We’re through the Opening Day scheduling quirkiness and reduced weekend slates, giving us a robust 10-game main slate Tuesday evening, with first pitch at 7:07 p.m. EDT. It’s a loaded slate at the top pitching-wise, as we have five arms priced in five figures and an additional four in the $9,000 tier. As usual, the Dodgers (-260) are the slate’s biggest favorite, but they’re joined by their 2025 World Series adversary, the Blue Jays (-260). Diamondbacks-Tigers has the highest run total at 9.5, followed by Atlanta-Athletics at 9.0.

Keep an eye on rain in Chicago and Los Angeles as a possible hinderance. Winds look slightly favorable in St. Louis.

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Pitching

Shohei Ohtani, LAD vs. CLE ($10,700): Ohtani is my choice among the high-priced options almost by default, as he has the clear softest matchup. Cleveland has a run expectancy of just 2.5, and there’s enough swing and miss potential for him to be considered for GPPs, though I think he’s a better cash play. The issue is his likely roster rate, as it’s just an incredibly obvious play. Using any of the other high-priced arms will likely give you an advantage in GPPs. If forced to choose there, I like Brandon Woodruff at $9,900 but have worries about his workload, so give me Logan Gilbert ($10,100) instead.

Kodai Senga, NYM at STL ($8,600): It’s easy to forget how dominate was Senga was before injuries, as he posted 202 strikeouts over 166.2 innings back in 2023. He fanned 11 in 9.2 frames during the spring and faces a Cardinals offense no one’s going to fear. He too could have a limited pitch count, but it’s baked into the price a bit more than with Woodruff. If we can get five innings and five strikeouts, he’ll be a reasonable play for both formats.

Max Scherzer, TOR vs. COL ($8,000): I have some interest in Brayan Bello at $7,900 as well, but the matchup with the Rockies is likely to be worth the extra $100. I’m not overly confident we get 90 pitches from Scherzer, but Colorado is already whiffing at a 26.0 percent clip and doesn’t work counts, walking just 5.8 percent of the time. We noted the Jays being heavily favored in the intro, and they need to bounce back after getting smacked last night. They got just 2.2 innings out of starter Cody Ponce before he injured his knee, perhaps necessitating that Scherzer absorbs some volume innings.

Top Targets

Mets’ bats are priced up here, so I don’t even know if a mini-stack is doable. Perhaps these are all one-off plays as possibly your last player in a build based on need and available salary. We’re still going to target Andre Pallante in some fashion, though. Juan Soto ($4,300) is in great early form, Francisco Lindor ($4,000) has the BvP success (6-for-13) and Luis Robert ($3,600) is also warm out of the gates.

Aaron Civale is solid enough I’ll pass on stacking Atlanta’s lineup despite its run expectancy of 5.3. Ronald Acuna ($3,700) is priced down though, and his only hit in four at-bats against the A’s starter left the yard. Matt Olson ($3,400) is also in play against the righty.

Bargain Bats

Atlanta’s Jose Suarez had a 6.02 ERA last year, backed up by a 4.54 xERA. Since he’s a southpaw, Tuesday is a day to target Brent Rooker ($2,900) for power upside, or Jacob Wilson ($2,900) for a bit more contact/walk stability.

Ryan Feltner was far more vulnerable to lefties last season, allowing a .383 wOBA against .288 to righties. He’s not an elite arm so I wouldn’t fault you for ignoring that and simply going with the Blue Jays’ best options, but they’re short on premium left-handed bats. If we want to force the splits, Daulton Varsho ($3,300) is the obvious choice, but perhaps we can get added value from Jesus Sanchez ($2,800), who’s 4-for-9 out of the gates.

Stacks to Consider

Giants vs. German Marquez (Padres): Rafael Devers ($3,500), Willy Adames ($3,000), Matt Chapman ($2,900)

I’m certainly not going to trust Marquez’ spring results. He had a 7.32 road ERA last season with the Rockies, allowing a .365 wOBA to lefties and a .431 wOBA to righties. That gives us the green light on Adames and Chapman, and then we can pair that with the fact they are a combined 10-for-26 with six homers off him. Devers hasn’t gotten off to a hot start and isn’t a must-use guy, but we know his potential as a run producer and he’s not priced where he’s likely to be a few weeks from now, so I’ll buy the discount.

Diamondbacks vs. Casey Mize (Tigers): Corbin Carroll ($3,600), Ketel Marte ($3,500), Gabriel Moreno ($2,700)

As the intro notes, this is expected to be highest-scoring game on the slate. It also has even odds on both sides to win… the projection is a 4.9-4.9 tie! Two inconsistent pitchers thowing in a favorable hitting environment certainly screams game stack. I’ll back the home side at the top of their order, as it’s more consistent. Carroll and Marte are both priced very fairly here, and Moreno balances the budget while likely hitting cleanup. Mize doesn’t offer targetable splits to either side, but was slightly worse last season on the road, as was his adversary, Brandon Pfaadt, hence me backing Arizona at home over Detroit’s lineup.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it’s possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Chris Bennett plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: k30kittles, DraftKings: k30kittles.