Our daily fantasy baseball picks continue with starting pitcher rankings and advice for Thursday's MLB slate.
There's a lot of ace-level talent and potential value pitchers on the mound Thursday, in both the afternoon and evening slates. The problem is that a lot of those aces and values are facing each other or a tough offense, making it difficult to predict a win for any. That means DFS owners are going to have to dig into the numbers a little more to find the right matchups and/or values on the mound.
MORE FANTASY: Hitter sleepers | Optimal DFS lineup | DFS Playbook | DFS Playbook PRO
Also, it's no guarantee that Stephen Strasburg (flu) starts for the Nationals today, so be careful there. 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 rankings
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| Rank | Pitcher | Team | Opp |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Archer | TB | vs. CLE |
| 2 | Danny Salazar | CLE | at TB |
| 3 | Jordan Zimmermann | DET | at PIT |
| 4 | Cole Hamels | TEX | vs. BAL |
| 5 | Marcus Stroman | TOR | vs. NYY |
| 6 | Gerrit Cole | PIT | vs. DET |
| 7 | Stephen Strasburg* | WAS | vs. ATL |
| 8 | Jaime Garcia | STL | vs. MIL |
| 9 | Vincent Velasquez | PHI | vs. SD |
| 10 | Ian Kennedy | KC | at HOU |
| 11 | Julio Teheran | ATL | at WAS |
| 12 | Raisel Iglesias | CIN | at CHC |
| 13 | Drew Pomeranz | SD | at PHI |
| 14 | Jason Hammel | CHC | vs. CIN |
| 15 | Mat Latos | CHW | at MIN |
| 16 | Robbie Ray | ARI | at LAD |
| 17 | Ervin Santana | MIN | vs. CHW |
| 18 | Doug Fister | HOU | vs. KC |
| 19 | Wily Peralta | MIL | at STL |
| 20 | Ross Stripling | LAD | vs. ARI |
| 21 | Chris Tillman | BAL | at TEX |
| 22 | Nathan Eovaldi | NYY | at TOR |
| 23 | Matt Cain | SF | at COL |
| 24 | Christian Bergman | COL | vs. SF |
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Daily fantasy baseball picks
Splurge: Cole Hamels, Rangers vs. Orioles. "What? Hamels against the best team in baseball??" That reaction is exactly why I'd pay up to have Hamels ($10,200 on FD; $10,600 on DK) on Thursday. That, and because Baltimore struggled against lefthanders last year and is hitting just .220/.291/.380 against them to start this season. Let other owners guess between Chris Archer vs. Danny Salazar and Gerrit Cole vs. Jordan Zimmermann.
MORE FANTASY: Hitter sleepers | Optimal lineup | DFS Playbook | DFS Playbook PRO
Sell: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals vs. Braves. Not even sure if Stras will pitch through the flu Thursday, and his afternoon start throws another wrench into any plans of banking on him in FanDuel ($11,200). Plus, he'd be facing a team that has roughed him up in the past for the second time in eight days.
Save: Vincent Velasquez, Phillies vs. Padres. I'm going to take the rare opportunity to back a Phillies pitcher in a winning situation with Velasquez ($7,400 on FD; $7,300 on DK) facing the Padres, who are struggling to score again. VV could earn a W while racking up a bunch of Ks on the cheap.