FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: World Series Game 2
Game 2 will feature Blake Snell against Tony Gonsolin, as the Tampa Bay Rays try to even the series after falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. The Dodgers are once again favored, sporting a 4.24 implied total compared to 3.76 for the Rays.
For those unfamiliar with the single-game daily fantasy baseball format, scoring is identical to its full roster cousin, except you only roster hitters, and lineups consist of five flex spots. The one twist? One of the five roster spots is your designated "MVP," who receives 2-times his total fantasy points, along with a "STAR" slot that gets 1.5-times the points. Naturally, it's crucial that you choose your MVP and STAR carefully if you want to be at the top of the leaderboards when it's all said and done.
On that note, let's highlight some of the top options for today's FanDuel single-game slate.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers' offense lived up to its reputation last night, knocking out Tyler Glasnow in under five innings and ultimately coming away with an 8-3 victory.
Overcoming the likes of Glasnow is no easy task, and nor will be tonight's matchup against Snell. The left-hander posted a 3.57 SIERA, 31.0% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate in the regular season. However, despite generally positive results this postseason, his underlying numbers haven't been as strong, as he's only managed a 23.8% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk rate in four outings. And similar to Glasnow, Snell hasn't been immune to home runs this year, allowing 1.80 per 9.0 innings.
Right-handed batters are naturally the preference against the southpaw, which means we can once again look to Mookie Betts ($9,500) as arguably the top overall option. Betts was all the rage on social media yesterday after doing a little bit of everything on his way to a massive 39.9 FanDuel points. He's an obvious, albeit popular, choice for the MVP slot again.
Justin Turner ($7,500), Will Smith ($6,500), and A.J. Pollock ($6,000) are the other top righty sticks to consider, while Enrique Hernandez ($4,000), and Chris Taylor ($5,000) are some secondary, low-order value plays. Smith's pop once again makes him a strong contrarian candidate for MVP and STAR.
The matchup doesn't favor Corey Seager ($9,000), Cody Bellinger ($8,000), and Max Muncy ($7,000), but that should also put a slight dent in their roster percentages, and they have all demonstrated power in lefty-lefty spots. You probably don't want to go with all three in a given lineup, but they should be plenty in the mix and will be less popular choices at MVP compared to Betts.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays are the lesser side of the equation again, but they have the better draw against Gonsolin and the Dodgers' bullpen.
That isn't to say it will be a cakewalk, as Gonsolin produced a solid 3.68 SIERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, and 4.0% walk rate. However, he also hasn't been terribly effective in his two playoff appearances (5.63 SIERA), and considering he just pitched on Sunday, he isn't expected to go deep into this game. According to Dave Roberts, Dustin May and Julio Urias are possible options to follow Gonsolin.
That makes it tricky to play matchups here, and it's even more difficult when you consider many of Tampa's bats could get swapped for pinch-hitters depending on how things play out.
Randy Arozarena ($8,500) is probably the only guy you can feel reasonably comfortable slotting in as your MVP, and he figures to remain popular. Brandon Lowe ($7,500) and Austin Meadows ($7,000) have struggled mightily in the playoffs but have to be considered from a talent perspective. Beyond that, the rest of the lineup is dirt cheap and can help you afford the big bats on the Dodgers.
Much like yesterday, you probably want to either make lineups that stack up the Rays side in the hopes they collectively beat up on Gonsolin and friends, or largely ignore them and only use a one-offs in Dodger-focused builds.
