FanDuel Pitching Primer: Friday 9/6/19
In daily fantasy baseball, success starts with nailing the starting pitcher spot in your lineup.
When compared to hitters, pitching performance tends to be much more predictable and stable throughout the course of the season. You know what you're getting from a top-level ace when you roster him: probably a dominant effort with only one or two implosions per season. In contrast, even the game's best hitters have days at the plate when they go 0-for-4.
As a result, lineup construction should begin with the starting pitcher. Each day we will highlight a starter to consider from each pricing tier, and we'll also look at one contrarian play for tournaments. Who should you consider on today's main slate?
High-Priced Option
Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
vs. San Francisco Giants
FanDuel Price: $11,700
Picking on the San Francisco Giants seems to be a common theme lately, but a profitable one -- and with a stud like Clayton Kershaw taking the bump, it looks to be a really good option yet again tonight.
While this is not a vintage Clayton Kershaw year, he does still clock in fifth on our main slate in terms of strikeout rate (27.1%). Better yet, thanks to this juicy matchup, he easily sports the lowest implied team total among starters (3.27 runs).
Now let's explore this Giants offense, which has turn dreadful lately. In the last two weeks, they rank second-worst in team wOBA (.278) and isolated power (.132, ISO).
Spend up for Kershaw and count on a big evening from the southpaw.
Mid-Priced Option
Homer Bailey, Oakland Athletics
vs Detroit Tigers
FanDuel Price: $8,200
With the Oakland Athletics being a downright nuisance in this playoff race, they will hand the ball to Homer Bailey. Scoff if you will at the veteran arm, but he's been downright filthy during his time in Oakland.
Take a peep at his most recent work -- over his last four starts, where he is 3-0, Bailey has averaged over 40 FanDuel points per game, and that's on the strength of racking up 27 strikeouts over 24 1/3 innings pitched.
And as we know, strikeouts are always our jam for DFS purposes -- the Detroit Tigers lead the league in team strikeout rate (26.6%), along with sporting only a team wOBA of .290.
For rostering some big-time bats, peep Bailey.
Low-Priced Play
Dylan Bundy, Baltimore Orioles
vs. Texas Rangers
FanDuel Price: $7,500
With a 4.96 ERA and 1.36 WHIP, roster an arm like Dylan Bundy always comes with a bit of trepidation. But with some strong work lately, and a fantastic matchup on tap, he could make for an interesting pivot play.
Over his last five starts, Bundy has alternated between poor performances and strong ones -- but the strong ones have come against the likes of the league's best offenses, like the Houston Astros and recording seven strikeouts in each start against a plucky Kansas City Royals lineup.
And while the Texas Rangers, Bundy's opponent, don't whiff at the same rate of the Tigers, they aren't too far behind in that category, ranking third-worst (25.8%). In a bit of a smaller sample over the last two weeks, that mark rises to a strikeout rate of 26.9%, paired with a league-worst .250 wOBA.
It could be a dicey proposition, but consider Bundy as a solid pitching choice.
Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
