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 where they go 0-for-4.
As a result, lineup construction should begin with the starting pitcher. Which pitchers should you consider on today's main slate?
High-Salary Play #1
Corbin Burnes, Milwaukee Brewers
At Pittsburgh Pirates
FanDuel Salary: $11,300
Alright, for the faint of heart, Corbin Burnes ain't gonna be your huckleberry on Tuesday's main slate.
He's really expensive -- at $11,300, we need him cracking 50-plus FanDuel points just to get into a return on investment that feels reasonable. But peep this -- on the 2022 season, Burnes has averaged 43.3 points per game, he's topped 50 points in 5 of his last 10 outings.
So now the matchup -- the Pittsburgh Pirates rank in the bottom three in team wOBA and strikeout rate and clock in the bottom 10 in ISO. All of that leads me to rostering a heavy dose of Burnes tonight.
High-Salary Play #2
Triston McKenzie, Cleveland Guardians
Vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
FanDuel Salary: $10,100
If you can't exactly afford shopping at Neiman-Marcus for Burnes, a pretty solid secondary option is Triston McKenzie of the Cleveland Guardians.
Part of the reason we like McKenzie so much is how poor the Arizona Diamondbacks have been on offense this season. They are in the bottom 10 of nearly every statistical category, such as wOBA, isolated power (ISO), and strikeout rate, thus, they make for an easy target.
And McKenzie has been downright sensational this year. In 2022, over 114 innings pitched, he's struck out 23.8% of batters while allowing only a 6.7% walk rate.
If you need to save a little coin, peep McKenzie.
Low-Salary Play
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
Vs Chicago Cubs
FanDuel Salary: $8,500
It's obvious why you may be tempted to spend up at the pitching spot tonight.
If you need to get a bit down into the weeds, Adam Wainwright and his sub-3.00 ERA over 1,300 innings is a bit tantalizing.
Wainwright is facing the Chicago Cubs. Chicago is a pretty meh offense this season -- they strike out a good bit (23.3%) and provide little in the way of pop at the plate (.153 ISO). They also sit 20th in team wOBA (.303).
Admittedly, Wainwright has not been at his best following the All-Star break. He has logged a 5.84 ERA since returning from the break, including 1.46 HR/9 allowed. However, given the solid matchup, and a struggling Cub offense that could be missing even more players with the Trade Deadline looming, Wainwright looks like a good play.
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.