FanDuel MLB Daily Picks and Pivots – Sunday September 10
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 DFS action!
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!
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Saturday’s winning GPP scores were well below our season average as it took 254.6 FanDuel points to take down a tournament! Over the first 154 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 260.5 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 154 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 260.5 points.
Saturday’s Main Slate was centered around a dominant Chris Sale in an elite spot against the Tampa Bay Rays and he did not disappoint as he racked up 52 FanDuel points on the back of 8 K’s over 6 innings. Offensively it was the Red Sox bats that exploded for 9 runs to support Sale and the White Sox who battered The Shark on their way to 13 runs that made all the difference in FanDuel MLB DFS contests!
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:
First off, let me say that the complete lack of contests on FanDuel for this slate is essentially begging you to take the day off and focus on football. I am hopeful this is just a one day thing and we will be back to normal contests when football is “done” tomorrow but let’s work with what we have today!
From a tournament perspective, Stephen Strasburg ($10,900) stands out as overwhelming chalk at less than 11K with a home start against the Phillies on a short slate. For my money, if I am going to take a shot on this slate I think we can make the case to all-out fade Strasburg and hope the “can’t miss” ace of the slate falls flat again!
My top pivot is Rick Porcello ($8,300) who takes on a Tampa Bay team for the fourth time this season at home in Fenway Park. In his previous three outings versus the Rays, Porcello has struck out seven batters every time with a 10%+ swinging strike rate in each of those outings while racking up 43 and 46 FD points in his last two starts.
Over the last two seasons, Porcello has a 25.4% K rate against the current Rays hitters and with 10 MPH winds projected to blow straight in at Fenway this should help mitigate some of the home run risk from Porcello and set him up for a another 40+ FanDuel point outing!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks:
Twins versus LHP Jason Vargas: Remember early in the season when Jason Vargas was a fantasy asset? After two straight months with an ERA over 7 I think those days are long gone and Vargas now becomes a top stack against candidate for DFS purposes!
On the season, Vargas has been surrendering home runs at a 1.5 HR/9 clip to RHB with a 34% hard contact rate and will have to take on a powerful right-handed line-up in the Twins. Over the last month, there are three Twins hitters who stand out with exceptional metrics versus LHP:
- Brian Dozier ($4,400): .391 ISO and .506 wOBA
- Jorge Polanco ($3,900): .300 ISO and .487 wOBA
- Byron Buxton ($3,000): .414 ISO and .524 wOBA
A stack built around these core three bats today sets you up perfectly to attack one of the best hitting spots on the Main slate and by dropping down from Strasburg at SP you will still have ample salary to build the remainder of your roster.
Brewers versus Kyle Hendricks: If you are looking for a cost-effective secondary stack or a way to build around Strasburg today, the Brewers top end bats may be the best bang for your buck option in Wrigley Field.
Eric Thames ($2,900), Travis Shaw ($2,900) and Ryan Braun ($3,200) are simply priced too low to ignore considering their elite power upside. At home this season, Hendricks as given up 1.5 HR/9 and 36% hard contact to LHB so building a mini-stack around Shaw and Thames for under $3k each will open up a significant amount of salary room elsewhere!
FanDuel MLB – Sample GPP Line-Up and Slate Overview
Please Note: This is NOT an optimized line-up, it is simply illustrative to show the type of roster build we can have using the logic previously laid out in Picks and Pivots. My actual line-up may differ from the line-up shown here.
More from FanSided
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- Inside the Clubhouse: What I’m hearing as the MLB Trade Deadline nears
- Yankees: Luis Severino has blunt assessment of another miserable outing
P: Rick Porcello ($8,300)
C: Buster Posey ($3,400)
1B: Eric Thames ($2,900)
2B: Brian Dozier ($4,400)
3B: Travis Shaw ($2,900)
SS: Jorge Polanco ($3,900)
OF: Byron Buxton ($3,000)
OF: Ryan Braun ($3,200)
OF: Domingo Santana ($3,000)
Slate Overview: On a Football filled Sunday these are great slates to get an edge over the competition as their focus is lacking in MLB roster construction so take advantage where you can today! I expect most will blindly click Stephen Strasburg in as their pitcher today so any pivot off him gives you a chance to jump the field if the Phillies bats can continue to take down the Nationals aces!
Next: FanDuel Week 1 NFL Picks and Pivots!
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and enjoy the first day of NFL football as we get you set for all the DFS and Fantasy Football coverage!