FanDuel MLB: Picks and Pivots for July 9 (Early)

Welcome to the Saturday Early 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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Saturday’s Early slate kicks off at 2:10PM EST with 9 games of MLB action to choose from when building your FanDuel MLB rosters!

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	256.1	$ 8,598	25%	75%	$ 3,300	7.32
5 Day	259.5	$ 8,540	24%	76%	$ 3,308	7.41
Prev Day	247.0	$ 5,850	17%	83%	$ 3,644	7.06

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 Saturday's Early Slate?

The early Saturday slate pitching options are a bit rough to navigate as after a night full of top end starters, we crash back to earth scraping the middle tiers to find our top FanDuel MLB pitching options.

Lance McCullers ($9,200) at home versus Oakland: With so many questionable options on the early slate, locking in one of the largest favorites is an easy way to lock in safety on a day where there does not appear to be much.

McCullers is coming off his best start of the year where he racked up 60 FanDuel points in a 10K performance against the Mariners and gets a home start against the A’s. The A’s however are the 4th hardest team in MLB to strike out at 17.5% so expecting a repeat double-digit strikeout game may be overly aggressive.

Rick Porcello ($8,600) at home versus TB: At a similar price point, Porcello and the Red Sox are favored to get the win against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays.

Porcello has had success against Tampa Bay so far this year, going 2-0 with 17 strikeouts in 13 IP while pitching to a 2.77 ERA.

Porcello has been inconsistent recently but in his last start against TB, he put up 51 FanDuel points which would be a tremendous value at this price point.

Next: Top Hitting Options for Saturday Afternoon

After a few days of depressed pricing, it appears FanDuel has corrected what many of us have targeted over the last few days which will lead to more difficult decisions on the afternoon slate.

Giancarlo Stanton ($3,800) & Marcel Ozuna ($3,700) versus LHP John Lamb: The Reds staff has been a great spot to target in DFS games this season and with a very hittable lefty on the hill, targeting the Marlins two big right-handed bats makes for a great mini-stack.

Lamb has given up 10 home runs to right-handed hitters this season and the Reds bullpen is one of the worst in the league so both Stanton and Ozuna should have ample opportunities to attack the weakest pitching on the early slate.

Stanton has put up back to back 2 HR games and not a single one of those was a wall-scraper by any means as Giancarlo appears to be back in his elite home run hitting form.

Red Sox RHB versus LHP Matt Moore: The Red Sox have one of the highest team totals on the early slate and two hitters with the platoon advantage make great bargain plays as Dustin Pedroia ($3,100) and Xander Bogaerts ($3,600) sit at very reasonable price points considering a home match up against a left hander.

Next: FanDuel MLB Lineup on Early Slate

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

Pitcher: Lance McCullers ($9,200)

More from FanSided

Catcher: Buster Posey ($3,200) Posey gets a home match up against LHP Robbie Ray and only costs $3,200? Love this value and upside at the catcher position.

First Base: MIke Napoli ($2,800) The power hitting right handed bat gets to face off with C.C. Sabathia and makes for a top home run threat

Second Base: Dustin Pedroia ($3,100)

Third Base: Jake Lamb ($3,600) Lamb has 8 straight double digit games is averaging 20 ppg over the last 2 weeks

Shortstop: Xander Bogaerts ($3,600)

Outfield: Giancarlo Stanton ($3,800)

Outfield: Marcell Ozuna ($3,700)

Outfield: Brett Eibner ($2,000)

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!