FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Tuesday May 15

Welcome back to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column. This is the Tuesday, May 15th 2018 edition. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

Monday’s FanDuel MLB Main slate was rough. The Rays and Astros offenses were both oddly quiet against sub-par pitching. Many of the top pitchers, feel flat. While we weren’t high on Carlos Carrasco yesterday, we weren’t expecting him to only post 27 FanDuel MLB points. Still, our top option, Patrick Corbin, took a loss and only posted 30 points, the bottom of our targeted range.

Hopefully we can bounce back today with the vast majority of all MLB teams playing during the FanDuel MLB Main slate tonight. The only game we’re fading, by avoiding the All-Day slate, is the Padres hosting the Rockies in San Diego this afternoon.

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: There is a lot of weather-related activity on the eastern part of the U.S. today, and it will very likely have a big impact on DFS MLB optimal lineup outcomes. The Yankees are playing the Nationals in Washington, D.C. and the Phillies play the Orioles in Baltimore, MD.

These locations each saw heavy rain and thunderstorm activity last night, and supposedly will see similar results tonight. If that’s the case, we can plan on each game being postponed. Fade all four teams tonight!

Also, the Mets are hosting the Blues Jays and Athletics are in Boston playing the Red Sox. All four of these teams have some shower and thunderstorm risk as well. However, the timing and impact may not be as great. So they’re more likely to see a delay versus a postponement. However, PPD is a possibility as well, still. Finally, the Cubs and Braves also at least have some delay risk tonight.

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

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

The top two pitching plays tonight are obvious. Since being traded to the Astros last season, Gerrit Cole ($11,800) seems to be pitching at a higher-gear, or at least with more confidence. The right-handed former Pirates pitching prospect has always had great ‘stuff’, but he clearly has more confidence on the mound in Houston.

Tonight, Cole trots his insane 2.24 xFIP to the mound against the Angles, in Anaheim. I love Cole every time he’s on the mound this season, but he is quite pricey and has a tougher match up tonight. Still, he’s essentially a 40 to 50 FanDuel MLB point lock, with great upside than any other pitcher on the sale.

The only other pitcher who could challenge Cole’s upside is Noah Syndergaard ($10,000). Thor has struggled with his control at times over the last couple of weeks, but his match up against the Blue Jays in Citi Field is ideal. You’re also saving $1,800 by picking Syndergaard over Cole. But there’s also risk of this game playing on time, which could impact Noah’s performance. I also have some minor postponement worries.

Gio Gonzalez ($8,900) and Masahiro Tanaka ($8,300) are both facing hot offenses, and the game is likely cancelled tonight so they’re an immediate fade. In stead of digging deeper into the risk pool of cheaper pitchers, we really like Zack Greinke ($9,500) against the Brewers tonight.

In fact, given the price, Greinke is probably the best pick for GPP or Cash games. In eight starts this season, Greinke is averaging just under seven strikeouts per game and has pitched six or more innings in five of his eight games.

Zack has a good 27.2% K rate, which pairs well with the Brewers awful 24.6% K-rate against right handed pitchers this season. In fact, the Brewers have the fifth worst K-rate against RHP’s, similar to the Blue Jays. Because of the value, we love Greinke tonight. In fact, we’d rather go with value picks on offense and grab Cole for GPP, and stick with Greinke and get bigger bats in cash plays.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

When we looked at the advanced metrics for starting pitchers tonight, those starters with a 4.00 or great xFIP had red-flags scattered all over their stats. Chen Wei-Yen doesn’t stick out as an offensive stacking target just because of his ridiculously horrendous 7.56 xFIP. What’s better is the 4.38 home runs per nine innings and 1.95 WHIP.

Chen is also walking batters (13%) at a higher rate than fanning them (10%). So, for that reason, we absolutely have to believe the Dodgers bats come alive tonight. If you’ve been following this column each week, you’re likely rolling your eyes. We’ve been waiting for the Dodgers bats to come alive for weeks, with marginal results. But all advance metrics scream positive regression and this is by-far the best match up for any offense tonight.

In a similar spot, are the Tigers against Josh Tomlin and the Indians. The problem with the Tigers lineup is they are missing several key hitters due to injures. However, the Tigers still have some solid hitting from guys like John Hicks ($2,700) and are sporting incredible value, like the Dodgers, tonight.

But because the Dodgers and Tigers offenses have been struggling, we’ll likely use both teams for mini (two or three player) stacks, and grab some more expensive plays from the Indians or Mariners offenses.

Fancisco Liriano is pitching a solid season for the Tigers, but someone like Jose Ramirez ($4,500) has been a regular in recent DFS MLB optimal lineups. For the Mariners, they have Mike Minor to contend with on the mound for the Rangers. While Minor has a solid 1.2 WHIP, he’s given up four to five runs per game, and his home run per nine is climbing toward the 1.5 mark.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

For the offensive side of the lineup, we going to stack the Dodgers and Tigers, utilizing their value against horrendous pitching to start each game. But with so much value, we could use each in mini-stacks (two or three players per game), and grab someone like Jose Ramirez from the Indians and Jean Segura‘s ($3,700) hot bat from the Mariners.

For pitching, Gerrit Cole is an obvious top play as he’s currently having a Cy Young type of season in the first two months of the year. But Cole is expansive. While Syndergaard is likely the next best option, there are weather-related risks with Thor, and we’d prefer to grab the better value from Zack Greinke against the poor-hitting Brewers against righties this season.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the Main FanDuel MLB slate on Tuesday, May 15th:

FanDuel MLB MAIN Slate Sample Lineup:

P            Zack Greinke ($9,500)

C/1B     John Hicks ($2,700)

2B         Dixon Machado ($2,400)

3B         Jose Ramirez ($4,500)

SS         Chris Taylor ($3,600)

OF         Matt Kemp ($3,400)

OF         Joc Pederson ($2,600)

OF         Yasiel Puig ($2,500)

UTIL     Jean Segura ($3,700)

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.

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!