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’s winning GPP scores jumped above our season average as it took 273.5 FanDuel points to take down a tournament! Over the first 38 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 257.5 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 38 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 257.5 points.
Friday’s Picks and Pivots was all in on a Coors Field fade while we looked to be contrarian and pay up for Dallas Keuchel at SP. The Coors fade (outside of Paul Goldschmidt) worked perfectly and Keuchel came into the night with 5-6% ownership in GPP’s. The Astros ace was headed towards a win as he had held the Angels to two runs over 8 innings but went back out for the 9th and promptly surrendered 3 more runs losing not only the win but the QS in the process which took us just below the cash line in all formats – quite the late night gut punch!
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
Lance McCullers ($8,500) Looking over this slate we are going to be faced with an immediate choice – do we pay up for Clayton Kershaw against San Diego at $12,300?
The match-up could not be better as Kershaw in Petco Park is about as juicy as it gets but I have my concerns about how healthy Kershaw really is as he struggled in his last start. I am not going to pay the freight on Kershaw today but I will say – he was only 18% owned in his last start and with the injury concerns and a game in Coors we may see him at a crazy low ownership level so something to keep an eye on for GPP’s!
If you are not going with Kershaw tonight then the Astros right-hander, Lance McCullers is my absolute favorite tournament play! McCullers has a 30.9% K rate which is the 7th best mark in all of baseball, the top on this slate and 3% higher than Mr. Kershaw!
McCullers comes into this game with 46 or more FanDuel points in four of his six starts with two of those outings being double-digit strikeout performances. The Angels are not a team that strikes out a ton but they are bottom five in all of baseball in team ISO and wOBA against right-handed pitching and have the second lowest implied team total on the slate.
McCullers has the ability to dominate any team with some of the filthiest stuff (seriously watch his curveball) in all of baseball. On this slate his price point is perfect as it allows you to still pay up for high quality bats in any spot you choose.
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks
Coors Field: Last night we recommended a complete fade of this spot as the first game in a Coors Field series has typically scored 4-5 runs lower than the rest of the series games so far this season. If you want to pay up for the bats in Coors Field I do think tonight is the night to do it especially with two left-handers on the mound. However keep in mind that Tyler Anderson has always pitched better at home so the Rockies bats against Tyler Corbin may actually be your best bet.
For my entries I am still going to play the fade game here as the ownership on these bats will always be the chalk and the prices just become impossible to construct a well-balanced team so as usual Picks and Pivots is a Fade Coors zone!
Baltimore Orioles versus RHP Dylan Covey: I promise you that I am not an Orioles fan and I am not simply copying and pasting each day but until FanDuel adjusts the pricing on these guys I am going to go back to the well each and every day!
The Orioles get a home start against a pitcher in Dylan Covey who has an 8% K rate and an 11% walk rate (that’s typically frowned upon) and gives up 34% hard contact. The Orioles have a 5.16 run projection which is the highest outside of Coors Field and is only a half a run lower than the Coors Field teams.
Covey has actually been showing more reverse splits in a small sample season so the right-handed bats are all in play here and we can mix and match guys like Manny Machado ($3,800), Mark Trumbo ($3,300) and Adam Jones ($3,100). The left-handed bats are most certainly in play as well as lead-off man Seth Smith ($2,900) and Chris Davis ($3,300) are simply priced too cheap relative to this upside in this spot.
Texas Rangers versus Chase De Jong: De Jong is making his second career start after giving up 9 hits, 1 HR and 6 ER against the Indians in 2.2 innings so this is a guy we can attack!
The Rangers, like the Orioles, are just priced so reasonably and they continue to get over-looked each night with single digit ownership. I am going back to the well tonight with my first targets being Rougned Odor ($3,300) who has homered in back to back games and Elvis Andrus ($3,200) who has 20+ FD points in three of his last four games in the heart of the Rangers order.
Similar to last night, I think you can mix and match here across line-ups and put in guys like Nomar Mazara ($3,400) and Delino DeShields ($2,800) if you want to pivot off the Orioles OF’s.
Nelson Cruz ($4,600) versus LHP Martin Perez: Nelson Cruz versus a left-hander is always going to be an amazing one-off play but today he gets to face a guy he has absolutely owned in Martin Perez (6 for 12 with 3 home runs).
I expect the price on Cruz will keep most away as people will look towards Coors Field bats if they are spending that kind of dough which makes me love him even more for GPP’s!
FanDuel MLB – Top GPP lineup and Slate Overview:
P: Lance McCullers Jr. ($8,500)
More from FanSided
- USMNT news: Turner to Forest, Trusty to Sheffield, Reynolds to Westerlo
- Inside the Clubhouse: What I’m hearing as the MLB Trade Deadline nears
- Yankees: Luis Severino has blunt assessment of another miserable outing
- Bills: 3 2023 roster holes that could cost Josh Allen a Super Bowl
- Colts RB Jonathan Taylor shoots down rumors of troubling injury
C: Geovany Soto ($2,300)
1B: Chris Davis ($3,300)
2B: Rougned Odor ($3,300)
3B: Manny Machado ($3,800)
SS: Elvis Andrus ($3,200)
OF: Nelson Cruz ($4,600)
OF: Seth Smith ($2,900)
OF: Adam Jones ($3,100)
Slate Overview: Looking over this slate it will be interesting to see how the ownership breaks as we have Clayton Kershaw and Coors Field to choose from which should siphon the majority of the ownership. For me, I am going to pivot away from Coors (as usual) and load up on Baltimore bats which has an equally high run projection and we can utilize a contrarian Rangers stack in addition while still capturing a high upside SP!
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!