There are aces in the hole on this Friday DFS slate at FantasyDraft, with an epic Clayton Kershaw versus Max Scherzer battle looming in L.A.’s nightcap. Noah Syndergaard, Justin Verlander and Chris Archer will also toe the rubber during the evening, while the Royals and Tigers play two in Detroit after dealing with more than their fair share of weather issues in the early going of 2018. 
Maybe the snow is behind us for good — the weather forecast actually looks great across the U.S. It will probably be the nicest day of the year so far in a lot of places, except in Denver where there could be some rain and in L.A. and Phoenix where 74 and 81 just won’t cut it.
On to the picks…
Michael Wacha ($14,600): The Cardinals righty will come at a discount thanks to the 5.52 ERA and 1.64 WHIP he brings to a home date with the struggling Reds, who he already defeated once this year. Current Cincinnati hitters are actually batting .281 against Wacha, but that includes the injured Eugenio Suarez (.350) and marks of .429 for Jose Peraza and .333 for Jesse Winker, both of whom are basically singles hitters. Joey Votto is the one Red to avoid (obviously), but he and his career .382 average and 1.097 OPS against Wacha is really the only threat in a lineup that has produced the league’s fourth-worst average and run total to date. The Redlegs have been shut out four times already, and Wacha’s opponent, Brandon Finnegan, was just whomped by the Cardinals last week for 5 earned in 4.1 innings in his first start back from a biceps issue.
Aaron Judge ($10,300): The young slugger is off to an impressive follow-up to his historic rookie campaign, coming into Friday hitting .339 with five home runs, 12 RBI and 16 runs in the early going. Judge has owned Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada over 20 career plate appearances, boasting a .412 average with two home runs and five RBI. Estrada also has an unfortunate history with Judge’s bash brother Giancarlo Stanton, who is .357-3-4 over 14 at bats against him. The Toronto righty is throwing a lot better than last year when sleep issues reportedly contributed to by far his worst full-season ERA of 4.98, but he’ll need to tread very lightly in New York to avoid something bad happening. Lately, Judge has been middle of most such scenarios.
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