't another option. I don't love the matchup, but at least it's in Cleveland, and Salazar ($9,300 on FD; $9,700 on DK) has as much strikeout upside as anyone.
MORE: Sporting News DFS | Fantasy Alarm Playbook PRO
Sell: Nathan Eovaldi, Yankees vs. Astros. Eovaldi is $9,100 on FD (second-most SP) and $8,200 on DK (fifth-most). Is this a joke?
Save: Robert Stephenson, Reds vs. Phillies. Total crap shoot on a big-armed rookie who could rack up strikeouts against a bad lineup and has a good chance at a win (see our scouting report on Stephenson for more). The best part is that he's only $4,600 on FD. Unfortunately, he wasn't available on DK as of Wednesday night.