This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Baseball series.
Sunday is the start of May, which means April showers are behind us and it won't rain again during the MLB season. That's just weather science. It's a full slate of games Sunday, with the bulk of the action in the afternoon as usual. Here are recommendations for your DFS lineups. First pitch is at 1:05 p.m. EDT.
Pitching
Walker Buehler, LAD vs. DET ($51): This is definitely a "spent a lot of salary, but get what you pay for" play. The Tigers, in spite of their offseason additions, are down near the bottom of the majors in runs scored. Buehler, meanwhile, is coming off a shutout in which he struck out 10 Diamondbacks. Buehler also has a 2.10 ERA at home since 2020.
Max Fried, ATL at TEX ($50): Fried's first start was not stellar, but his last three starts have yielded a 1.47 ERA. Over his last three seasons he's put up a strong 2.86 ERA. The Rangers are middle of the pack in runs scored after finishing 28th last year, but they were also last in OBP in 2021 and are sub-.300 on that front again.
Luis Severino, NYY at KC ($42): Severino has had to get himself back in the swing of things, as he's in the starting rotation for the first time since he made three starts in 2019. And yet, he's looked no worse for the wear. The 28-year-old has a 3.32 ERA and has struck out a batter an inning on average. Kansas City, meanwhile, is in the bottom five in runs scored.
Top Targets
Sometimes, it's just nice to have Mike Trout ($27) in your lineup. This is a man with a 1.005 career OPS, a staggering number. His only issue has been staying healthy, and he's been healthy enough to soar out of the gate in 2022, making up for a lost 2021. Dallas Keuchel had a "lost" 2021, in terms of posting a 5.22 FIP. Well, this year he has a 6.10 FIP.
Trea Turner ($16) has hit .276 and stolen four bases. The only thing missing is power. He's slugged .490 in his career, so I'm not sweating it. Eduardo Rodriguez has not worked out yet for the Tigers, and the lefty has allowed a home run in each of his last three starts.
Bargain Bats
Although Alex Verdugo ($13) is off to a slow start, he's a career .287 hitter, so I'm not concerned. That goes double for the fact he has an .874 OPS versus righties since 2020. Jordan Lyles has established himself quite clearly as a below-average pitcher. He has a 5.40 ERA, in line with his career 5.21 ERA.
While Kevin Kiermaier ($12) is known more for his glove than his bat, he's hit well at home the last two seasons, and all nine of his home runs since 2020 have come against righties. He used to be regularly a double-digit stolen bases guy, and had nine in 122 games in 2021. Chris Paddack's 3.68 ERA this year is helped by the fact he's faced the Tigers and Royals already. He has a career 4.18 ERA even though he spent his first three seasons with the Padres.
Stacks to Consider
Padres vs. Mitch Keller: Manny Machado ($24), Eric Hosmer ($21), Trent Grisham ($11)
Few pitchers have worse associations with their home ballpark than Keller. Since 2020 he has a 7.35 ERA in Pittsburgh. Additionally, he's allowed lefties to hit .315 against him in that same time frame. Thus, I have two lefties in this stack. Plus, you know, one of the hottest hitters in baseball.
Machado's red-hot start to the season has seen him slash .386/.453/.614 with four home runs and four stolen bases. That may not be sustainable, but he has an .849 OPS since joining the Padres. Hosmer's hot start is more of an outlier, but his OPS is higher than 1.000 and he faces a bad right-handed pitcher, so I am happy to ride with him. Grisham is off a cold start, but he's had double-digit homers and stolen bases in each of his last two campaigns. The Padres haven't given up on him, as he still gets to generally lead off for this potent lineup.
Braves vs. Taylor Hearn: Austin Riley ($22), Marcell Ozuna ($17), Adam Duvall ($13)
Hearn primarily pitched out of the bullpen prior to this season, and yet he still posted a 4.80 ERA. Through three starts in 2022 he has a 7.47 ERA. Good for a plane, bad for a pitcher. He's also allowed 1.44 home runs per nine innings, and this is a homer-happy stack to be sure.
Riley broke out with an .898 OPS and 33 home runs in 2021. The power has proven not to be a fluke, as he has six homers this year already. Ozuna is getting to DH now, and he's slugged .453 with four home runs. He also has a .907 OPS versus lefties (like Hearn) since 2020. Duvall is definitely a swing-for-the-fences guy. Over the three seasons prior to this one he hit .236 but slugged .512 with 38 homers last season.
Rockies vs. Reiver Sanmartin: C.J. Cron ($24), Connor Joe ($20), Randal Grichuk ($16)
The Rockies are at home against a struggling pitcher. Sanmartin has a 10.91 ERA, even though he's pitched in San Diego and Los Angeles in two of his outings, and those are not hitter-happy ballparks. Coors is a different scenario entirely.
Cron has a 1.051 OPS at home since 2020, even though he's only spent the last two seasons as a Rockie. Last year he slugged .661 at home. Joe is having an unexpected breakout. Since joining the Rockies in 2021 he's slashed .283/.371/.484. Grichuk is enjoying his new digs, much like Cron last year. In his first year as a Rockie, Grichuk is batting .333/.388/.483.
