FanDuel MLB Daily Picks and Pivots – June 1
Welcome to the Thursday FanDuel MLB edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for today’s Early and Main slate which kicks off at 12:10PM and 7:05PM 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!
Wednesday’s Main winning GPP scores were below our season average as it took 248.8 FanDuel points to take down a tournament! Over the first 64 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 259.7 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 64 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 259.7 points.
Wednesday’s DFS action was a tale of two slates as the smaller early slate was one of the highest scoring slates we have had all year as the Astros offensive explosion drove winning GPP scores well over 335 FanDuel points. The Main Slate, aka Jacob deGrom getting pummeled, actually was lower scoring than our season long average as the winning line-up was anchored by Max Scherzer with a Milwaukee Brewers stack (interesting roster build knowing deGrom was the clear Scherzer pivot).
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 (EARLY):
Today’s dual slate only has three games on the Early and four games on the Main which for GPP players makes it very difficult to build a roster that can effectively zig where others zag. On the Early Slate my expectation is that there will be two pitchers who are the most popular – Corey Kluber and Zack Wheeler, as they are the largest favorites on the slate and their opponents have the two lowest run totals on this early slate!
Kluber is making his first start since coming off the DL with a back injury, throwing only 47 pitches in his last rehab start and will take on the Athletics at home today. With no other elite arms on the slate I expect Kluber to garner a good amount of ownership here but I am going to let others take the plunge here as with this being Kluber’s first start since his injury and the fact that the Indians have a high team total could mean an abbreviated outing for the Indians ace.
With that being said, I am going to plant my flag with Adam Wainwright ($8,500) on this slate as he gets a home start against the Dodgers. Wainwright has pitched exceptionally well in his recent outings, racking up 40 or more FanDuel points in each of his last three outings including starts against the Cubs and Rockies in Coors Field.
Of the three early games, this one has the lowest projected total and with Brandon McCarthy a viable option on the other side of this game, I would expect the ownership for these two pitches to be fairly even which will help keep Wainwright’s ownership down even further. We also get the benefit of a day game after a night game so you may see an already depleted Dodgers team give some of their bats, like Yasmani Grandal, a day off!
If Wainwright can continue his solid form where he has gone 7 innings in two of his last three starts, we could be in a great position for another 40 point FD outing which on this slate could be the top SP score that any pitcher puts up!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks (EARLY):
On a short slate like this my goal when building my rosters is to essentially go all in on one spot and fade what I expect will be the popular roster routes. The Indians have the highest team total on either slate and will face a pitcher in Jharel Cotton who has a 5.56 ERA but I think you can make the case for a fade here as Cotton has given up 3 or fewer runs in five of his eight starts this season. Now you can also make the opposite case that he has given up 5 or more runs in those other three starts but I will roll with the percentages that show he limits the damage in over 60% of his starts and let others chase the Indians bats.
Milwaukee at New York: With temperatures near 80 degrees and 11 mph winds blowing out to right-field, I am going to game stack the Mets/Brewers in Citi Field today.
Chase Anderson this season is giving up 42.4% hard contact with only a 29% ground ball rate to LHB which against a left-handed team with the wind blowing out could spell big trouble. All the Mets left-handed power bats are in play here as a stack – Michael Conforto ($4,100), Jay Bruce ($3,800), Neil Walker (3,300) and Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,100) – but keep an eye on the status of Mr. Met who is day-to-day with a finger injury and may not be available for this game.
On the other side of this game, I am going to look to stack the Brewers bats who have seemingly awoke from the dead against Zack Wheeler. Looking at Wheeler’s splits this season, he is giving up 48% hard contact and 1.77 HR/9 to left-handed hitters so any and all LHB in the Milwaukee line-up are in play.
The top plays here are Eric Thames ($2,900), who is 4 for his last 7 with 50 FanDuel points over his last two games and Travis Shaw ($3,600) who is 4 for his last 10 with 33 FanDuel points in his last two contest! Although Wheeler is tough on right-handed bats, I like the idea of building a full stack with Domingo Santana ($3,500) who has homered in two of his last three games!
FanDuel MLB – Sample GPP Line-up and Slate Overview:
P: Adam Wainwright ($8,500)
C: Austin Barnes ($2,100)
1B: Eric Thames ($2,900)
2B: Neil Walker ($3,300)
3B: Travis Shaw ($3,600)
SS: Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,100)
OF: Michael Conforto ($4,100)
OF: Jay Bruce ($3,800)
OF: Domingo Santana ($3,500)
Slate Overview: First off – be smart with your bankroll on these small slates, play sparingly if at all. If you are playing then take a stand and stick to it – for me, I will fade the Indians entirely and look to get 100% of my offense from the Mets/Brewers game which could end up doubling as a strategy against those who look to roster Zack Wheeler at home as one of the largest favorites on the board!
FanDuel MLB – Top Starting Pitcher Pick (MAIN):
Eduardo Rodriguez ($9,000): Although we do have Zack Greinke on the Main Slate, the arm I am looking to anchor my teams with is the Red Sox lefty, Eduardo Rodrigues who takes the hill in Baltimore against the Orioles.
E-Rod comes into this game the model of consistency with 30+ FD points in each of his last seven games and takes on an Orioles team he faced already this season in Camden Yards where he struck out seven and dropped 49 FanDuel points.
The Orioles are a team you can attack with LHP as they have the fifth highest K rate against southpaws at 24.4% so there is clear GPP upside here for Rodriguez and with Wade Miley on the hill opposing him and the Red Sox having the highest team total on the Main Slate, run support should be plentiful which sets him up for the all important win on FanDuel!
For those of you into BvP, E-Rod also has incredible success against these Orioles hitters in 109 at bats, he has limited them to a .286 wOBA, surrendering only 2 home runs and striking out 29.3% of the batter he has faced. Rodriguez has the kind of K upside we look for in GPP’s and I love this spot for him tonight at a price discount over the more popular Grienke.
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks (MAIN):
Yankees versus Toronto: Similar to the Early Slate, I am going to plant my flag with one game and do my best to game stack one spot on these short slates. On the Main Slate I will be looking towards Toronto and New York were Marco Estrada and C.C. Sabathia will take the mound.
This game has the highest combined total on the slate and with an elite hitting environment in Toronto, I plan to load up on bats with these two high-powered offenses. Sabathia this season is giving up 39% hard contact and 1.5 HR/9 so a full on attack of the right handed bats for Toronto will be at the core of my roster build today including Kendrys Morales ($3,300), Josh Donaldson ($4,100), Troy Tulowitzki ($3,000) and Jose Bautista ($4,300).
Estrada on the other hand is a pitcher who limits hard contact (under 30% this season) but is a fly ball pitcher facing a home run hitting team in the Yankees but rather than full on stack, I think we are better off picking some one-off plays here at tough to fill positions like Gary Sanchez ($3,400) and Starlin Castro ($3,200) to fill the 2B/C positions in our rosters today.
Outside of this game, we can look to some solid value bats that stand out to me including Chris Young ($2,400) who will bat in the heart of the Boston order against a LHP and Eric Young ($2,300) who has simply been red-hot for the Angels with 15+ FanDuel points in each of his forst three games as a member of LA!
FanDuel MLB – Sample GPP Line-up and Slate Overview:
P: Eduardo Rodriguez ($9,000)
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C: Gary Sanchez ($3,400)
1B: Kendrys Morales ($3,300)
2B: Starlin Castro ($3,300)
3B: Josh Donaldson ($4,100)
SS: Troy Tulowitzki ($3,000)
OF: Jose Bautista ($4,300)
OF: Chris Young ($2,400)
OF: Eric Young ($2,300)
Slate Overview: As I said on the Early Slate – play smart tonight but I will say of the two slates I think this is the better one to play as we have two elite arms on the slate which should split much of the ownership and the prices are reasonable enough where you can still build a high upside power line-up! Good luck all!
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates on Twitter.