Welcome to the Wednesday 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 7:05 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!
The Tuesday Night GPP scores were massive with the winning lineup putting up 324 FanDuel points, by far our highest total of the season! Over the first twelve slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.3 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 twelve slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.3 points.
Tuesday’s Picks and Pivots lineups performed well, most notably with our Robbie Ray/Mets stack line-up which went off for 251 FanDuel points on the highest scoring night we have seen so far this season. When the news broke that Trevor Story would be sitting, my thought process was to allocate salary in the OF to get both Carlos Gonzalez and Charlie Blackmon and stack them with Nolan Arenado. All three players hit home runs off Jered Weaver which set us up well for the night and our pivot stack to the New York Mets bats was all we needed to push us over the top as the Mets offense went off in Philadelphia! Yesterday was a perfect example of having to pivot to a back up plan and although the Mets were not initially my preferred secondary stack, the price points on guys like Asdrubal Cabrera and Lucas Duda made it easy to fit in the top Coors bats while still going after a great hitting environment!
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!
FanDuel MLB – Top Starting Pitcher Picks
Marcus Stroman ($8,600): The Main Slate pitching options are relatively underwhelming as we have no truly elite pitchers on the board and with Coors Field on the Early Slate the hitting prices are reasonable enough across the board where we do not need to drop down too far in the pitcher bargain pool.
My top arm on this slate and one of my absolute favorite pitchers to watch is Blue Jay RHP, Marcus Stroman who gets to make his first start in Toronto this season after posting a 41 FanDuel point, 5 strikeout win against the Rays in his opening day outing.
Stroman is the largest favorite (-190) on the Main Slate and faces a Brewers team that strikes out at a near 26% clip which is the highest mark of any team playing DFS on Wednesday!
Stroman’s pitching profile works perfectly in Toronto as he has a 60% ground ball rate against opposing batters and limits hitters to under 1 HR/9. The Brewers have the propensity to strike out in bunches, averaging nearly 12 punch outs per game in the early season which is 2 more than the next closest team in all of MLB.
Stroman’s win probability and ability to limit runs make him a safe cash game play and the Brewers strikeout upside put him firmly in play as my top GPP arm on this slate!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks
New York Mets versus RHP Vince Velasquez: The Mets bats started the season cold but a trip to a warm Citizens Bank Park has resulted in a massive offensive showing from the Mets power bats and I think this is a spot we can continue to take advantage of an elite hitting environment.
Velasquez has tremendous strikeout upside when he is on but also has gives up over a 32% hard contact rate and 1.5 HR/9 when pitching at home so the blow up potential is very real.
Jay Bruce ($3,400) and Asdrubal Cabrera ($2,900) just continue to pound the baseball in the early season and can be easily stacked with Tuesday’s hero, Yoenis Cespedes ($3,800) who is coming off a monster three home run outing! Power hitters are streaky and when they are on, you simply do not want to fade them and after watching the Mets pound the baseball the last two days, I am going right back to the well here today and will stack them up in all formats!
Toronto Blue Jays versus RHP Chase Anderson: The Blue Jays have the highest run total (5) of any team on the main slate and with a home match-up against Chase Anderson it is not hard to see why.
Anderson has a low strikeout rate and gives up a near 40% hard contact rate to right-handed batters while surrendering 1.5 HR/9. The Blue Jays lineup is a bit in flux as I write this early in the day due to Josh Donaldson ($3,800) calf injury but if he plays today, he is firmly in play along with Jose Bautista ($3,400) and Kendrys Morales ($3,000) in the middle of the Blue Jays lineup!
FanDuel MLB – Top GPP Lineup and Slate Overview
P: Marcus Stroman ($8,600)
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C: J.T. Realmuto ($2,600) Realmuto just continues to hit and makes for a great one-off catcher play batting in the #2 hole in Miami with a hit in every single game so far this season!
1B: Kendrys Morales ($3,000)
2B: Robinson Cano ($3,100) Cano is just flat out under-priced and facing a RHP today with three straight double-digit FD point performances, I see no reason not to go back to him today.
3B: Josh Donaldon ($3,800) – DTD
SS: Asdrubal Cabrera ($2,900)
OF: Jay Bruce ($3,400)
OF: Yoenis Cespedes ($3,800)
OF: Jose Bautista ($3,400)
Slate Overview: The Main Slate is loaded with solid hitting options at reasonable price points and with no high-priced arms to pay up for, building a high upside balanced roster should be easy on this slate. The Mets/Blue Jays are my preferred targets and I will keep an eye on the Donaldson injury news and adjust accordingly later if need be.
Next: FanDuel MLB Picks and Pivots - Early Slate
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!