Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish has been one of the top pitchers in the MLB DFS player pool throughout the season, going 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA across his first nine starts. He has thrown seven scoreless innings in each of his last two starts, racking up 16 total strikeouts between those appearances. The 37-year-old has thrown 25 consecutive scoreless innings overall and retired the final 13 Atlanta batters that he faced his last time out. Darvish will try to quiet another one of the league’s star-studded lineups on Friday night when the Padres host the Yankees.
While Darvish is the hottest pitcher in the majors, he is not one of the top five most expensive pitchers in Friday’s MLB DFS player pool on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel due to his difficult matchup. Should you include San Diego’s ace in your MLB DFS lineups? Before locking in any MLB DFS picks for Friday, 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 more than $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.
On Thursday, McClure highlighted Padres first baseman Luis Arraez as one of his top picks in his MLB DFS player pool on both sites. The result: Arraez went 4 of 5 with one run scored and one RBI, returning 21.7 points on FanDuel and 18 on DraftKings. Anybody who included him in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.
Now, with the 2024 MLB season rolling, McClure has locked in his top MLB daily Fantasy picks for Friday, May 24. You can head to SportsLine now to see them.
McClure’s top MLB DFS picks for Friday
One of McClure’s top MLB DFS picks for Friday is Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber at $4,200 on FanDuel and $5,800 on DraftKings. Schwarber has a pair of multi-hit outings in his last three games, going 2 of 5 while driving in a run against Texas on Thursday. He also had two hits in the series opener on Tuesday, and he added three walks and a run during a hitless day on Wednesday.
Schwarber still has a lackluster .223 batting average, but he continues to deliver in the power category with nine home runs and 30 RBI. On Friday, he is playing in the friendly confines of Coors Field, where he has six homers and 18 RBI in 14 career games. He has homered in three of his last five trips to Colorado, so McClure is happy to include Schwarber in his DFS lineups on Friday.
McClure is stacking Schwarber with Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto ($3,800 on FanDuel and $5,400 on DraftKings). Realmuto has hit safely in 13 consecutive games, including six multi-hit performances. He homered on Wednesday and Thursday, driving in four total runs while scoring three times.
The 33-year-old is batting .285 with seven homers and 20 RBI overall this season, and Philadelphia’s lineup is red-hot right now. Realmuto has excelled at Coors Field in 22 career games, batting .397 with two homers, 12 RBI and 14 runs scored. He had three hits in six at-bats at Colorado last season, and he is primed for another strong outing on Friday. See McClure’s full MLB DFS player pool at SportsLine.
How to set your MLB DFS lineups for May 24, 2024
McClure is also targeting an undervalued player who is set to explode for huge numbers on Friday. 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, and get the rest of McClure’s MLB DFS picks, here.
So what are the top MLB DFS picks for Friday? Visit SportsLine now to see DFS millionaire Mike McClure’s complete player pool and picks for FanDuel and DraftKings, all from the DFS expert who has won more than $2 million.
