It's always difficult to actually enjoy a Monday. It's the start of a work or school week and almost every thought running through your mind is all of the tasks you have to accomplish that day and in the weeks ahead. Fortunately, things are made a little better now with the return of the baseball season.
Of course, we're always looking to make Mondays a little easier and the folks at FanDuel deliver just what we all need. The return of baseball season means DraftKings offers up plenty of exciting contests for daily fantasy baseball players to choose from. Maybe your preference is getting involved in the early slate of games so you have something to enjoy during those early hours of the work day and to help make the time go by, FanDuel offers you a nice selection of early-only contests. You might prefer to get the work ahead of time then rush home, grab a chair and sit back to watch and enjoy the afternoon or 'main' slate of contests, once again FanDuel covers you for that.
Whatever your preference is, one of the first decisions you must make when setting a daily fantasy lineup is who to start as your pitcher. While Monday's slate may be a little watered down as back-end starters see their name called upon to toe the rubber for the first time, eDraft Sports is still hear to help you find the names to target. So let's get your lineup started off right with our top five DFS pitchers throughout Monday's full slate of games.
1.) Charlie Morton, HOU vs. BAL, ($8,500)
Morton comes in as the 'ace' of the slate and his price reflects it. However, given the selection of pitchers to choose from and given how well Morton performed last season, he is worthy of the price tag today. Morton, coming off a 2017 in which he struck out 10 batters per nine innings and posted a 26-plus percent strikeout rate for the second consecutive season, faces a Baltimore Orioles lineup that is prone to strikeouts and just got shut down for two total runs in their last two games. This game will also be away from Camden Yards and given Chris Tillman is taking the mound for Baltimore, this could be a seven-plus strikeout, six-plus inning win with fewer than three runs allowed.
2.) Jordan Montgomery, NYY vs. TBB, ($7,300)
Strikeouts against southpaws proved to be a problem for Tampa Bay last season, though it is something they tried to address in the offseason at the cost of dumping the team's three best hitters. Now they head to Yankee Stadium without many power bats to speak of and in a park, that while friendly to home runs, isn't especially giving to hits of the standard variety. Boston's starting pitchers made easy work of Tampa Bay's lineup over the weekend and Montgomery is a young southpaw on the rise who should do very well in this outing. For variation lineups that don't pay out for an $8K-plus pitcher in the early slate, Montgomery is a strong play today.
3.) Tanner Roark, WAS @ ATL, ($8,000)
Roark experienced his share of some poor luck in 2017. His 4.67 ERA was a steep decline from the sparkling 2.83 ERA he posted the season before, but two major things changed for him that caused the massive change. First, Roark's BABIP skyrocketed from .269 in '16 to .300 last year, an uncharacteristic rise and an abnormal BABIP compared to his career .279 line. Second, he saw a dramatic spike in his home run/fly ball rate from 9.4 percent to 13.5 percent last season. Yet if you look at a majority of the veteran's other numbers, including his SIERA, SwStr% and his fly ball rate, they largely remained the same.
The 31-year-old isn't as good as his 2016 ERA would tell you, but he is one of the better fourth starters in baseball and falls more in line with the sub-four FIP from previous seasons. While Atlanta's lineup offers some talent at the top, Roark should be able to battle them through at bats and really capitalize on the bottom half of Atlanta's lineup. Washington holds the pitching edge here, which puts Roark at a higher probability for the win and he could turn in a quality start to rack up even more FanDuel points.
4.) Lance Lynn, MIN @ PIT, ($7,500)
One month ago, Lynn took the gamble on a one-year, $12 million deal with the Minnesota Twins. The free agent market for pitchers seemed to dry up and without any other compelling options, Lynn opted to bet on himself. Just a few weeks later, Alex Cobb cashed in on a multi-year deal and left many wondering if Lynn badly miscalculated and rushed into signing a contract so he could be in a rotation for the first week of the season.
Lynn already had something to prove this season and now the chip on his shoulder may be even larger. A reliable innings eater, Lynn is a lock nearly every time he takes the mound to go six innings and that should be no different versus Pittsburgh. While the Pirates finished off a strong series in Detroit, they will be tired after a double header on Sunday and then a night spent traveling back home. Lynn will certainly seek to take advantage of that and if the Pirates' bats are even a millisecond slower and not able to muster up a lot of hits, Lynn could turn in an outing with five-plus strikeouts, six innings pitched and a win.
5.) Mike Clevinger, CLE @ LAA, ($7,700)
We saw plenty of promise from the 27-year-old Clevinger in 2017. In his second taste of the majors, the righty pitched brilliantly as a part of Cleveland's rotation and finished the season with a 3.11 ERA, 3.85 FIP and 10.13 K/9. Now he'll have the chance for revenge against the Los Angeles Angels, the team who drafted him but never gave him the opportunity to pitch in the majors. While consistent command will be an issue for him, he is capable of stretches of dominance when everything is clicking. The likes of Mike Trout and Justin Upton may challenge him, but FanDuel's six-point bonus for a win and three-point bonus for each strikeout could be the driving force for Clevinger's DFS value on Monday.
6.) Tyler Mahle, CIN vs. CHC, ($5,800)
Mahle isn't like some of the others on this list. A youngster who made his MLB debut last season and climbed the ranks, both the minors and prospect lists, based almost entirely on his sharp command and ability to generate quick outs. Across five minor league seasons, Mahle posted a 7.7-plus K/9 and sub-2.0 BB/9 across his minor league career. Now after a strong rookie debut in 2017, he'll kick off his 2018 season against the Chicago Cubs. He'll look to paint corners and generate ground balls against a power-hungry Cubs' lineup on Monday and while the upside is limited, Mahle is an excellent bargain play that should be in a small percentage of DFS lineups.