FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 8/29/21
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 projections and 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.
If you need help getting started on that trek, here are some of the top options on the board today. We'll be focusing exclusively on the main slate.
Pitching Breakdown
Tyler Mahle ($9,600 on FanDuel), Jose Berrios ($8,500) and Dylan Cease ($9,300) make up the top tier. Our model ranks them in that order, but once you factor in salary, Berrios is at the top of the heap for me.
Berrios has a great matchup with the Detroit Tigers, an offense that is 26th in wOBA (.286) over the last 30 days with the 4th-highest strikeout rate (25.3%) in that time. While he hasn't been very consistent this year, Berrios sports nice season-long numbers as he owns a 3.85 SIERA and 25.0% strikeout rate. He should thrive in this matchup.
Cease and Mahle have really good matchups, as well.
Mahle is up against the Miami Marlins. Miami has the second-highest strikeout rate (26.2%) and eighth-worst wOBA (.296) across the past month. With a 28.2% strikeout rate, Mahle possesses the swing-and-miss stuff to post a huge number, and we project him for a slate-best 34.5 FanDuel points.
Cease gets a Chicago Cubs offense that has -- by far -- the highest strikeout rate in the last 30 days (29.6%). Cease has pitched to a 3.71 SIERA and 30.2% strikeout rate in a breakout campaign, and he punched out 10 Cubbies in five innings in a start earlier this month. The Cubs' 3.52 implied total is a slate-low mark.
Tanner Houck ($6,700) checks a few boxes as a value play. The matchup is a good one against the Cleveland Indians, although Cleveland has been swinging it better of late. Houck's numbers are excellent as he's posted a 31.3% strikeout rate and 2.95 SIERA in his first 39 1/3 MLB innings. The issue with Houck is that he hasn't thrown more than 90 pitches in any start, which has kept him from working past the fifth inning. Our projections have Houck as the top point-per-dollar hurler.
Stacks to Target
Tampa Bay Rays
We've stacked against Spenser Watkins a lot, and there's no reason to stop now. Watkins has struggled to a 5.39 SIERA and 14.4% strikeout rate, and the Tampa Bay Rays hold the slate's highest implied total (6.21) by nearly a full run.
Everyone in the Rays' lineup is in play, and we have Randy Arozarena ($3,500), Nelson Cruz ($3,800) and Mike Zunino ($3,400) ranked as top-seven sticks. Lefties Austin Meadows ($3,300) and Joey Wendle ($2,600) will be core plays for me, and Brandon Lowe ($3,900) has a .389 wOBA and 46.3% fly-ball rate versus right-handers.
Houston Astros
Just like they were yesterday, the Houston Astros are in a good spot against a lefty. They're facing Taylor Hearn, who is making the transition from a reliever to a starter. For the year, Hearn is surrendering 1.53 dingers per nine, and he hasn't worked more than five innings in any of his five starts -- so we should see a lot of a Texas Rangers bullpen that boasts the 11th-worst reliever SIERA.
Houston's righties are the main attraction as Hearn has given up a .338 wOBA and 42.2% hard-hit rate in the split, compared to a .266 wOBA to left-handed bats.
Jose Altuve ($4,200), Carlos Correa ($4,00), Alex Bregman ($3,600) and Yuli Gurriel ($3,400) are a sweet four-man stack if you have the salary. Jake Meyers ($2,900) is a righty who offers cap relief, and you can say the same for Martin Maldonado ($2,200) and Aledmys Diaz ($2,700) if they get into the lineup.
Yordan Alvarez ($4,100) and Michael Brantley ($3,200) are worth a look despite the lefty-lefty matchup. Our algorithm ranks Brantley as the second-best Houston stick.
Boston Red Sox
It seems like the Boston Red Sox have been on the stacking radar all week, and they have another nice matchup today, taking on Eli Morgan. While Morgan has some positives in his profile through his initial 58 2/3 MLB innings, he's also allowing a .366 wOBA to righties while lefties have tagged him for a 60.7% fly-ball rate.
Rafael Devers ($4,100) is the slate's number-two bat, per our projections, and he's mashed his way to a .394 wOBA, 46.7% hard-hit rate and 45.3% fly-ball rate against righties. Kyle Schwarber ($3,400) will also hit from the left side and is easy to love at his modest salary. He's got a .429 wOBA with the platoon advantage.
Alex Verdugo ($3,100) might be leading off, which gives his outlook a boost, and Travis Shaw ($2,600) is a great low-salary inclusion to Boston stacks.
Of course, right-handers Xander Bogaerts ($4,100) and J.D. Martinez ($3,800) need to be on your wishlist, too.
