FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 4/7/23

We're back to an evening main slate on Friday, though we're still getting started a little earlier at 6:40 pm ET. Coors Field disappointed yesterday, but perhaps it redeems itself tonight.

Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Pitching Breakdown

We have another smaller slate on tap, so let's run through the handful of pitchers we should have on our radar.

Clayton Kershaw ($10,800): Kershaw put in a vintage performance last week, scoring 52 FanDuel points against the Diamondbacks, and he faces that same team again tonight. While repeat matchups tend to be a bad thing, Arizona's active roster owns a 96 wRC+ versus lefties dating back to last season, which is the league's sixth-worst mark. Kershaw should be fine.

The main drawback to the veteran lefty is that he only went 76 pitches in his opening start, so even with a bump in workload, he's unlikely to go much beyond six innings. Still, if he's bringing in a 15.8% swinging-strike rate as he did in that outing, he should be able to rack up the fantasy points. As a refresher, Kershaw posted a 2.98 SIERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, and 4.7% walk rate, so he's still got it as long as he can stay healthy.

Brandon Woodruff ($10,500): Woodruff is the one guy who can contend with Kershaw for top honors tonight, but his matchup against the Cardinals is a tough one. St. Louis could be one of the most difficult matchups for right-handers this season; their active roster boasts a 120 wRC+ in the split going back to 2022.

The good news is that the Cardinals still have the slate's second-lowest implied total (3.62), and Woodruff was excellent in his 2023 debut, logging eight punchouts over six innings while allowing just one earned run. He's been about as consistent as they come over his career, and last year was no different, submitting a 3.03 SIERA, 30.6% strikeout rate, and 6.8% walk rate.

Woodruff went 97 pitches last week, so he should have a longer leash than Kershaw if he's at his best tonight.

Zach Eflin ($8,800): After those first two arms, everyone else comes in at $9,000 and below. Of the value options, Eflin might be the most intriguing due to his matchup against the Athletics.

It's no secret that the A's aren't supposed to be very good this season, and their active roster enters with a mere 92 wRC+ versus right-handed pitching. Eflin may not be an elite pitcher, but he's good enough in the eyes of bookmakers to knock Oakland's implied team total down to a slate-low 3.10 runs.

Eflin's 2022 numbers don't jump off the page, but he showed a lot of promise in his debut for Tampa Bay last week, producing a 25.0% strikeout rate on the back of a 17.3% swinging-strike rate. Given that he used a slightly different pitch mix than last season, which included dialing back his sinker usage, it's possible that some of these gains stick this season.

Similar to Kershaw, Eflin only went 74 pitches in his first start, but the hope is that he can get closer to 90 tonight, and that could be enough to get the job done if he carries over this improved strikeout potential against a weak opponent.

Hitting Breakdown

Coors Field was a massive disappointment on Thursday, but that's just how it goes in baseball sometimes. That said, we might need a short memory tonight because tonight's Coors matchup comes in with an 11.0 over/under, which is once again the highest of the slate.

The Colorado Rockies will face MacKenzie Gore, a promising talent but one who hasn't figured it out at the highest level. The left-hander produced a 4.43 SIERA, 23.3% strikeout rate, and 12.0% walk rate across 70 innings last season, and his lack of control could be an issue this year, as well, considering he issued four free passes in 5 1/3 innings in his first 2023 start.

Kris Bryant ($3,900), C.J. Cron ($4,200), and Elehuris Montero ($3,100) will have the platoon advantage and possess the power we're looking for to punish Gore if he continues to dole out free baserunners. Jurickson Profar ($2,900) and Yonathan Daza ($3,000) aren't huge home run threats but are appealing value plays if they bat high in the order.

On the other side, the Washington Nationals also have a plus matchup against Jose Urena. Urena hasn't been a quality pitcher in years, and he put up a 4.95 SIERA, 14.6% strikeout rate, and 10.0% walk rate last season. He was shelled in his first 2023 outing versus San Diego, one where he failed to log even one strikeout against the 16 batters he faced.

This isn't the most exciting lineup to stack, but at least they come at fairly low salaries outside of Joey Meneses ($3,700), who posted a .239 ISO in 2022. Luis Garcia ($3,000) should be in the leadoff spot, and Jeimer Candelario ($3,100), Dominic Smith ($3,200), and Keibert Ruiz ($3,400) ought to occupy high lineup slots; those four will all have the platoon advantage against Urena.

Outside of Coors, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the obvious choice. They're the only other team with an implied team total above five runs outside of the Rockies and Nationals.

The Dodgers will take on Madison Bumgarner, who continues to be a shell of the version we remember with the Giants. The southpaw put up a 4.76 SIERA and 16.0% strikeout rate in 2022, and he coughed up 1.42 home runs per 9 innings off a 41.9% fly-ball rate and 38.4% hard-hit rate. Considering he got knocked around by the (checks notes) same Dodgers last week, we should expect a similar result tonight.

Bumgarner performed poorly against both sides of the plate last year, so everyone is fair game on the Dodgers. Mookie Betts ($3,900) and J.D. Martinez ($3,000) are two standouts against left-handed pitching, but don't be afraid to include lefties like Freddie Freeman ($3,700) and Max Muncy ($3,100), too.

Lastly, for a stack that will hopefully draw less attention, consider the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays remain the lone undefeated team in MLB, and they have a good chance to keep that streak going against Ken Waldichuk.

Waldichuk has eight big league starts under his belt, and it's safe to say it hasn't gone swimmingly, as he's got a 5.58 ERA to show for it. ERA estimators are a bit kinder, but we're still talking about someone who has a career 21.4% strikeout rate and leaves himself open to home runs due to a mere 35.0% ground-ball rate.

His first start of the season against the Angels highlighted all the negatives. He managed just a 14.8% strikeout rate (8.3% swinging-strike rate) while allowing 3 dingers across 5 2/3 innings.

Wander Franco ($4,000), Randy Arozarena ($3,900), Yandy Diaz ($3,100), and Isaac Paredes ($2,300) are the top power bats to attack the southpaw, and they should also occupy the first four slots of the Rays' lineup.