FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Wednesday May 9

Welcome back to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column for Wednesday, May 9th 2018. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

Our favorite cash game play for FanDuel MLB last night was James Paxton ($9,500). I’m not going to brag about picking a no-hitter for your DFS MLB optimal lineups. Because we weren’t expecting that.

We simply noticed Paxton appeared to be re-emerging back into his incredible form we saw last season. Also, James was averaging over ten K’s per game lately. So Paxton seemed like a great value, even at $9.5K. Then, he became the first Canadian to throw a no-hitter in Canada. So we started our lineup off with a 58 FanDuel MLB point result from our pitcher pick. Not bad!

For the offensive stacks, the Reds were our top pick of the night and they worked out nicely. While Joey Votto only gave us 9.2 FanDuel MLB points, admittedly not a great value, we did get 22.4 points from Scooter Gennett and an awesome 32.4 points from Eugenio Suarez.

The Rangers stack wasn’t as great as we hoped, but Jurickson Profar ($2,500) was a great value with 18.7 FanDuel MLB points from a solo home run against the Tigers in Arlington, TX. Also, we were hoping for Mark Trumbo‘s first bomb of the season, and were disappointed. However, Trumbo continued his solid hitting with a run on two singles. Trumbo is a value play we continue to consider moving forward.

With games throughout the day on Wednesday, FanDuel MLB has an All-Day, Early Only, and Main slate set of options. Unfortunately, the Marlins, Cubs, Angels, Rockies, Astros, and A’s are only played within the All-Day option. We typically do not like playing that option as it’s difficult to nail down lineups so early in the day. So, we’re going to fade great plays like the Angels, Rockies, and Astros and focus only on the Early Only and Main slates 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: For the most part, weather is once again fantastic for baseball across the country. However, there are some minor concerns. With a slight chance of showers or thunderstorms, we do have minor delay concerns in Chicago with could impact the Pirates, White Sox, Cubs, and Marlins.

But we think the delay odds are low. Although, both stadiums will see strong winds moving from home play beyond the left field wall. So we could see a few right-handers pop the ball over the fence with the help of the wind. Other than that, weather shouldn’t have much of an impact on play today.

So, with weather-related considerations addressed, let’s get to the top pitching options…

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Early Only Slate

When I woke up this morning, plugging Big Sexy into my Early Only FanDuel MLB lineup wasn’t what I’d imagine I’d do today. But, here we are. So how did we land at putting Bartolo Colon ($6,400) into our lineup?

Carlos Carrasco ($9,500) or Junior Guerra ($8,000) appear to be the best options, on the surface, for today’s slate. They’re each the only two pitchers with over 20% K-rates. However, at only around 22%, they’re not much more impressive than the other starting pitchers for this slate.

Guerra has a 10.7% walk rate, which is red flag. Guerra’s 0.67 home runs per nine innings and 1.15 WHIP are impressive, but his .243 BABIP is near the bottom of the starting pitchers this afternoon. We’ll talk about Zack Wheeler and Sal Romano later, but immediately scratch them off your list for pitcher picks.

Trevor Williams ($7,100) and Reynaldo Lopez ($7,300) have low ERA’s, WHIP, and home run rates, but their walk rates are horrendous and they’re both streaky pitchers. We could see a solid game from either of them, but they both risk coming out of the game too early as well.

Francisco Liriano ($7,800) has a solid home run rate and WHIP as well, but again walks and total innings pitched are a concern. So, we’re back to Carrasco or Colon. Believe it or not, Colon actually has the best xFIP of this slate, with a 3.68 or just better than Carlos’ 3.79. With a 1.88 home run per nine inning rate, how could Colon have such a good xFIP?

Well, he has a 17.4% K-rate along with a very low 2.1% walk rate. Bartolo is the only starting pitcher on the mound for this slate with a sub-1.00 WHIP (0.83) and Colon has a tremendous 0.196 BABIP.  Colon struggled to go long in games earlier in the same, but he’s pitched six or seven innings in each of his last three starts.

Also, the Tigers are a K-high offense, improving Colon’s strikeout results. So of all the starting pitchers for the Early Only  slate, Colon actually has the best chance to exceed 40 FanDuel MLB points, and he’s one of the cheapest options. As we’ll see later, this also creates a fantastic offensive stacking situation.

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

The Main FanDuel MLB slate isn’t a ‘Big Sexy’ as the Early Only slate. There are many obvious pitching plays. But that also presents many challenges. Picking the wrong top starting pitcher could making winning even cash games difficult unless you landed two great offensive stacks. That being said, we do think you could probably grab at least four pitchers who are very likely to land above 40 FanDuel MLB points.

We’re going to get right to the top pick of the slate, because we think it’s very obvious. Patrick Corbin ($10,000) is the most expensive pitcher for a reason. Don’t be scared by the Dodgers offense, it’s not the same as last season (right now).

Corbin has already seen this Dodgers lineup twice this season, with little struggle. In 13.1 innings, Patrick piled up 17 K’s against the Dodgers already. And Corbin has the best metrics, including xFIP, of any pitcher starting on the mound tonight.

If you can’t find a way to pay up for Corbin, you still have plenty of options. Rick Porcello ($9,400) is only $600 cheaper than Corbin, but he’s also been rock-solid all season and handled the Yankees once already this season. Even in the Bronx, we like Rick as a cheaper Corbin-like pick.

But if you need another $1,000 back for offensive plays, and you can stomach some walks from your starting pitcher, Gio Gonzalez ($9,000) is literally pitching in a great spot tonight. The Nats are in pitcher-friendly PetCo Park yet again tonight, and Gonzalez appears to not have missed a beat from his great performance last season.

We’re very likely to get five to seven innings from Gio tonight, we should see five to eight K’s, and he should earn another win with only two or less runs given up. If he can last at least six innings, we can add quality start points as well, and we now have a 40 to 50 FanDuel MLB point result.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Early Only Slate

Well, we saved tons of salary with a Big Sexy pitcher pick for the Early Only slate. So regardless of the lineup, we can target some of the best hitters in our stacks. That’s exciting, considering the offensive onslaught we continue to see in Cincinnati, and the Reds are staying in town with the Mets again this early afternoon.

The Mets starter Zack Wheeler and Reds starter Sal Romano are the only two starting pitchers who have a high home run per nine innings rate AND a very high WHIP. It’s likely multiple Reds and Mets hitters will have a home run this afternoon, and we should see a combined 12 or more runs again today.

With that in mind, we love stacking Joey Votto ($4,100) with Eugenio Suarez ($4,300) from the Reds lineup, while also adding Scott Schebler ($2,900) hitting in the fifth spot today. From the Mets, we have plenty of money for Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,900) at the 2B spot, along with Jay Bruce ($3,400) hitting cleanup and playing in the OF. We even think Michael Conforto‘s ($3,500) bat stays hot today.

With the addition of a value pick like Amed Rosario ($2,500), we now have plenty of money to add another $4,000-range bat in the Utility spot as well. We’ll get to our favorite option there later.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

While Corbin, Porcello, and Gonzalez each suck up a decent amount of our salary for the Main Slate lineup, the top offensive stacking options are fortunately quite affordable. Looking at all of the starting pitchers on the mound tonight, one jumped out immediately as a great offensive target tonight.

The Orioles likely thought they were getting a ground-ball pitcher from Andrew Cashner when they signed him this off-season. Cashner has always struggled with a high WHIP, and his 1.53 WHIP this season is concerning. But Andrew is also giving up over two home runs per nine innings, one of the worst rates of all starting pitchers in this slate.

So with Cashner on the mound in Baltimore tonight, we love the idea of stacking an affordable set of Royals bats. With the value from a lower lineup pick like Alcides Escobar ($2,400) at shortstop, and red-hot Alex Gordon ($2,700) in the outfield, it’s easy to afford Salvador Perez ($3,200) likely hitting cleanup and in the catcher’s spot, along with Mike Moustakas ($3,900) at the 3B position.

For a second stacking option, Jaime Garcia‘s 6.00 ERA and 1.57 WHIP also jump out as a great offensive target. Garcia has a decent 23.9% K-rate, but he’s been unable to control home runs off his fast ball, giving up nearly three per game.

That bodes well for some sluggers from the Mariners lineup like Mitch Haniger ($3,900), who’s already hit ten bombs this season. In this situation, even Robinson Cano ($3,600) is fairly affordable, and if someone like Guillermo Heredia ($2,300) is in the lineup, we still have plenty of cash left for a random Utility pick along with these two stacks.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

Before we recap each set of lineup picks, we wanted to highlight and old and new utility spot top pick we like right now. We’ve been all over Corey Dickerson‘s ($3,900) duel-threat value this season, and he caught fire in mid-April Dickerson has another solid pitching match up today, and we can afford him in our Early Only lineups.

Also, as we mentioned yesterday, Mark Trumbo ($2,800) has been ripping the baseball since returning from the DL, and we’re expecting Trumbo to hit some bombs soon, again likely against Eric Skoglund.

Again, we love Big Sexy  Bartolo Colon in the Early Only slate, and either Patrick Corbin, Rick Porcello, or Gio Gonzalez in the pitcher spot for the Main slate. For offensive stacks, we love the Reds and Mets in the Earl only slate, and we’re targeting the Royals and Mariners bats for the Main slate. Dickerson and Trumbo is the cheery of top of each of the lineups, which we think should do well today.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at sample lineups for Early Only and Main FanDuel MLB slates on Wednesday, May 8th:

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

P          Bartolo Colon ($6,400)                                         P            Patrick Corbin ($10,000)

C/1B   Joey Votto ($4,100)                                               C/1B     Salvador Perez ($3,200)

2B       Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,900)                                  2B         Robinson Cano ($3,600)

3B       Eugenio Suarez ($4,300)                                     3B          Mike Moustakas ($3,900)

SS       Amed Rosario ($2,500)                                        SS           Alcides Escobar ($2,400)

OF      Jay Bruce ($3,400)                                                  OF          Alex Gordon ($2,700)

OF      Michael Conforto ($3,500)                                   OF          Guillermo Heredia ($2,300)

OF      Scott Schebler ($2,900)                                        OF          Mitch Haniger ($3,900)

UTIL   Corey Dickerson ($3,900)                                    UTIL       Mark Trumbo ($2,800)

Remaining Salary: $100                                                  Remaining Salary: $200

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.

Next: MLB DFS Picks and Pivots

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!