The first weekend of MLB's regular season is now in the books and we enter the first real week of baseball. It all kicks off on Monday with plenty of games to watch throughout the course of the day and several matchups and players to keep a close eye on as we watch it all unfold.
Whether you're looking for a main slate GPP contest, an early slate 50/50 or perhaps an evening slate pick 'em contest, DraftKings has you covered with those and so many more options to fit your needs. Of course, the key to winning these contests is putting the right lineups together and maximizing your lineup with a mix of value plays, mini stacks and studs to help propel you into the green to finish the day as a winner.
Let's now get it all started with our DraftKings' DFS lineup for Monday's main slate of games.
Pitcher
Chad Bettis, COL @ SD, ($8,200)
As we reach that point of the schedule where back-end starters start to get their turn in the rotation, we see the selection of pitchers to choose from take a hit on this slate. While Charlie Morton offers a very intriguing matchup, he doesn't offer the reliability and potential we seek to have at a price of $11,100 and the same can be said for Mike Clevinger at $10,400. As a result, we move further down the list and find Bettis to be our 'SP1' of the featured slate.
Last season proved to be especially tough for Bettis and surprisingly he did worse on the road (8.40 ERA) than at Coors Field (3.45 ERA), but the road splits are a very limited sample size given he pitched just 15 innings outside of Colorado. While Bettis doesn't feature supreme strikeout ability, the 28-year-old righty can generate a lot of ground balls and often limit the damage done by opposing teams. The San Diego Padres lineup, while an improvement over previous seasons, will not be so daunting that rolling Bettis out comes at an extreme risk. Colorado's bats should have plenty of success against former reliever Bryan Mitchell and Bettis offers a solid floor at a price more affordable and worth it than many of the other top options.
Brian Johnson, BOS @ MIA, ($6,900)
Johnson is coming off a dominant stretch in spring training which helped him firmly secure a spot in Boston's rotation. Across 15 2/3 innings, the veteran southpaw allowed just 10 hits and held opponents to a .182 batting average, while striking out 13 along the way. As Boston takes a temporary stop in the National League to face the Miami Marlins, Johnson will also be the beneficiary of a pitcher-friendly ballpark and get to face a pitcher at the plate twice. Johnson is plenty capable of generating six-plus strikeouts and he carries the repertoire to keep Miami's hitters off balance and keep the score down. Given the arsenal in Boston's lineup and the matchup against rookie Trevor Richards, Johnson will also likely have a great chance at getting a win and the bonus points that come with it on DraftKings.
Other Options: Charlie Morton, Tanner Roark, Taijuan Walker, Andrew Triggs
Catcher
Robinson Chirinos, TEX @ OAK, ($3,000)
The catcher slate on Monday is also a bit lacking in terms of options, so we'll go with our secondary method and target a catcher with some pop in his bat. Chirinos is off to a very poor start this season without a single hit in three games, so it's very possible many choose to fade him against the Oakland Athletics. But Chirinos was also a fantasy sleeper this year in large part because he offered the power to hit 20-plus home runs in a season and we should note guys like that in DFS. While the A's stadium isn't exactly a palace for power hitter, Andrew Triggs finished last season with a 1.24 HR/9 and his fly ball rate rose by 10 percent from the previous season. With targets like Yan Gomes and Austin Hedges in unfavorable matchis, Chirinos becomes the dart throw at catcher.
Other Options: Jonathan Lucroy, Evan Gattis
First Base
Yonder Alonso, CLE @ LAA, ($3,900)
Alonso might be one of the favorite DFS targets on Monday's slate amongst all positions. As a left-handed hitter, Alonso already receives a boost from the Los Angeles Angels decision to lower the wall in right field. Once a spot where many left-handed hitters saw line drives bounce off the top of the left field wall, Los Angeles lowered the wall in right field by 10 feet. That in itself is already a beneficial move for Alonso, but things get even better for him.
He is set to face right-handed pitcher J.C. Ramirez, whose splits line up precisely with Alonso's splits from last season. Alonso's greatest success last season came against righties, as demonstrated by his .235 isolated power and 141 wRC+ versus righties last season. Meanwhile Ramirez constantly encountered turmoil against left-handed hitters, who crushed 16 home runs and posted a .374 wOBA against him. Three huge factors are working in Alonso's favor and everyone on DraftKings can take advantage of this because he is ranked 10th in price at his position. When all is said and done though, Alonso could post a top-three day at his position on Monday.
Other Options: Matt Olson, Carlos Santana, Freddie Freeman
Second Base
Jose Altuve, BAL @ HOU, ($4,900)
We always want to try and find a stack play in our lineups, largely for GPP contests, which is what we have here. Houston is set to face Chris Tillman, who last season looked to be one of the worst pitchers in all of baseball. From his 2.32 HR/9 to a 7.84 ERA, opponents regularly treated Tillman as if he was the team's pitcher at batting practice. Right-handed batters especially gave Tillman double, as evidenced by the 2.82 HR/9 they posted against him. It's not even as if left-handed hitters performed poorly against Tillman, they posted higher wRC+ and wOBA against him, but it was right-handed batters that took him deep most frequently.
Naturally, Altuve will be part of our targeted stack against Tillman. Altuve will hit near the top of the lineup, be surrounded by other great hitters to provide opportunities to score runs and he also packs plenty of punch in his bat with him. To top it all off, Altuve's price is actually quite solid right now below the $5K mark and with Jose Ramirez struggling and Daniel Murphy on the disabled list, Altuve is in a class all by himself in DFS right now.
Other Options: Jason Kipnis, Jose Ramirez
Third Base
Jose Ramirez, CLE @ LAA, ($4,600)
The chance to pair Altuve and Ramirez is one we have to jump on in some lineups. While the 25-year-old switch hitter is in the midst of an 0-for-12 streak to start the season. But some of it can certainly be called bad luck as we saw Ichiro Suzuki rob him of a home run on Saturday and given how much confidence plays into the game of baseball, that play alone could have swung things a little unfavorably against him. But we're going to buy a ticket again and trust in Ramirez for many of the same reasons we trust Alonso. Ramirez, a switch hitter, will see the favorable splits to be taken advantage of against Ramirez and look to pull the ball down the right field line. He packs plenty of punch in his bat, can be a threat on the base paths and hits high in Cleveland's lineup. A Houston-Cleveland mini stack is a fun way to go today.
Other Options: Josh Donaldson, Adrian Beltre
Shortstop
Yangervis Solarte, TOR vs. CWS, ($2,900)
There are two things to love about Solarte. First, DraftKings' listed price on him is one that absolutely needs to be taken advantage of. Versatility is one thing that obviously can't be measured in fantasy, but Solarte carries a good bat with him and Toronto clearly values it by where the team places him in its lineup. The 30-year-old performed well against right-handed hitters last season with a .272 batting average, .193 isolated power and .335 wOBA. Toronto trusts him enough to put him in the top five of the order and most recently in the cleanup spot in the team's past two games. While he may not give users elite production, he'll be in a hitter-friendly park with a good matchup and a chance to produce runs. For less than $3K, it would be criminal to ask for more than that out of your shortstop.
Other Options: Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts
Outfield
Bryce Harper, WAS @ ATL, ($5,300)
Harper went yard twice on Sunday and is already off to a blistering start for the 2018 season. SunTrust Park offers favorable distances to the outfield walls for Harper to get a hold of one off the hands of Sean Newcomb and blast into the seats. While Newcomb isn't excessive in his fastball usage and allowed less than a home run per nine innings last season, he still throws the 93 mph heater over 62 percent of the time. Given his spotty command and a less than stellar 58.6 percent first-pitch strike rate last season, Newcomb could find himself in unfavorable counts against Harper and when he returns to that comfortable fastball, Harper will be waiting for it and could send it out of the yard.
Lonnie Chisenhall, CLE @ LAA, ($3,600)
Chisenhall obliterated right-handed pitching last season to the tune of a .524 slugging percentage, .249 isolated power and a .976 OPS. He carries the same advantages hitting from the left side as Ramirez and Alonso, adding further fuel to the chance he takes a ball over the shortened fence in right field on Monday. Cleveland will see the splits in his favor and more than likely put him in the top six of the batting order, giving him a greater opportunity to drive in runs.
Marwin Gonzalez, HOU vs. BAL, ($3,700)
Rounding out the Astros-Indians mini double stack is Gonzalez. In 2017, Gonzalez posted the second-best wRC+ (154), wOBA (.397) and ISO (.230) on the team versus right-handed pitching. He is a very capable MLB hitter and showed plenty of times last season he could handle himself against some of the game's upper echelon starters. So a matchup against Tillman should be even easier for him and makes him a reliable OF2 who offers great value at his price point.
Other Options: Mike Trout, Adam Eaton, Andrew Benintendi