FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 8/9/21

We have an unusual Monday slate with just four games, but it's actually not as devoid of viable pitching as you might expect. In terms of stacks, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox own the highest implied totals by a decent margin.

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 tonight's main slate.

Pitchers

Joe Musgrove ($9,000): Particularly with rain threatening Freddy Peralta's start in Chicago, Musgrove is lining up to be the chalk pitcher due to his modest salary and a plus matchup against the lowly Marlins. Miami's active roster has an 81 wRC+ and 24.7% strikeout rate versus righties, and that's reflected in a slate-low 2.97 implied total. As for Musgrove himself, he hasn't exactly been the most trustworthy hurler this summer, with a ho-hum 4.21 SIERA and 22.9% strikeout rate since the beginning of June. Still, his season numbers can hang with anyone else on the slate, and he did produce 64 FanDuel points behind 11 punchouts against Colorado a couple of starts ago.

Freddy Peralta ($10,200): If the weather holds up at Wrigley Field, Peralta is arguably the night's best arm when it comes to pure upside. Not only does Peralta have a slate-best 34.5% strikeout rate, but his matchup versus the Cubs is every bit as good as Musgrove's because Chicago comes in with an 84 wRC+ and 25.5% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching. Peralta's high walk rate (11.0%) remains an issue, and Milwaukee hasn't been afraid to limit his pitch count in some recent starts, so there are some hurdles here beyond the weather. That said, if the game plays, he's still the most likely candidate to lead the slate in strikeouts.

Lucas Giolito ($9,500): Yes, despite the tiny slate, we actually have three strong pitchers to choose from. Giolito's matchup against Minnesota isn't as good as the other two, but there are some high-strikeout bats that could help him out. The Twins' 4.07 implied total is the third-lowest behind the Marlins and Cubs. While Giolito's strikeouts have dipped a bit in 2021, he enters the night with a solid 3.77 SIERA, 27.7% strikeout rate, and 7.5% walk rate.

Stacks

Chicago White Sox: Minnesota is opting for a bullpen game on Monday, and while that doesn't always lend itself to stacking, it's a different story when Beau Burrows and Charlie Barnes are two of the expected pitchers.

Burrows will open that game and has posted an ugly 6.85 SIERA, 14.0% strikeout rate, and 16.3% walk rate over nine innings in relief this season. He struggled in limited action last year, as well. Meanwhile, the left-handed Barnes has put up a 6.27 SIERA and 7.7% strikeout rate across two big league starts. As you might expect, neither one has especially strong minor league numbers, either.

Barnes will presumably get the bulk of innings, so Jose Abreu ($3,600), Tim Anderson ($3,400), and Eloy Jimenez ($3,100) should top your list, and with Luis Robert ($2,000) expected to come off in the injured list, he'll be a downright silly value at minimum salary if he starts.

New York Yankees: Carlos Hernandez actually possesses a high strikeout rate this season, and while much of that has come as a reliever, he's maintained a 25.4% clip across his four starts. But the reason we still like the Yankees here is that Hernandez also struggles with walks (14.0%) and allows loads of fly balls (40.6%).

Considering the high strikeout rate, that probably leaves the Bronx Bombers as more of a boom-or-bust type stack, but we know what the "boom" could look like between Aaron Judge ($4,300), Joey Gallo ($3,800), and Giancarlo Stanton ($3,900). The bottom half of the order will be all guys at $3,000 and below, too, which should include Luke Voit ($3,000) with Anthony Rizzo out on the COVID-19 injured list.

Milwaukee Brewers: In addition to the rain in Chicago, we're also seeing 11 mph winds blowing out at Wrigley, so we'll also have interest in the Brewers' bats if they get the game in.

The Cubs' Alec Mills doesn't get many strikeouts (16.4%), but he does limit home runs with a 54.1% ground-ball rate. However, those grounders drop to 47.5% versus left-handed hitters, so that should be our preferred way to attack Mills and take advantage of the high winds.

That leads us to Eduardo Escobar ($3,700) first, along with Kolten Wong ($3,300), Omar Narvaez ($3,100), and Rowdy Tellez ($2,900). And while he hasn't had the greatest season, it's still a bit shocking to see Christian Yelich ($2,900) at a sub-$3,000 salary.

Others to Consider: San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals