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 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!
Friday night’s winning GPP line-up scored 254.5 which was slightly over the season long average as a result of a 64 point outing from Corey Kluber and big nights from the Cubs/Dodgers bats. Over the first 23 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 23 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.6 points.
Friday night’s Picks and Pivots rebounded nicely as a result of Corey Kluber going 9 innings with 9 punch outs for 64 FanDuel points. The Arizona bats came through across the board as did our Padres mini-stack. The Brewers bats finally went cold which took us from having a potentially great night to a solidly profitable one!
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
Carlos Carrasco ($10,300) against the White Sox: Did you see what Corey Kluber did to this White Sox lineup last night? The White Sox have the 4th highest K rate of any team in baseball against right-handed pitching this season (25.1%) and face off against Carlos Carrasco who has a 30.2% K rate against right-handed bats this season and is giving up only a 25% hard contact rate.
Carrasco just faced this Chicago team, struck out 7 batters and put up 43 FanDuel points and today comes in as the largest favorite of any hurler on the board. I think the price point will scare many people off Carrasco and instead will pivot down to Robbie Ray ($8,500) but I think that is a big mistake.
Ray is facing a Dodgers team he just dominated in a 10 strikeout performance and is averaging 52+ FanDuel points over his last two starts so why wouldn’t I want to go back to the well today against LA?
The big difference is that Ray now has to pitch in Chase Field and the Dodgers actually have the fifth highest projected run total of any team on this slate! At home last season, Ray saw his strikeout rate drop 4% while his hard contact rate rose 4% to nearly 39%! I think this is the perfect spot to let game log watchers chase Ray in a potential blow up spot and I will happily grab Carrasco as the top arm in an elite spot against a struggling offense.
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks:
Cleveland Indians against Mike Pelfrey: HAPPY PELFREY DAY! If you are not familiar with the mercurial right-hander, he is one of the best pitchers to stack against in DFS and with a ton of stud left-handed bats in Cleveland, this is the top spot to get exposure to!
Last season, Big Pelf gave up a 37% hard contact rate to LHB and 1.2 HR/9 so we should feel confident stacking bats like Francisco Lindor ($4,000) and Michael Brantley ($4,000) but do not overlook Jason Kipnis ($3,400) who returned to the Indians line-up Friday night and we can get a solid 2-3-4 stack here in the Indians line up!
Los Angeles Angels: We have a game in Coors Field so everyone is going to look there for offense but it is interesting to note that the Angels have the top projected run total of any team outside of Coors Field as they take on a rookie in Casey Lawrence.
What I love about the Angels bats is that outside of Mike Trout they are insanely cheap and we can easily stack them around the Indians high-priced bats. Albert Pujols ($2,600) and Kole Calhoun ($2,600) should be right in the heart of the Angels order and if Ben Revere ($2,100) is slotted into the #2 hole again he becomes an elite value play!
Arizona Diamondbacks versus Kenta Maeda: Although we have a right-hander on the mound we should not be afraid to go back to the Arizona batters here and perhaps my favorite hitting on the board is Jake Lamb ($3,700) who is 8 for 17 with 1 home run against Maeda in his career. Chris Herrmann ($2,200) would make for a nice addition to any squad as a punt catcher with the lefty-righty match-up in his favor!
FanDuel MLB – Top FanDuel MLB GPP lineup and Slate Overview for Main Slate
P: Carlos Carrasco ($10,300)
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C: Chris Herrmann ($2,200)
1B: Albert Pujols ($2,600)
2B: Jason Kipnis ($3,400)
3B: Jake Lamb ($3,700)
SS: Francisco Lindor ($4,000)
OF: Michael Brantley ($4,000)
OF: Kole Calhoun ($2,600)
OF: Ben Revere ($2,100)
Slate Overview: On the Main Slate I am all in on Carlos Carrasco and the Indians bats and they will be in 100% of my lineups tonight. I will await news on the Angels lineup as the value in their lineup will be critical to unlocking this combination tonight and Jake Lamb is my top one-off hitter to target!
Next: DraftKings MLB Picks - Late 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!