MLB Opening Day is on track for April 7 and after fears that the season would be lost to contentious collective bargaining talks, MLB daily Fantasy players are preparing to dial in their MLB DFS strategies. Jacob deGrom was only able to make 15 starts a season ago but the Mets still had the confidence to name him their Opening Day starter over Max Scherzer against the Nationals. The two-time Cy Young winner had a 1.08 ERA and struck out 146 over 92 innings last season so he’ll be a popular option for MLB DFS lineups.
However, the MLB DFS player pool is loaded with high-quality starting pitching options like Shane Bieber, Max Fried, Shohei Ohtani and Gerrit Cole. So which starting pitchers have the most advantageous matchups, and what players should you be targeting at every other position for your MLB Opening Day DFS rosters? Before submitting any MLB DFS picks for Opening Day, be sure to check out the MLB DFS advice, strategy and projections from SportsLine daily Fantasy expert Mike McClure.
McClure is a daily Fantasy pro who has won almost $2 million in his career. And when it comes to daily Fantasy baseball, McClure is at his best. Recognized in the book “Fantasy Football (and Baseball) for Smart People: How to Turn Your Hobby into a Fortune” as a top MLB DFS player, McClure’s proprietary projection model simulates each game 10,000 times, taking factors such as matchups and recent results into account. This allows him to find the best values on every site.
Now, with the 2022 MLB season nearing its beginning, McClure has locked in his top MLB daily Fantasy picks for Opening Day on Thursday, April 7. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
McClure’s top MLB DFS picks for Opening Day
One of McClure’s top MLB DFS picks for MLB Opening Day is Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers. The 25-year-old had a breakout season in 2019 where he hit 32 home runs and drove in 115 with a .916 OPS and bounced back in 2021 after a somewhat disappointing (albeit in a small sample size) 2020.
Devers hit a career-high 38 home runs and drove in 113 while posting an .890 OPS and making his first MLB All-Star appearance. Devers had a career-high barrel rate of 15 percent and a career-high hard-hit contact rate of 51.8 percent and his incredible bat speed and improving plate discipline (9.3 percent walk rate) make him a constant threat. He also has three home runs in 20 career plate appearances against expected Yankees starter Gerrit Cole.
Another player McClure likes for Thursday’s season opener is Angels outfielder Mike Trout. The three-time MVP and nine-time MLB All-Star only played 36 games last season because of a calf injury, but he looked like the same old Trout in what little we saw of him, posting a 1.090 OPS with eight home runs and 18 RBI.
Now he’ll return to the top of the Angels’ order and he’s still in the middle of his prime at 30. With more wary MLB DFS players concerned over how he’ll rebound from missing 126 games last season, early in the season might be the best time to capitalize on the future Hall-of-Famer with the 1.002 career OPS (11th-best in history). Trout and the Angels will take on the Astros on MLB Opening Day and he was on base in half of his 20 plate appearances with two home runs against Houston last season.
How to set your MLB DFS lineups for April 7, 2022
McClure is also targeting an undervalued player who is set to explode for huge numbers on Thursday. The stars are aligning for him to return tournament-winning value and he comes at a price that won’t break the bank. You can only see who it is here.
So what are the top MLB DFS picks for Thursday? Visit SportsLine now to see DFS millionaire Mike McClure’s complete player pool and picks for FanDuel and DraftKings, and cash in big on MLB DFS.
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