FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Wednesday April 18

Welcome to FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups for Wednesday, April 18th 2018. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

Tuesday’s slate went quite well again. One of our favorite plays at pitcher, Patrick Corbin ($9,500) was a cheaper pick than the top two options, and Corbin was able to pile up eight strikeouts in nine innings, for the win and a quality start. In total, Patrick provided 61 FanDuel MLB points in our lineup. Alex Wood also had a great night.

The Corbin base worked out well for our Athletics’ stack against the White Sox. Piling up ten runs against the Sox in Oakland, plays like Jed Lowrie, Matt Chapman, Marcus Semien, and Stephen Piscotty immediately spiked our points to around 150 points. From there, we also stacked some Dodgers and Rays, which helped us climb toward 200 points.

Matt Kemp hit a bomb with three RBI’s for 25.7 FanDuel MLB points on a low $2,700 salary and only about 5-10% ownership in most cash and GPP plays. He and Stephen Piscotty were tremendous value plays for us last night. We’ll try to identify similar value plays for Wednesday’s slates.

For FanDuel MLB on Wednesday, we’re going to look at both the Early Only and Main slates of the day, as there are games scheduled starting just after noon through the evening. The Early Only covers four games from 12:35pm ET through 1:40pm ET. The Main slate starts at 7:10pm, and all games in between are currently only covered in the ‘All-Day’ slate. We are not focusing on the All-Day slate for today.

Before we get there, a reminder to never take a DFS MLB optimal lineup as ‘bible’ for your personal lineup each day. Use the suggestions as guidance. Also, make sure you follow final lineup thoughts throughout the day on our twitter account @FantasyCPR or me @mattymcmatt17 look for late breaking lineup news.

Weather Note: The only game with a delay or postponement possibility is the Cardinals and Cubs game in Chicago. With the chance for rain, and a thunderstorm, we need to watch that game closely this afternoon, if you’re playing any players in Chicago today. However, the team will likely be pushed by MLB top play. Also, another reminder that while weather is improving acorss the US by mid-week, we’re still mostly cold in the north and east of the country. So, with weather-related considerations addressed, let’s get to the top pitching options…

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Early Only Slate

There are good things and bad things about the Early Only slate on FanDuel MLB for Wednesday. The good things are the pitchers are dirt-cheap, and it will be easy to find multiple offensive stacks targeting bad pitching. However, the bad thing is that leaves us with very limited options for a solid pitcher to play in our lineup. It’s likely the top pitchers will be VERY chalky in all formats.

You could also make an argument that we have no top pitching play in the early afternoon. Of the eight starting pitchers on the mound in the early afternoon, Kevin Gausman ($7,600) has the best xFIP, 4.32, since early last season. That’s actually not a great xFIP, and Gausman is one of the pitchers we may target for offensive stacks, giving up nearly 1.5 home runs per nine innings.

Zach Davies ($8,200) was one of the more consistently solid pitchers last season, and he’s still priced that way by FanDuel. However, in his first three starts, Davies has struggled significantly. Earning only one quality start in three outings, and no wins, Davies has given up 12 runs in 16 innings. While he has 18 K’s during that time, he also gave up 23 hits and five walks.

It’s possible we could get a Cubs-like outing from Davies in Milwaukee today, where he gave up four hits and three walks, but only one earned run and fanned eight hitters. If we see that again this afternoon, Davies was a solid value play at pitcher. But we think it’s a safer bet to go with Cole Hamels ($8,700) who’s off to a hot start and is in Tampa today.

Since early last season, Hamels has struggled, giving up 1.32 home runs per nine innings and fanning batters as a sub-20% rate. However, his WHIP is 1.25, the best of any starting pitcher in the Early only slate.

Also, Hamels K-rate has ticked up significantly in April, as he’s averaging 7.5 K’s per outing. Cole also eclipsed the 50 FanDuel MLB point mark in Oakland, and earned a quality start against the Astros in Houston. So while he may not seem like an incredible option, Cole Hamels is your best starting pitcher on the mound for the Early Only slate, and at least he’s cheap!

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

For the Early Only slate, we had minimal top pitching talent, or you could argue none, and plenty of offensive stacking targets. The Main slate is the exact opposite of that scenario. After his last outing, Jose Berrios ($9,800) will be a hot name today. Berrios fanned eleven hitters and piled up 64 FanDuel MLB points in Minnesota against the White Sox six days ago.

Berrios is in a similar chilly environment in Minnesota today, but faces a more difficult Indians lineup. It’s also possible Berrios gets chalky because he’s a popular pick after that last outing. And Berios is $800 cheaper than Gerrit Cole ($10,600). However, it’s impossible to ignore Cole tonight, a pitcher currently averaging 60 FanDuel MLB points per game, after three starts this season.

Cole has only seen two teams this year, the Padres and Rangers, so there is a fair debate the Mariners lineup in Seattle will be more of a challenge. But Gerrit is averaging over eleven strike outs per game, seven innings per game, has three straight quality starts, and has only given up three earned runs in 21 innings. Even with so many top pitching options tonight, Cole is the best pick.

While we’re likely to go with Cole in FanDuel MLB lineups tonight, we’re looking for a Cole fade option, even for some Cash plays, and especially for GPP lineups. Carlos Carrasco ($9,300) has a tough match up against Berrios. But Carlos is near the top tier of pitching talent in major league baseball and could easily get overlooked tonight.

Carrasco started the season with a struggle, giving up seven hits and five earned runs against the Mariners in late March. However, Carlos won the game, and has a win in each of his three starts. And since the struggle in Seattle, Carrasco has provided a quality start in each of his last two outing, including a 52 FanDuel MLB point complete game against the Tigers in Cleveland seven days ago.

Berrios may have great weather for a solid outing today in Minnesota, but so does Carrasco, and we think Carlos is the better of the two pitchers. If you’re also worried about heavy Cole ownership tonight, fade him in all formats and go with Carrasco. The extra salary will also help you with your offensive stacks.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Early Only Slate

As we alluded to earlier, it’s fairly easy to find stacking options for the Early Only slate. That’s good for several reasons. We can expect a lower ownership per player as there’s likely interest in many player options this afternoon, but there’s also expensive and affordable options, making many combinations of players possible for the Early Only slate.

One game we love is the Orioles visiting the Tigers in Detroit. Matt Boyd takes the mound for the Tigers and is only giving up 1.16 home runs per nine innings, but his WHIP 1.47, one of the worst among starting pitchers on the mound today.

Also, Kevin Gausman has a 1.50 WHIP giving up 1.47 home runs per nine innings. While it’ll be cold there, you should either stack the cheap Tigers and Orioles or at least play a couple players from each lineup today.

While Chad Kuhl is only giving up 0.94 home runs per nine innings since early last season, the best of all starters in this slate, he’s also getting absolutely crushed to start this season, averaging nearly ten hits per five innings in each game.

That’s not surprising considering his 1.5 WHIP since early last year. Also, the Rockies bats have been hot in April, even on the road. With so much value on the board, the expensive Rockies are easy to stack, and are our favorite offensive play of the early afternoon.

Finally, Jake Faria is off to a horrendous start for the Rays, pitching eleven innings with nine strikeouts but an ugly 8.18 ERA and 1.91 WHIP. If the Rangers start rookie prospect Ronald Guzman ($2,400) again tonight, snag him for value at the C/1B position, and you can also consider Nomar Mazara ($2,700) who always seems to be red-hot in April.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

While it was harder to identify the offensive stacks for tonight, there are still some juicy options. However, that present an ownership issue. We could see higher ownership will all three of our targets tonight. Hopefully, FanDuel MLB players will focus on the Red Sox and Diamondbacks hot bats, and avoid our targets.

Mets starter Steven Matz, Phillies starter Vince Velasquez, and Red Sox starter Rick Porcello are all consistently giving up over 1.5 home runs per nine innings since early last season. We’ve seen some good stuff from Matz and Porcello earlier in the season, but they’re both up against challenging lineups tonight. Also, they each have WHIPs between 1.3 and 1.5.

With that in mind, we’re stacking the Nationals, Braves, and Angels. Each of these lineups have expensive options, so to play guys like Bryce Harper ($5,400), Trea Turner ($4,300), Mike Trout ($5,300), or Freddie Freeman ($4,600), we’re need to identify value in the lineups once they’re posted.

For now, we’re going to focus on hot bats with mid-salary range cost. There’s some risk with that approach, as some of these bats could cool off soon, leading to their more affordable salaries. But we think plays like Albert Pujols ($3,500) at the 1B/C position will save us enough money to still grab a solid Dansby Swanson ($3,600) at the shortstop spot. Due to injuries, the Nationals may also have value in players like Howie Kendrick ($3,200) or Wilmer Difo ($2,700).

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

Pulling our thoughts together, we love Cole Hamels in the pitcher spot for the Early Only slate, but for the Main slate we could go with Gerrit Cole or Carlos Carrasco. We’ll likely start with Carrasco in most of our lineups, due to the likely chalkiness of Cole tonight.

For the stacks in the Early slate, you can pick almost any team. Our preference is to go with an expensive Rockies lineup, and use the Orioles and Tigers for affordability. But we also like some value from the Rangers this afternoon. For the Main slate, we’re focused on the Nationals, Braves, and Angels who have the highest probability of home runs in each of their lineups.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at the sample lineups for Early Only and Main FanDuel MLB slates on Wednesday, April 18th:

FanDuel MLB EARLY ONLY Sample Lineup:                FanDuel MLB MAIN Slate Sample Lineup:

P          Cole Hamels ($8,700)                                           P          Carlos Carrasco ($9,300)

C/1B   Ronald Guzman ($2,400)                                    C/1B    Albert Pujols ($3,500)

2B       D.J. LeMahieu ($4,100)                                         2B        Howie Kendrick ($3,200)

3B       Jeimer Candelario ($2,600)                                 3B        Luis Valbuena ($2,900)

SS       Trevor Story ($3,300)                                            SS         Dansby Swanson ($3,600)

OF      Charlie Blackmon ($5,000)                                  OF         Nick Markakis ($3,400)

OF      Nicholas Castellanos ($3,200)                            OF        Ender Inciarte ($3,100)

OF      Adam Jones ($3,000)                                              OF        Kole Calhoun ($2,800)

UTIL   Nomar Mazara ($2,700)                                        UTIL    Ryan Flaherty ($3,100)

Remaining Salary: $0                                                         Remaining Salary: $100

Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for today. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building FanDuel NHL lineups.  We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.

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