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MLB Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 6/15/17

Chris Sale's results have dipped a bit over his past four starts. Is it enough to shove him out of the top pitching slot Thursday in daily fantasy baseball?

The beauty of daily fantasy baseball is that the top targets are different each and every day. Whether it's the right-handed catcher who destroys left-handed pitching or the mid-range hurler facing a depleted lineup, you're not going to find yourself using the same assets time after time.

While this breaks up the monotony, it can make it hard to decide which players are primed to succeed on a given day. We can help bridge that gap.

In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy looking team to put up some big point totals. We've also got our Solo Shot Podcast, which breaks down the MLB daily fantasy slate each day. Here's today's episode.

If you need help getting started on that trek, here are some of the top options on the board today. With the split slates, we'll be focusing exclusively on the main slate beginning at 7 pm Eastern.

Pitchers to Target

High-Priced Pitcher

Chris Sale ($11,500 on FanDuel): Over his last four starts, Chris Sale's results have hit the tubes. His ERA is 4.97, and he hasn't hit double-digit strikeouts in any of those games. Is it possible he's finally falling off his early-season high? Based on the peripheral stats, that seems unlikely. Sale's swinging-strike rate in those four starts is a sickly 15.2%, and he's holding opponents to a 26.3% hard-hit rate. It's entirely possible that he just had a string of bad luck against good opponents. The Philadelphia Phillies are closer to the middle of the pack, ranking 20th in hard-hit rate versus lefties, and Sale will benefit from facing a team without a designated hitter. Despite the recent bumpiness, Sale is still easily the top arm of the night.

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