MLB Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Baseball Picks May 8

MLB Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Baseball Picks May 8

Welcome to the Sunday edition of Picks & Pivots, a daily fantasy column focused on providing analysis for the upcoming MLB FanDuel slate. The purpose of this column is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big pay day!

Listen – before we get started today. I just have to say first, Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing Mom’s out there. Celebrate today, you earned it!

Secondly, I am trying to write this article while just witnessing BARTOLO COLON HIT A HOMERUN. I am not sure I am capable of putting together coherent sentences after witnessing quite possibly the greatest athletic moment in the history of the world but I will try.

FanSided and FantasyCPR have you covered – For additional FanDuel MLB analysis, take a look at Matt Rogers FanDuel Economics column or Mike Marteny who provides Draft Kings MLB Picks analysis giving you the most in depth DFS coverage for tonight’s baseball slate.

The Sunday main slate gets us started at 1:07PM EST with a full day of action, including the Sunday night game between the Yankees and Red Sox.

I will continue to track winning GPP lineups and compare trends over 5 day periods to help us understand what it takes to remain profitable. I HIGHLY recommend each of you do this each morning to look back on the previous night and understand how the winning lineups are constructed in the games you participate in.

The view below tracks GPP entries over various time periods, breaking out key metrics to understand the trends and compositions of GPP winning rosters:

I highly recommend gamers track their game performance across the various types of games they play – GPP’s, Cash, Multipliers etc – as this simple exercise will help teach you more about profitable roster construction than you can imagine.

Now on to the picks…

Next: Top Starting Pitchers

Starting Pitchers

Jose Quintana ($9,100) –  Many gamers at this price point may opt to pay $200 more for Matt Harvey against the Padres but Quintana is a great pivot in one of the most favorable matchups on the board. Quintana gets a home start against the Twins, who see a 70% increase in strikeouts when they head away from home with a whopping 11k’s per game. Quintana flies a bit under the radar with Chris Sale on the same roster, but he has posted elite numbers so far this season with 4 wins over his first 6 starts and a 1.4 0 ERA. Quintana has struck out over 6 batters per game and has only walked 8 batters in his first 6 starts. The White Sox lefty has flashed elite strikeout numbers already this season with a 10 strikeout performance so he has both the stable floor we look for in cash games and the big game upside we look for in tournament play. Jose has already faced the Twins once this season with a win in Minnesota striking out 5 over 6 innings for 42 fantasy points. That kind of “floor” makes Quintana my top building block arm for cash games and his matchup put him squarely in play for large field tournaments as I expect Jake Arrieta and Matt Harvey to be more widely owned.

Chris Tillman ($7,700) – Tillman gets a home matchup against Oakland on Sunday and although nothing about the matchup stands out, the recent performance of the pitcher certainly does. Tillman has been absolutely on fire as he has put up 57 and 59 points in his last two starts. At this price point, that average would be good for 7.5x value so it appears that Tillman’s price has yet to reflect his recent production. In his past two games against the Yankees and Rays, Tillman has posted 9 strikeouts per game and although Oakland is one of the toughest teams in the league to strikeout, Tillman is pitching at an elite level and we can get him for a reduced price. I expect Tillman to go overlooked on this slate and will be one of my top tournament picks on Sunday.

Next: Top Hitters/Stacks

Top Hitters/Stacks

Tigers against LHP Martin Perez – The Tigers come into Sunday’s game with one of the highest team totals on the board and a left hander on the mound in Perez. Perez has been flirting with danger all season, stranding over 75% of runners which is a statistical aberration I expect to be exposed at some point and facing a team that mashes LHP like Detroit does, this may very well be the day. Miguel Cabrera ($3,700), Victor Martinez ($3,400) & Justin Upton ($3,200) make for a great top end stack and JD Martinez ($2,800) sits at a bargain price point considering his prime lineup spot at the top end of this potent lineup. The Tigers not only present significant offensive upside but these players also sit at very reasonable price points which allow us to target high end SP’s.

Mariners Left Handed Bats against Colin McHugh – With a matchup in Houston, the Mariners can stack their lefty power bats against McHugh, a fly ball pitcher who does not strike out many and relies on his control. McHugh has seen his strikeout rate continue to drop to 17.8% and his HR/9 rate spike to 1.32 as hitters have been able to square him up early on. Robinson Cano ($4,100), Kyle Seager ($3,700) and Seth Smith ($3,100) all have the platoon advantage and with one of the highest team totals on the day make for a great spot to target offense and still be able to spend up at pitcher.

Next: FanDuel Economics - Second Base Positional Analysis

Best of luck tonight gamers! Make sure to review the lineups as they are announced before locking in your lineups!