Our daily fantasy baseball picks continue with starting pitcher rankings and advice for Saturday's MLB slate.
Some elite aces are making their second starts Saturday, and it's easy to let the extreme recency bias affect our daily fantasy decisions. Clayton Kershaw is going to be the most-owned pitcher, and while he's worth it, you'll need to look elsewhere if you want to be different. An easy "contrarian" pick would be his opponent, Madison Bumgarner, who could be just as good Saturday.
MORE FANTASY: FanDuel Lineup | Hiitter picks | Sporting News DFS
You don't have to pay that much to get ace stats today, though. I also like Gerrit Cole in his 2016 debut against the Reds, and Carlos Martinez will be popular against the light-hitting Braves. A real zig would be trusting Zack Greinke, who was roughed up in his 2016 debut with the flu, against the Cubs. He will be severely under-owned today in DFS. There's even mid-level value all over the place. In short, there's no one-size-fits-all SP strategy Saturday, so see who fits in with your offense.
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 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD | at SF |
| 2 | Chris Sale | CHW | vs. CLE |
| 3 | Madison Bumgarner | SF | vs. LAD |
| 4 | Gerrit Cole | PIT | at CIN |
| 5 | Cole Hamels | TEX | at LAA |
| 6 | Zack Greinke | ARI | vs. CHC |
| 7 | Carlos Martinez | STL | at ATL |
| 8 | Raisel Iglesias | CIN | vs. PIT |
| 9 | Kyle Hendricks | CHC | at ARI |
| 10 | Garrett Richards | LAA | vs. TEX |
| 11 | Julio Teheran | ATL | vs. STL |
| 12 | Ian Kennedy | KC | vs. MIN |
| 13 | Bartolo Colon | NYM | vs. PHI |
| 14 | Drew Smyly | TB | at BAL |
| 15 | Joe Ross | WAS | vs. MIA |
| 16 | Vincent Velasquez | PHI | at NYM |
| 17 | Cody Anderson | CLE | at CHW |
| 18 | Drew Pomeranz | SD | at COL |
| 19 | Nate Karns | SEA | vs. OAK |
| 20 | Wily Peralta | MIL | vs. HOU |
| 21 | Jorge De La Rosa | COL | vs. SD |
| 22 | Doug Fister | HOU | at MIL |
| 23 | Rich Hill | OAK | at SEA |
| 24 | R.A. Dickey | TOR | vs. BOS |
| 25 | CC Sabathia | NYY | at DET |
| 26 | Tom Koehler | MIA | at WAS |
| 27 | Tommy Milone | MIN | at KC |
| 28 | Rick Porcello | BOS | at TOR |
| 29 | Mike Wright | BAL | vs. TB |
| 30 | Mike Pelfrey | DET | vs. NYY |
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Daily fantasy baseball picks
Splurge: Gerrit Cole, Pirates at Reds. I don't think you really have to "splurge" to get an ace today. Case in point, Cole ($10,000 on FDE; $10,200 on DK) can get you top-level stats for far less than the top dogs, two of whom will be dueling with one another.
MORE: MLB DFS Playbook | Fantasy Alarm Playbook PRO
Sell: Drew Smyly, Rays at Orioles. After watching Smyly ($8,500 on FD; $9,500 on DK) give up three homers against the Blue Jays in his 2016 debut, I'll pass on running him out there against the Orioles, even though they struggled against lefthanders last season. There are safer value picks in this range today.
Save: Kyle Hendricks, Cubs at D-backs. I think people are going to avoid the pitchers in this game because of the ballpark, but Hendricks ($7,500 on FD; $8,000 on DK) has the right mix of high upside, low cost and low ownership to take the risk. I also like Raisel Iglesias ($8,000 on DF; $8,600 on DK), but he's a little more expensive than Hendricks on both sites.