FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Tuesday April 24
By Matt Rogers
Welcome to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column for Tuesday, April 24th 2018. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.
We went with an expensive Mariners and Rockies stack using the salary saved from a Trevor Cahill ($6,600) play yesterday and it didn’t work out as well as we hoped for our FanDuel MLB Main slate. Cahill had a solid six strikeouts in five innings, but he also gave up three earned runs, failed to record the quality start, and didn’t register the win for only 24 FanDuel MLB points. With a great offensive stack, winning cash was still within reach, but that didn’t happen.
Miguel Gonzalez ended up hitting the 60-Day disabled list and the White Sox changed their starting pitcher, impacting our Mariners outcome. We still had solid results from Mitch Haniger ($3,500) who had 27.9 FanDuel MLB points with another home run. Also Jean Segura ($3,500) continued to provide quality offensive figures. But it wasn’t good enough.
Our offensive value play did work out, however, with Micahel A. Taylor ($2,200) staying hot on a low-owned and dirt-cheap salary earning two walks, a run, and a stolen base for 15.2 FanDuel MLB points. Keep an eye on Taylor, his numbers are well below his average last season and likely continues to climb.
The big misses of the day were the Yankees and Padres bats, providing a combined 27 runs. The White Sox also had a solid ten run outcome. Unfortunately, on Monday night we were leaning toward playing the Yankees and White Sox with a more expensive pitcher like Carrasco. However, the Rockies and Mariners seemed like too good of an option. So we were close, but whiffed.
Moving onto Tuesday, there are, once again, several games slate prior to the 7pm ET timeframe, creating an interesting All-Day slate. However, we’re going to stick to the eleven game Main FanDuel MLB slate for Tuesday night.
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: Weather conditions in the Cincinnati area are one again dicey. However, we’re not focused on the All-Day slate, and like last night they’ll likely still try to get the Braves and Reds game played even with a delay. The Tigers, Pirates, Rays, and Orioles are the four teams to worry about tonight. With a large storm along the eastern coast of the US impacting weather north to south, these games are at risk of not only playing on Tuesday, but also Wednesday.
With weather-related considerations addressed, let’s get to the top pitching options…
FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate
While the Tuesday night FanDuel MLB Main slate doesn’t have a bunch of sexy pitcher options, it’s challenging because there are many quality starters on the mound tonight, along with a few who struggled last season but look great so far this year.
Shohei Ohtani ($9,000) is likely still going to be a hot pick tonight, even after his collapse against a very good Red Sox offense last week. But Ohtani gets the World Series champion Astros in Houston tonight, so maybe that will scare off some FanDuel MLB players. We think it should. We’re still staying away from Ohtani until we know more about how he can handle the higher playing workload.
Robbie Ray ($9,300) will be a hot pick for Tuesday night, facing a K-happy Phillies team who struggles against lefties on the road. With a 33% K-rate, Ray is a juicy choice. But Robbie also has a 14.4% walk rate and is giving up over two home runs per nine innings this season. This Phillies lineup can be dangerous and has power, so we don’t think he’s worth the pick.
Kenta Maeda ($9,100) is having a quality start to the season, leading all starters on the mound for the Main slate with a 2.04 xFIP. But, while Maeda hasn’t given up a home run yet this season, he has a higher 1.74 WHIP, which makes us nervous even against the Marlins in Los Angeles. If there weren’t better options tonight, we’d consider Maeda.
So who are those better options? Even though he has a tough Angels offense to contend with, Charlie Morton ($9,900) is off to yet another outstanding start to his season. With a very good 2.35 xFIP, second best tonight, low 0.72 home run per nine rate, and 0.88 WHIP, Morton is one of the few pitchers who has great stuff across the board. Charlie also has a high 33.3% K-rate along with a lower 6.1% walk rate. He’s expensive, but this salary still doesn’t scare us off from playing him.
The other play we really like tonight may drop off many DFS MLB optimal lineup radars. Rick Porcello ($8,800) is one of the least sexiest DFS MLB pitchers, but is averaging around six K’s per game, over seven innings per game, and has won all four of his starts. He’s also averaging 42.5 FanDuel MLB points per game, consistently. So, if you want a very solid bet for 40 FanDuel MLB points as a base for your lineup, Porcello is nearly a lock.
FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate
With the Rays Jake Faria and the Orioles Alex Cobb both struggling to start the 2018 season and on the mound in Baltimore tonight, we were initially leaning toward stacking the Rays and/or Orioles for offensive stacks tonight.
However, postponement is a very good possibility, so we’re going to fade the game. But keep an eye on the game’s status tonight, they could be a sneaky low-owned play if they can find a way to get the game in.
Fortunately, two other starters on the mound tonight jumps out as well, Dillon Peters for the Marlins and Kyle Freeland for the Rockies. Each has an xFIP of higher than 5 this season, and they’re both giving up around two home runs per game. They also each have a WHIP of greater than 1.5, and walk batters above a 10% rate. With that in mind, we’re stacking a team we missed last night, the Padres, and a team we stacked recently, the Dodgers.
The Padres offense is well-known for being cold, and are often hitting in a pitcher-friend San Diego ballpark. That helps to suppress their salaries, even in Colorado. But the Padres have some exciting bats in their lineup, like Wil Myers ($3,400) in the OF position, Franchy Cordero ($3,300) likely leading off tonight, Freddy Galvis ($3,300) at short, and Carlos Asuaje ($3,000) at the 2B spot. Don’t forget Eric Hosmer ($3,500) hitting in the three-spot and Jose Pirela ($3,200) potentially hitting clean-up again tonight.
The Dodgers are mostly expensive tonight, but we think you can still afford a Cody Bellinger ($4,000) in your lineup. Also, Chris Taylor ($2,900) and Matt Kemp ($2,600) are very good value options in the outfield, and keep Kike Hernandez ($2,500) in mind in case he’s in the lineup tonight. Hernandez has quietly been hot lately.
FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup
There are plenty of solid pitching plays tonight, Kenta Maeda ($9,100) is one of them. But we think there’s better upside with Rick Porcell ($8,800) consistently providing over 40 FanDuel MLB points and Charlie Morton ($9,900) maintaining control at the plate with plenty of strikeouts for 50 to 60 point potential. Let everyone else play Shohei Ohtani ($9,000).
For bats, we’d love to play the Orioles and Rays, but a likely postponement hurts that possibility. Instead, we’re going to focus on a red-hot Padres lineup in Coors Field, paired with the Dodgers facing Dillon peters in Los Angeles. With that summary in mind, here’s a look at the sample lineup the Main FanDuel MLB slate on Tuesday, April 24th:
FanDuel MLB MAIN Slate Sample Lineup:
P Charlie Morton ($9,900)
C/1B Cody Bellinger ($4,000)
2B Carlos Asuaje ($3,000)
3B Kike Hernandez ($2,500)
SS Freddy Galvis ($3,300)
OF Chris Taylor ($2,900)
OF Wil Myers ($3,400)
OF Matt Kemp ($2,600)
UTIL Franchy Cordero ($3,300)
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.
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across MLB, NBA, NHL, and EPL this spring!