FanDuel MLB Daily Picks and Pivots – April 9
Welcome to the Sunday FanDuel MLB edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for today’s Main slate which kicks off at 1:10 PM EST!
For those of you finding us for the first time, the concept behind FanDuel MLB Picks and Pivots 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!
Over the first eight slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 235.5 points. Looking back at last season, the winning GPP lineup on average scored 255 FanDuel points with a typical roster build that allocated 25% of your salary cap to your SP and the remaining 75% to your hitters.
Over the first eight slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 235.5 points.
Saturday Night’s Picks and Pivots both landed well above the cash line with 175 and 150 points across our two lineups. Paying up for our SP was the best strategy as Madison Bumgarner (37) and Yu Darvish (34) were easy to slot in with all the value hitters available. Stacking the Cubs right-handed bats, Kris Bryant (28), Addison Russell (24) and Javier Baez (22) ended up as a profitable strategy and out one-off punt play Mitch Haniger ($2k) came through with a home-run and 22 FanDuel points!
Each day we will break down our top Starting Pitcher and our top hitting stacks of the day while giving you our thoughts on roster build and lineup construction.
As always, we will look to update our picks and final lineup thought prior to lock on our twitter account @FantasyCPR so make sure to give us a follow for all the late breaking lineup news.
Without further ado, let’s get into today’s slate!
Stephen Strasburg ($9,600) at Philadelphia: Today’s Main Slate pitching is absolutely loaded and I think you can legitimately make the case for 4-5 starters as your top choice but for DFS GPP play I am going to look for the highest strikeout upside which sits with Strasburg and his slate leading 30.6% K rate.
Strasburg has exceptional career numbers at Citizens Bank Park over 37 IP with a 1.22 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 53 strikeouts while pitching to a 2-0 record over 6 starts. Strasburg pitched well in his opening start of the season going 7 innings, racking up 34 FanDuel points but only managed 2 strikeouts against the Marlins. The difference today is that the Marlins have one of the lowest strikeout rates in baseball while the Phillies strike out at a 23% clip with is fourth highest on the main slate.
I expect Strasburg to be one of the most highly owned players on the slate so I am going to look to another high strikeout arm in Lance McCullers Jr. ($8,900) as a GPP pivot play. McCullers has a strikeout rate that rivals Strasburg at 30.1% and comes into this game as the largest favorite on the board (-210) against the Royals.
McCullers was dominant in his opening day start striking out seven Mariners over 6 innings of work while racking up 46 FanDuel points. McCullers has the ability to match Strasburg and the other upside arms each time out but his 12% walk rate means he is much more likely to have a volatile outing which makes him better suited for tournaments!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks
Baltimore Orioles at home versus C.C. Sabathia: With the wind blowing out in Baltimore today and 70 degree temperatures expected, the ball should be flying out of Camden Yards which is bad news for C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees but great news for the Orioles power hitters.
With a lefty on the mound, I expect Joey Rickard ($2,000) will slide into the lead-off spot and Trey Mancini ($2,300) will likely be in the OF (1B eligible on FD) batting in the heart of the order for Baltimore which makes them a great value stack.
The salary savings these two provide also allows to pay up for two Orioles studs with Manny Machado ($3,800) and Adam Jones ($3,700) who are in a great match-up against a SP they have hit hard over their career. Machado is 14 for 43 (.326 average) with 5 doubles and 1 home-run while Jones has punished Sabathia to the tune of 21 for 70 with 5 home runs!
Houston Astros versus RHP Nathan Karns: The Astros may get a bit over looked on this slate facing a RHP but it is important to note that Karns is actually a reverse splits pitcher putting the right-handed power bats firmly back in play today.
Karns gives up 1.75 HR/9 to right-handed bats with a 35.3 hard contact rate so I intend to stack the Astros studs, Jose Altuve ($3,600), Carlos Correa ($3,800) and George Springer ($4,200) who have the highest projected run total on the Main slate!
FanDuel MLB: Top GPP Lineup and Slate Overview
SP: Stephen Strasburg ($9,600) and Lance McCullers ($8,900)
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C: $2K Punt Option of your choice – Sunday’s are typically a day for the back-ups so keep an eye on today’s lineups.
1B: Trey Mancini ($2,300)
2B: Jose Altuve ($3,600)
3B: Manny Machado ($3,800)
SS: Carlos Correa ($3,800)
OF: George Springer ($4,200)
OF: Adam Jones ($3,700)
OF: Joey Rickard ($2,000)
Slate Overview: Today’s slate is loaded with pitching options so I would look to pay up at the position as FanDuel is still allowing us to roster a ton of under-priced options! Strasburg and McCullers are my top starting pitchers due to their elite strikeout upside and will be my primarily hurler options as I pair them with the Astros/Orioles power stacks!
Next: Fantasy Baseball: Closers on the Waiver Wire
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests today and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!