MLB
3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/26/18
Mike Moustakas offers immense upside against Lucas Giolito, who has been awful to start the season. Which other high-priced players should be on your radar?

Chris Sale, P, Boston Red Sox

Price: $11,400

We have a very short four-game slate on tap tonight, and among the eight teams in action, the Boston Red Sox are by far the biggest favorites (-200 moneyline). That means oddsmakers are giving them an implied win probability 6.7% higher than any of the other teams on the slate. Being such sizable underdogs also leaves the Toronto Blue Jays with the slate's lowest implied total (3.36 runs). As of Thursday morning, that sits 0.29 runs behind anyone else on the main slate.

These odds come as little surprise, as Chris Sale is one of the game's top pitchers, and the Jays have had some struggles against southpaws to open 2018.

They haven't struck out a ton, but Toronto does sit in the bottom 10 with an 84 wRC+ against lefties. Their .300 wOBA in the split is also only good for 20th, while their .126 isolated slugging (ISO) ranks 24th.

Sale isn't a guy they're likely to have any sort of a bounce-back game against. He has opened the season in typical Chris Sale form, ranking fifth among qualifying pitchers with a 2.34 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA). This comes after finishing 2017 with a 2.58 SIERA, which was tops in the majors. His 36.3% strikeout rate is also right in line with the 36.2% he posted in 2017, while his swinging-strike rate has actually taken a jump, from 14.9% to 15.6%.

Fanning hitters like that gives him ample upside in pretty much any matchup, and our models project Sale as the day's top fantasy pitcher by a wide margin.

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