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 1:05 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!
Saturday’s winning GPP scores jumped above our season average as it took 284.5 FanDuel points to take down a tournament! Over the first 39 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 257.8 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 39 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 257.8 points.
Saturday’s Picks and Pivots line-up was built around Lance McCullers who delivered a solid line with 37 FanDuel points and was routinely found on the top winning GPP lines! Our line-up build was set around the Baltimore and Texas bats and although we did get a home run from Manny Machado, the rest of the stack fell short and we landed well below the cash line on this slate as a result!
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
Chris Sale ($11,900) versus Minnesota: The absolute best pitcher in all of baseball this season is on the hill today and frankly I cannot find a single reason to fade him. Now I understand with a game in Coors Field there will be those who opt to fade him for the salary savings but I will always opt with the elite high upside arm over hitters in DFS due to the significant variability hitters face in DFS.
Sale comes into this game with five straight double-digit strikeout games, a league-leading 37% K rate, a minuscule 4% walk rate and will take on a Twins team today that will be without Brian Dozier.
Sale has 50+ FanDuel points in each of his last five starts and has topped 60 in three of his last four which shows you the upside he possesses each time he takes the hill! Typically the Twins are a team that hits left-handed pitching well but they are in the bottom 10 in baseball in team wOBA and ISO and without Dozier this is a match-up I expect Sale to flat-out dominate.
I understand that many will look to fade Sale so they can afford the Coors bats but if you look at the last two days in DFS, the winning GPP line-ups have faded the high-priced bats in Colorado/Arizona and I will look to do the same today so I can afford the clear-cut top arm!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks
New York Mets versus RHP Jose Urena: The Mets offense is absolutely on fire right now as they have scored 7+ runs in five straight games including two games with double-digit runs. Today, the Mets take on Jose Urena in a match-up they should be able to exploit at reduced ownership levels in tournaments..
Urena is a pitcher who throughout his career has struggled with left-handed batters as he has posted only an 8.9% K rate which matches his 8.9% walk rate while surrendering 1.27 HR/9 and a 30% hard contact rate.
The Mets may be bitten by the injury bug but they remain loaded with left-handed power and we can look to the hot hitting Michael Conforto ($4,000) and Jay Bruce ($4,000) as cornerstone pieces of our roster today. At these price points I expect they will be largely overlooked as well as most will look to get in the Coors bats if they are paying up for individual batters.
Curtis Granderson ($2,400) should bat 5th today and makes for a cost-effective addition to a stack here with clean-up hitter Neil Walker ($3,100). Keep an eye on the Mets line-up today as we could see additional value open up with Asdrubal Cabrera leaving last night’s game with an injury which would require some bench players to step up!
Tampa Bay Rays versus RHP Joe Biagini: If you are paying up for Chris Sale today you are going to need to find some cheap hitting options and the Rays are one of the best ways to stack high-upside hitters at a cost-effective price!
The Rays will take on essentially a “bullpen game” from the Blue Jays as although Biagini will start, he is not expected to pitch deep into this game as he makes the transition from the pen. Logan Morrison ($2,800) and Evan Longoria ($2,800) make for a nice mini-stack as both players come into this game with 20+ points in their most recent game logs!
FanDuel MLB – Top GPP Lineup and Slate Overview:
P: Chris Sale ($11,900)
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C: $2k Punt option
1B: Logan Morrison ($2,800)
2B: Neil Walker ($3,100)
3B: Evan Longoria ($2,800)
SS: Darwin Barney ($2,000)
OF: Michael Conforto ($4,000)
OF: Jay Bruce ($4,000)
OF: Curtis Granderson ($2,400)
Slate Overview: The question today comes down to Coors Field again for most and I will continue to fade this spot and look to differentiate my roster build. One of the main reasons I am willing to fade is that I see no reason to fade the 50-60 point upside that Chris Sale provides and I think we can get our offense from other spots(like the red-hot Mets) which will allow us to put together a totally different roster build.
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!