Welcome to the Saturday FanDuel MLB edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for today’s Mainslate 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!
Friday Night’s winning GPP score of 244 was right in line with our season to date average as a line-up built around Clayton Kershaw (56) with a Tampa Bay Rays stack that scored 10 runs was able to dominate the competition! Over the first 16 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.6 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 16 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.6 points.
Friday’s Picks and Pivots line-up fell short of the cash line for the third straight day as for the third straight day we have built line-ups around a Toronto Blue Jays Stack! Our Starlin Castro BvP special delivered with a home run but the Mets bats without Yoenis Cespedes went cold and our Blue Jays hitters continue to crush my DFS dreams!
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 Pick
Jacob deGrom ($9,800) The Main Slate pitching options are a bit barren tonight which makes paying up for the Mets Jacob deGrom feel like the best play on the board!
deGrom is a -150 road favorite with high strikeout upside pitching in a big ballpark in Miami which makes him my clear-cut top pitching target. deGrom struggled with his control his last start but as he typically does, he gutted through a tough first two innings and seemingly got stronger as the game went on – that is one of the best parts about rostering deGrom, even when he does not have his “ace” stuff, he finds a way to work through and puts himself in a great position to still get a Win/QS.
The rest of the pitching options tonight are mediocre at best and with no big time hitting spots to pay up for I think it makes sense to lock in the best pure talent on the slate. deGrom has had difficulty pitching in Marlins Park before and Giancarlo Stanton has massive BvP numbers against him (7 for 15 with 3 home runs) so there is risk here but with the price being under $10k on FanDuel and having a short slate makes him worth the risk in my opinion!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks
Los Angeles Dodgers versus LHP Patrick Corbin: As I mentioned, the Main Slate hitting is very spotty so I think it makes sense to build 2-3 mini-stacks as opposed to full on team stacks on this slate.
If I am building a team stack though my favorite place to go is the Los Angeles Dodgers as they get an elite hitting spot against Patrick Corbin. Corbin gave up a 38% + hard contact rate to hitters from both sides of the plate last season and surrendered 1.38 HR/9 to both righties and lefties!
The right-handed bats of Yasiel Puig ($3,100) and Logan Forsythe ($3,100) are both elite plays as they simply mash LHP but do not overlook switch hitting catcher Yasmani Grandal ($3,100) as a great addition to a team stack at a weak catcher spot.
Corbin actually gave up a higher HR and hard hit rate to left-handed bats on the road last season so I like the idea of including a guy like Corey Seager ($3,600) in a stack even with his lefty/lefty match-up.
Mets RHB versus LHP Adam Conley: Play Wilmer Flores. Just do it.
The Mets get to face Adam Conley one day later than initially planned as Conley was needed in Thursday Night’s extra inning affair and I will be loading up on Wilmer Flores ($2,800) today as he simply mashed LHP.
Flores will likely bat clean-up behind Yoenis Cespedes ($4,400) who should return to the line-up after getting Friday off and I love the idea of a mini-stack here to attack the left-handed Conley in Marlins Park.
FanDuel MLB – Top GPP lineup and Slate Overview:
P: Jacob deGrom ($9,800)
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C: Yasmani Grandal ($3,100)
1B: C.J. Cron ($2,500) The Angels have the highest team total on the board and face off with a reverse splits pitcher in Nate Karns so Cron gives us some cheap exposure to this game.
2B: Logan Forsythe ($3,100)
3B: Wilmer Flores ($2,800)
SS: Corey Seager ($3,600)
OF: Yoenis Cespedes ($4,400)
OF: Yasiel Puig ($3,100)
OF: Mitch Haniger ($2,600) All the dude does is hit and is sits in the #2 spot in a solid Mariners offense. I am just going to keep playing him.
Slate Overview: The Main Slate is really going to be a spot where you can mix and match a variety of solid hitting environments while building around the safety/upside of a guy like Jacob deGrom.
Next: DraftKings MLB Picks - Late Slate
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