The story of the day is without question the return of Bryce Harper. The Phillies haven’t been that relevant this year, outside of some individual surprises. Lookin’ at you Brandon Marsh. We’ll see what kind of impact his return has on the Phils as they’ve been kind of middling to this point. The Yankees appear to be in injury hell and are hoping Gerrit Cole can stop their 4-game losing streak. Elsewhere, we get Sandy Alcantara taking the mound for the Marlins vs. the Braves, who sadly lost Ronald Acuña yesterday after he was hit by a pitch. A few exciting young pitchers are going as well in Tanner Bibee and Mason Miller, with Bryce Miller making his debut for the Mariners.   

This is for the 5/2 4:05 PM PST slate on DraftKings. 

Thrive Fantasy Picks:

Steven Kwan under .5 Hits

Matt Chapman over 1.5 Hits + RBIs

Shohei Ohtani over .5 Hits

Jeremy Pena over .5 Runs

Writer’s record: 6-5-1

Guardians @ Yankees Under 7 Runs (-105)

Tanner Bibee was impressive in his first start, striking out 8 and only allowing 1 run. Aaron Judge was officially placed on the IL and there’s no one in the Yankees lineup that can come close to making up for that missing production. Cole hasn’t given up more than 2 runs in any of his starts this year and he should be his dominant self. 

Hunter Brown Over 6.5 Ks (+105)

The Giants have struck out more than any other team in the league. Hunter Brown has gone over 6.5 strikeouts in his last 2 starts. Brown has gone a full 7 innings in 3 of his 5 starts. That should give him more than enough opportunity to get 7 Ks vs the strikeout leaders of the league.

DFS Pillar Plays

Zac Gallen

Position: P

Salary: $10,000

In his last 4 starts, Zac Gallen has been completely untouchable. His scoreless streak is at 27 innings and counting. There are a lot of amazing pitchers on the board, but Gallen has been too dominant to not play. Texas is coming off an easy series against the Yankees, but the one game they lost out of the four was when Gerrit Cole was throwing. Cole struck out 8, went 6 ⅔ and got the win. Gallen is currently 3rd in the league in strikeouts and is only behind Spencer Strider (+250) in odds for the NL Cy Young (+500).

Matt Chapman/Bo Bichette

Position: 3B/SS

Salary: $5,500/$5,800

Depending on which position you’re having trouble finding value in, I recommend going with one of these two Blue Jay infielders, if not both. Bo Bichette is “hotter than fish grease,” as Mark Jones would say. He went 5-5 yesterday and has homered in each of his last 2 games. Both have 21 RBI and Bichette leads the league in hits, while Chapman leads the league in OPS. Chapman also leads the league in doubles and is second in batting average, while Bo is all the way down in 4th. You can’t go wrong with either.   

Byron Buxton

Position: OF

Salary: $5,400

It’s nice to have Byron Buxton back and healthy. He’s absolutely on fire and is a joy to watch when he’s in the groove. He’s homered in 4 out of his last 5 games and has at least one hit in 9 out of 10 games. The Twins will be in Chicago facing Michael Kopech of the White Sox who has been below average at 0-3 with a 7.01 ERA.

Brent Rooker

Position: OF

Salary: $3,800

Rooker has 3 HR in his last 4 games and is carrying a .353 batting average on the season with a 1.245 OPS, which would be leading the league if he qualified. He’s tied for 10th in RBI on the season with 22, and that’s with 20+ less at bats than everyone else around him. He’s completely locked in and is approaching must play territory.

DFS Value Plays (<$3000 Salary)

Nick Senzel

Position: 3B/OF

Salary: $2,700

Senzel has been mashing of late, with only 1 game (7 pts) of less than 15 fantasy points in his last 6 games. He’s 13-22 over that stretch and has scored 9 runs. His price here makes him a must-play for me.

Keibert Ruiz

Position: C

Salary: $2,900

This Nationals team has shown some fight as of late. They got beat 16-1 by the Pirates and rebounded the day after with a 7-2 win, doing so in style, with every starter getting a hit. Keibert Ruiz had 2 of them and has gotten a hit in 7 out of his last 9 games. He’s cheap and other catchers around this price hit 8th or 9th in the lineup, while Ruiz hits in the middle of the order. 

Andrew Vaughn

Position: OF

Salary: $2,700

Has a fire been lit under the White Sox? Probably not, but if it has, Andrew Vaughn’s 9th inning HR to complete their comeback win will have been the reason why. He’s on a 5-game hit streak and has 20 RBI on the season, which is good for 22nd in the league. He’s starting to heat up, so he’s worth a play at under $3,000.