MATCHUPS TO TARGET FOR THURSDAY 5/4
It’s Thursday, so there are ten teams traveling and just a lone night game. Here are the matchups to target for the day’s slate:
| Hitter | Opp | Pitcher | AB | H | XBH | HR | AVG | SLG | OPS |
| Nico Hoerner | WAS | Patrick Corbin | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | 1.25 | 2.25 |
| Randy Arozarena | PIT | Vince Velasquez | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0.67 | 1.00 | 1.67 |
| Elias Diaz | MIL | Wade Miley | 14 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0.43 | 0.57 | 1.04 |
| Vladimir Guerrero | BOS | Brayan Bello | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0.38 | 0.50 | 0.94 |
4 Hitters for your DFS Lineup
These four hitters can give you a solid start to your DFS lineups, although you might have to get creative in order to roster one of the top tier pitchers in your lineup also, including the pitcher discussed below. Hoerner has just four at-bats versus Patrick Corbin, but he is 4-for-4 off of him, has a .305 average on the young season, is hitting out of the leadoff spot for the Cubs, and has had a hit or walk in all but 2 of the 30 games he’s played in so far this season.
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Arozarena’s .325 batting average leads the Rays, is 6 for his last 18 at bats (.333), which includes a double and two home runs. He also got a day of rest on Wednesday, so he should be good to go.
Elias Diaz is more of a sleeper than the others, but has great numbers against Miley, is 7 for his last 20, and is playing at home where he batted .270 over 174 at-bats in 2022 (better than 11 of other 15 fields he played at last year). Miley has pitched really well so far, but does anyone believe he’s going to maintain his current 1.86 ERA through five starts?
Vladdy rounds it out as part of the nightcap, playing in Fenway where he just seems to love to hit. In 2022 he was 15-for-35 (.429), and he’s 5-for-13 in the current series with a double and a homer. Not to mention he’s 3-for-8 against Brayan Bello (6.57 ERA in three 2023 starts).
A Pitcher Perfect for Your DFS Lineup
Pablo Lopez is the pitcher to target. Verlander is making his first start of the season, so he may be limited, and Gausman has been downright dominant in four of his five starts but he’ll cost you $500 more on FanDuel than Lopez. Lopez has been shaky his last two turns but prior to that he had been pitching as well as the Twins expected him to pitch when they traded the 2022 AL batting champ for him. One of those starts was against these White Sox, going 7.2 innings, while allowing just three hits and two earned runs, collecting TEN strikeouts along the way.
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If you’re thinking about a stack, in addition to Hoerner, other Cubs with good numbers against Corbin are Ian Happ (3-for-8) and Trey Mancini (4-for-11), and Swanson has seen him a bunch too while he was in the NL East with the Braves (9-for-35).
Other Blue Jays have had success against Bello, including George Springer (6-for-9) and Bo Bichette (3-for-7), and the Red Sox have won the first three in the series, it might be the Jays’ turn on Thursday.
Betting angle
Hoerner/Arozarena/Diaz hit parlay (+135 at FanDuel); Toronto F5 ML (-176)
