FanDuel Best MLB DFS Picks: Pirates vs. Cardinals 5/5/25
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals
May 5, 2025 7:45 pm EDT
Major League Baseball presents FanDuel baseball fans with a National League matchup featuring the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals game let’s review the rules for the FanDuel single game showdown contest.
FanDuel Single Game Contest Rules
Here are the FanDuel single game contest rules. You have $60,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team MVP. The MVP accumulates 1.5x times the standard FanDuel fantasy points value. Additionally, the MVP is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.
The remaining five players in your lineup will be flex plays. The five flex positions will receive the standard FanDuel points value. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your MVP position if you hope to win a large field GPP (guaranteed prize pool) FanDuel single game contest.
If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game contest, I highly recommend that you check out the FanDuel website for more details.
*It should be noted that FanDuel does not utilize the pitcher position in single game MLB contests. Having stated that, only batters are available for single game MLB lineups on the FanDuel platform.
Here are my FanDuel picks for this evening’s Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals matchup.
FanDuel MLB Player Selections
MVP-Victor Scott II, Outfielder, St. Louis Cardinals $9,600
On Monday night, Major League Baseball presents the opening game of a three-game National League series featuring the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals.
How are these two teams playing entering tonight’s MLB game? The St. Louis Cardinals arrive at the first game of this three-game National league series with the Pittsburgh Pirates playing rather good baseball. The Cardinals have won four of the team’s last six games played in the 2025 MLB regular season, including a 9-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds last week.
In direct contrast to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been playing below average baseball recently. More specifically, the Pirates have lost six of the team’s last eight games played this season, including a 9-4 loss to the San Diego Padres three days ago.
Now that we have ascertained how both of these Major League Baseball teams are currently playing let’s shift our focus to this evening’s contest. Talented outfielder Victor Scott II has certainly been playing quality baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals this season. Let’s examine Scott II’s recent game data to better shed light on my previous statement.
In the 24 games that Victor Scott II has played for the St. Louis Cardinals this season, Scott II has compiled a .290 batting average, 30 hits, 15 RBIs (runs batted in), two home runs, 12 walks, a .356 OBS (On-Base Percentage) and 16 runs scored. Clearly, Victor Scott II is swinging the bat at a high-level entering tonight’s MLB game.
More recently, in the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0 shutout win over the Cincinnati Reds earlier this month, St. Louis outfielder Victor Scott II played exceptionally well. In the Cardinals victory over the Reds, Scott II amassed two hits, three RBIs, one run scored, one home run, one walk and one stolen base. It should also be mentioned that in the Cardinals defeat of the Reds, Scott II tallied a massive 37.7 FanDuel points.
In my opinion, Victor Scott II is the most likely player to accumulate the most FanDuel points in this MLB game. With that said, I am backing St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Victor Scott II at the MVP position for this one game MLB DFS slate.
Flex plays I like in this game (FanDuel price noted): Brendan Donovan, Third Baseman (St. Louis Cardinals) $11,200: Ke’Bryan Hayes, Third Baseman (Pittsburgh Pirates) $7,200: Alec Burleson, Outfielder (St. Louis Cardinals) $3,800.
