FanDuel MLB: Picks and Pivots for June 13

Welcome to the Monday edition of Picks & Pivots, a daily fantasy baseball column focused on providing analysis and insights into the top FanDuel MLB lineups. 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 payday!

FanSided and Fantasy CPR 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.

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Monday’s games begin at 7:00PM EST with a full 10 game FanDuel MLB slate of action!

I will continue to track winning Tournament 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:

Time Period	Score	Pitcher Salary	Pitcher %	Hitter %	Hitter $/Player	Value
Season	252.3	$ 8,545	24%	76%	$ 3,307	7.21
5 Day	245.8	$ 9,071	26%	74%	$ 3,241	7.02
Prev Day	251.8	$ 8,150	23%	77%	$ 3,356	7.19

Now on to the picks…For more DFS Strategy insights, check out my latest article to help take your game to the next level! 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.

Next: Who are the top pitching options on Monday?

For a 10 game slate with two of the top pitchers in baseball on the mound, this actually is one of the more difficult pitching slates to peg down which sets up nicely for a big time tournament night.

Max Scherzer ($11,300) and Zack Greinke ($10,500): The two highest priced and most productive starting pitchers over the last month would normally seem like easy cash game plays but the match-ups for both hurlers may not be worth targeting at these elite price points.

Scherzer gets a home match-up with the Chicago Cubs and although Max has been electric in his last two starts with two 50+ point outings, remember that Scherzer also leads the league in homeruns allowed and faces one of the best offenses in baseball.

Greinke gets a home match-up against the Dodgers and over the last month has averaged just 0.2 points less than Scherzer so Greinke is the better point per dollar match-up. The issue with Greinke is he has struggled at home this year, pitching to the tune of a 5+ ERA and is only striking out 20.6% of batters this year which caps his upside.

For cash games, I would prefer Greinke but frankly will be looking elsewhere tonight based off the match-ups these two pitchers face.

Sean Manaea: ($6,100) at home versus Texas: Tonight feels like one of those nights to pay down at starting pitcher and try to maximize your point per dollar value and Manaea is my top choice of all the bargain pitchers tonight.

Manaea gets a matchup with the Rangers who he faced a few weeks ago at home and went 6 2/3 innings, striking out 3 and netting a win for 38 FanDuel points which would hit 6.3x value at this price point which is exactly what we are looking for in tournament play.

Over the last month, Manaea has produced 5x value in his starts and in his last two starts we have seen his strikeouts increase with 6 and 8 punch-outs over his last two contests. Considering this is a pitcher who had a 29% strikeout rate in AAA, we could be seeing the A’s rookie getting more comfortable against big league hitters and this makes for a top tournament play.

Daniel Wright ($4,400) versus Atlanta: We are going WAY down the price charts here to a pitcher who is actually priced below the top hitters on the night as Wright will get the start in place of Alfredo Simon on Monday against the Braves.

This pick boils down to two things: 1) The price allows you to build a stacked lineups any way you want and 2)The match-up is against one of the worst offenses in all of baseball.

A serviceable quality start and the chance to pick up the win would more than pay off his price point and in tournaments, this is the kind of roll the dice move that makes DFS so much fun!

Pitching Summary: With the slate setting up as it is, this will be primarily a tournament night for me and I will look to drop down to Manaea and Wright in multi-entry tournaments which will allow me to pay up for the high upside hitters and hope I pick up a cheap win as I target 6-7x value which I do not believe the high priced arms can deliver tonight.

Next: Who are the top offenses?

With no stand out match-ups on the board, tonight may be an opportunity to employ more one-off plays or mini-stacks as opposed to an all out FanDuel MLB stack!

Blue Jays at home versus RHP Jered Eickhoff: The Blue Jays offense has started to heat up and with the savings we can get at SP tonight, the Blue Jays offense is easily affordable and makes for a great target as they get a home match-up against the Phillies.

Michael Saunders ($3,600) has been on a tear the last week, averaging 13.9 points per game which is the 6th most of any OF on Monday’s slate. Over his last 4 games, Saunders has averaged 21 points per game and with his price point makes for a great individual target or can be paired with the high end Toronto bats including Josh Donaldson ($4,200) and Jose Bautista ($4,500)

Joey Votto ($3,400) versus RHP Aaron Blair: First base is easily the deepest position on Monday night and the fact that Votto is the 12th most expensive 1B bat speaks to that. However over the last 2 weeks, Votto is the second highest scoring 1B of any player on Monday’s slate as he has been returning 4.7x value while averaging 16 points per game.

Votto will likely continue to be overlooked and when building high upside tournament teams, I like to balance out my risks with steady producers like Votto who provide a safe floor while still being able to achieve 4-5x value.

Hitting Summary: Toronto is my favorite “stack” of the night although I would rather look to utilize a variety of mini-stacks or individual targets with so many of the top end bats easily affordable on Monday night!

Next: Top FanDuel MLB Lineup

Below you will find my initial lineup for Monday’s FanDuel MLB slate including notes/comments on my roster construction.

Pitcher: Sean Manaea ($6,100)

More from FanSided

Catcher: Buster Posey ($3,400) The best catcher is baseball is averaging 13.2 ppg over the last 2 weeks.

First Base: Joey Votto ($3,400)

Second Base: Ian Kinsler ($4,200) Kinsler gets to face James Shields and has put up monster games back to back (28 and 41 FanDuel points)

Third Base: Josh Donaldson ($4,200)

Shortstop: Eduardo Nunez ($3,300) Nunez has 24+ points in 4 of his last 8 games

Outfield: Michael Saunders ($3,600)

Outfield: Jose Bautista ($4,500)

Outfield: Max Kepler ($2,100) Kepler is playing every day for the Twins and has put up 14+ ppg over his last 3 games since Miguel Sano went on the DL.

Next: DFS Strategy - Take Your Game to the Next Level

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