MLB DW Slate Preview - April 2nd
Looking over a disappointingly small three-game slate
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Temporary discount on MLB DW memberships! We’ll call it an Easter special. Shout out to Christians. But I’ll give you this sale even if you’re not a Christian. That’s just the kind of guy I am.
Paid Sub Monthly:
$14.99$11.99Paid Sub Yearly:
$85$70MLB DW Pro:
$225$175
That’s 20% off of PRO. And that membership will get you the daily projections all season long.
If you’re upgrading to PRO, it should pro-rate your price so you’re not double-paying. Any issues with that, let me know.
I typically won’t do one of these for a three-game slate, especially a super weird one like this, where we have one afternoon game and two at night. But hey, it’s still the first week of the fantasy season and I owe you guys all the DFS content I can offer.
But I’m going to speed through this one!
Game Info
Twins at Royals
My projected run total agrees with the sports book implication. I have the Royals are 5.8 runs to lead the slate by far.
Should we hesitate a bit since Taj Bradley looked so nasty in his first star? He struck out nine on 17 whiffs. The Stuff+ was popping off (105 for the fastball, 10 for the splitter). It does appear that the guy can get strikeouts.
But the story with Bradley in his career has been inconsistency and a little bit of an issue with the long ball. His walk rate dating back to last year is 9.5%, and the xERA is well above four.
Comparing his Stuff+ from Pitch Profiler:
2025: 100
2026: 108
It’s possible that it has something to do with a re-worked model or something, but more likely, he’s just nastier this year. The Twins might have tweaked the pitch shapes to be more of what they like.
So I’m not going all aboard the Royals stacks. That said, we can’t deny that they’re in the best spot offensively on the board. I’ll have Royals bats. But I’m also going to take Taj Bradley 5+ strikeouts. I got it for +106 on DraftKings just now.
On the other side is the chalk pitcher in Cole Ragans ($9,200).
He is by far the best arm on the board. It could always go south, especially in the first week of the season. There’s a reasonable case for a fade, as there always will be for a highly owned player. Baseball players can always fail in one-game samples. But I’m locking Ragans in 100%, personally.
Braves at Giants
And then we’ll have 3+ hours of sitting on our hands waiting for the next game. Hopefully we can find something else to do. I don’t recommend actually just sitting on your hands.