FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Thursday, May 3

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 01: Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on May 1, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Atlanta Braves defeated the New York Mets 3-2. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

4 of 6

CHICAGO – APRIL 22: Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros pitches against the Chicago White Sox on April 22, 2018 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Lance McCullers /

Yankees at Astros

Yankees Probable Starter – Masahiro Tanaka, RHP

4.37 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 9.51 K/9

Vs LHH – .171 average, .206 wOBA and 27.3 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .237 average, .354 wOBA and 43.1 hard contact rate

We’ve largely stayed away from this series and I think that might be the case again today. Tanaka can be a really good pitcher but he can also get lit up in a hurry. When he’s off his game, the balls tend to fly out of the yard. So far this year, it’s been the righties that have been doing the damage against Tanaka. The HR/FB ratio is spiked at over 28 percent in 2018 and it’s tempting to line up some Astros hitters against him today. Really, how often are the Astros going to not score any runs? They have to break out a little bit, right? Usually the Astros offense are excellent cash plays but they might be better suited for GPPs. It might be a day where you maybe play the elite bats if you want to and that’s about it.

Astros Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa

Secondary Options – George Springer

Astros Probable Starter – Lance McCullers, RHP

3.71 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 11.65 K/9

Vs LHH – .175 average, .282 wOBA and 31.6 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .290 average, .325 wOBA and 34.9 hard contact rate

McCullers is kind of in the same boat as Tanaka. He’s carrying reverse splits but these ones are a bit more indicative of what has been his career numbers. McCullers isn’t the type of pitcher that has a ton of consistency from start to start. He’s got an injury history that can leave some of his starts a little short. He can dominate any offense when he’s rolling, including the Yankees. For what it’s worth, the Yankees as team rank sixth against the curveball since the start of 2017. That’s the pitch that McCullers leans on the most at 49.2 percent this season. Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton are all in the top 20 in baseball in the same time frame. This isn’t going to be a walk in the park for McCullers.

Yankee Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton in GPP’s, secondary in cash

Secondary Options – Gary Sanchez, Aaron Hicks

Home Run Pick – Aaron Judge