FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Saturday April 28

Welcome to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column. This is the Saturday, April 28th 2018 edition. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

We typically review the previous day’s FanDuel MLB slate, but in order to get an article out for the two biggest slates on Saturday, we needed to analyze the slates on Friday night. However, we can already tell you we swapped some of our Tiger plays out of the lineup last night, due to the incredibly cheap Xander Bogaerts ($2,000), who cam off the DL.

That swamp gave us a ton of salary back, while gaining Bogaerts offensive production. So we used the additional salary to grab Carlos Hernandez ($3,500) at the 2B sot and Odubel Herrera ($3,000) at the OF spot. For whatever reason, Herrera was only about 5% owned, and hit two home runs against Julio Teheran. The Phillies were one of the stacks we mentioned as a possibility for Friday, so hopefully some of you used him.

For FanDuel MLB on Saturday, April 28th (my birthday), we have a unique set of options. With games starting at 2:10pm ET, there is an all-day slate allowing you to play every team and a ‘Very Early Only’ slate which seems to be a newer approach, but only has three of the days games.

Then, we have our more familiar ‘Early Only’ and ‘Main’ slates, which we’re used to. With five games in the Early Only slate and eight game sin the Main slate, we will focus on each of those slates for this article.

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: Saturday’s weather appears to be outstanding for baseball across the country. There are no precipitation concerns, but there are some wind issues to consider. Wind will be blowing into the field, from the outfield, in San Francisco. But the wind appears to be blowing well out into right field for the Cubs game in Chicago and the Blue Jays game in Toronto. The Indians and Orioles could be hosting a similar situation, and focusing on lefty bats may be the way to go tomorrow. So, with weather-related considerations addressed, let’s get to the top pitching options…

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Early Only Slate

With five games in the Early Only slate, we only have ten pitchers to consider. Of the ten pitchers available in this slate, several are hot or big names in baseball right now. Patrick Corbin ($10,000) has been pitching well above expectations, averaging 51.8 FanDuel MLB points, with a low 0.67 WHIP and 48 K’s in just 33.1 innings.

But there are questions as to how Corbin can keep this up. He’s a great pitcher who’s currently pitching at an elite level. Also, the Nationals offense can handle left-handed pitchers. So playing Corbin is risky for that price. He’s worth a consideration, but we’re fading Corbin.

After a difficult start, Carlos Carrasco ($9,600) has been a steady hand on the mound, pitching one complete game and averaging well over seven innings per game in his last three outings. Carrasco is also averaging around seven strikeouts per game and has a very low 0.86 WHIP. The Mariners are a tough lineup, but Carrasco is a proven, nearly elite, talent on the mound is should be a better value on Saturday afternoon.

But, of all the options on the mound for us on Saturday, for the Early Only slate, we actually like David Price ($8,000) the most. Price is likely to fly under the radar on Saturday, with Corbin, Carrasco, Wood, and Cueto all starting as well.

But while Price has struggled to pile up K’s, he has a low 2.93 ERA and solid 1.19 WHIP. Also, David is getting the Rays Saturday afternoon, a team he’s handled well over the last couple of years, and he’s already put up over 40 FanDuel MLB points per game against the Rays in two starts. We’re fading the ‘Chalk’ and going with Price.

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

The Main slate on Saturday resembles the Early Only slate, but is more of a disaster. Masahiro Tanaka ($9,100) and Lance McCullers Jr. ($8,800) are the obvious top two pitchers staring on the mound for the slate. But we don’t like either play.

Tanaka is in Los Angeles pitching against a hot Angels offense. And McCullers has been wildly inconsistent this season, with only two very good starts, and a horrendous outing on April 11th against the Twins. The Athletics are a sneaky offense, and McCullers is getting one of the best WAR offenses in baseball right now. No thanks.

Joey Lucchesi ($8,400) is an interesting play in a pitcher-friendly PetCo part, but he gets the Mets who have a solidly productive lineup. Garrett Richards ($8,200) is off to a hot start, but he’s facing a tough Yankees lineup. And we’re not sold on either Andrew Cashner ($7,300) or Chris Stratton ($7,000) yet this season.

Cashner’s lower home run per nine is a decent reason to considering him, but his high WHIP scares us, and Stratton’s career numbers are underwhelming. This is no-where near how I expected to land at the pitcher position for the Main slate, but we actually like Trevor Williams ($7,100) as the best option, and he’s dirt-cheap.

In five starts, Williams has four quality starts and three wins. Those starts include against the Cubs in Wrigley, the Rockies, and in Philly against a very good Phils offense. Trevor is either letting hitters on the base-path with walks or hits, but he typically doesn’t do both in the same game, keeping his WHIP to a low 1.17 this season.

Williams also hasn’t given up more than two runs in any starting, and is averaging a modest four to seven K’s per game in his last four starts. The upside is limited here, but this is a solid 30 to 40 FanDuel MLB point play, leaving a ton of cash on the table for some big offensive plays.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Early Only Slate

The Early slate is less complicated for the offensive positions than the Main Slate, and it’s going to be easier to focus on true stacked bats with clear pitchers to target and less teams to consider. Before we get into the two pitchers we want to target for our stacks, one pitcher we do not want to target is Jeremy Hellickson.

Yes, of the Nationals starters Hellickson is the worst, but he’s a signficant upgrade from A.J. Cole and he’s been pitching well. Stacking a good Diamondbacks lineup isn’t a bad idea against most fifth-rotation starters, but you’re likely not going to get more than three or four runs from the DBacks in D.C.

So, who do we like? Jaime Garcia is pitching for the Blue Jays against the Rangers in Toronto and Mike Leake takes the mound for the Mariners in Cleveland against the Indians. Of all the offensive stacks for the Early only slate, we love the Indians match up against Leake the most. He’s carrying a 1.63 WHIP and 6.59 ERA into the game.

Yes, Leake had a quality start against the Indians in Seattle on April 1st. But in Cleveland, we’re expecting a different outcome. In his last outing, Leake gave up 12 hits and eight runs against against the White Sox in Chicago.

The Indians have more power than the Sox, and should be able to put up five-plus runs with guys like Francisco Lindor ($4,200), Jose Ramirez ($4,200), and Michael Brantley ($3,400). All three are heating up lately and are in a better position to crush Leake this time around.

Garcia’s pitching metrics aren’t as bad, but they’re also not great. Again, we have a pitcher who’s WHIP is around 1.5 and is giving up about four to five runs per game. 33-year-old Venezuelan veteran Robinson Chirinos ($2,700) should be back behind the plate this weekend, and his right-handed bat matches well against Garcia’s lefty arm.

Delino DeShields ($2,700) should top the order, and Nomar Mazara ($3,000) is a great early season play for DFS MLB optimal lineups. Isiah Kiner-Falefa ($2,800) has been making his way around the Rangers lineup this season, but likely bats in the top six and has been a great contact hitter.  And thanks to all of the value plays we’ve snagged so far, we can afford a guy like Hanley Ramirez ($3,900) in the utility spot.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

Well, the Main slate pitching was a mess, and so it the offensive stacking options. There are many tough offensive plays, which could go either way with the pitcher doing well or the offense exposing the pitcher. We’re going to do our best to grab the best plays, but we need to likely use a stack with multiple singular plays from other stacking targets.

We’ll start off with our favorite offensive play, stacking the White Sox against Eric Skoglund. In 14.2 innings pitched, Skoglund is getting has been giving up around a run per inning and more than a hit and walk per inning.

That bodes well for the hot White Sox bats in Kansas City, where we’ll grab Jose Abreu ($3,900), Yoan Moncada ($4,100), and Matt Davidson ($3,700). We have plenty of salary to play with, but to keep making big plays, we’ll also add Trayce Thomspon ($2,400) to our outfield.

We’re not sure what we’ll see from Jason Vargas and the Mets defense tomorrow, but grabbing a Padres bat seems like a worthy experiment in this start-studded (we’re getting there) lineup. So we’ll also add Jose Pirela ($2,600) in the outfield, and given Vargas’ recent history, the Padres are worth a stack consideration.

Also, going back to Kansas City, it may be worth stacking some of the Royals bats against whomever the White Sox end up starting on the mound. Abraham Almonte ($2,700), if in the Royals lineup, could be a great play as he’s in the middle of a five game hitting streak, with eight hits in the last five games.

Finally, we still have plenty of salary to play with, so stacking the Yankees, or using a mini-stack of the Yankees is an attractive option, even against Garrett Richards. With a 1.31 WHIP, we think Richards is pitching well above his ability so far this season, and expect the Yankees to expose that on Saturday night.

So we’re going to pay up for awesome bats like Didi Gregorius ($5,000), who’s been one of the best DFS MLB optimal lineup options this season. You should also consider Aaron Judge ($5,300) or Giancarlo Stanton ($4,800) in the outfield, but don’t forget about rookie Miguel Andujar ($3,500). He’s been a stud flying under many fantasy baseball player radars this season.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

There are some great pitchers on the mound on Saturday, but their value can be deceiving. Several of the top pitchers have showed some consistency issues, and have tough match ups today. So we’re actually grabbing value plays in both slates. David Price is our favorite option in the Early Only slate, and we like Trevor Williams, believe it or not, in the Main slate.

The cool thing about the pitcher picks, is that we have plenty of salary to play with for our offensive options. In the Early Only, we’re going to stack Indians and Rangers, and may play some Red Sox depending on the lineups. For the Main slate, we like several stacks, and while we’re likely going to have three to four White Sox in our lineup, it may include a combination of Yankees, Royals, and Padres.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at the sample lineups for Early Only and Main FanDuel MLB slates on Saturday, April 28th:

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

P          David Price ($8,000)                                       P            Trevor Williams ($7,100)

C/1B   Robinson Chirinos ($2,700)                         C/1B     Jose Abreu ($3,900)

2B       Isiah Kiner-Falefa ($2,800)                          2B         Yoan Moncada ($4,100)

3B       Jose Ramirez ($4,200)                                   3B         Matt Davidson ($3,700)

SS       Francisco Lindor ($4,200)                             SS          Didi Gregorius ($5,000)

OF       Michael Brantley ($3,400)                            OF         Jose Pirela ($2,600)

OF       Delino DeShields ($2,700)                            OF         Trayce Thompson ($2,400)

OF       Nomar Mazara ($3,000)                                OF  Abraham Almonte ($2,700) / Jon Jay ($2,600)

UTIL   Hanley Ramirez ($3,900)                               UTIL      Miguel Andujar ($3,500)

Remaining Salary: $100                                            Remaining Salary: $0 / $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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