FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Sunday, May 20

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – APRIL 27: Aaron Nola #27 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on April 27, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Phillies at Cardinals

Phillies Probable Starter – Aaron Nola, RHP

1.99 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 23.0 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .241 average, .266 wOBA, 24.7 fly ball rate and 16.3 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .190 average, ..227 wOBA, 31.7 fly ball rate and 30.8 hard contact rate

If you don’t want to pay for Strasburg or Syndergaard, Nola is the clear other option as far as high end pitching. He’s the cheapest of the three, which is great. He also has a fantastic matchup based off what type of lineup St. Louis might use. Their main lineup features two lefties and a switch hitter, none of which are scary at all. Nola also has a 32.0 strikeout rate against righty hitters. With six of them in the lineup, Nola does have some serious ceiling today. I won’t be playing any Cardinals virtually at all today.

Cardinals Hitters to Target

Elite Options – None

Secondary Options – Tommy Pham

Cardinals Probable Starter – Jack Flaherty, RHP

2.87 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 22.2 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .250 average, .273 wOBA, 32.0 fly ball rate and 56.0 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .280 average, .337 wOBA, 44.0 fly ball rate and 38.9 hard contact rate

A young pitcher with some serious potential at home is someone we want to at least consider for tournaments. You could even point to Philly’s strikeout rate against righty pitching and say that Flaherty is cash viable but I wouldn’t go quite that far. He’s yet to hit six innings pitched and the only good game he’s posted came against Milwaukee. Philly is around league average in a lot of metrics against righties and if you want Philly bats, one-off plays make the most sense in cash settings. I would likely only target Rhys Hoskins and then maybe Odubel Herrera. This side of the game is mostly a fade for me I believe.

Phillies Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Rhys Hoskins

Secondary Options – Odubel Herrera

Home Run Pick – Maikel Franco

Yankees at Royals

Yankee Probable Starter – Sonny Gray, RHP

6.39 ERA, 1.84 WHIP and 17.2 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .256 average, .325 wOBA, 32.3 fly ball rate and 37.5 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .317 average, .406 wOBA, 33.8 fly ball rate and 35.4 hard contact rate

If there’s a game to full on stack, this one could be it. I actually think my GPP lineup might feature this game heavily as neither starting pitcher is all that great and both offenses could smash today. Gray just has not found his game this year and he’s displayed reverse splits. I still think lefty Mike Moustakas is a fine play but I’m gravitating towards Whit Merrifield and Jorge Soler. Merrifiled has been white hot and hasn’t taken a zero since April 28. That’s over three weeks, which is fantastic. Soler likely has the higher ceiling as he has much more raw power than Merrfield. Finding room for all the offense today is going to be no mean feat. One way to save money is by using Salvador Perez at just $2,800.

Royals Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Whit Merrifield, Salvador Perez

Secondary Options – Jorge Soler, Mike Moustakas

Royals Probable Starter – Eric Skoglund, LHP

5.58 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 18.9 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .200 average, .359 wOBA, 53.3 fly ball rate and 43.8 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .267 average, .319 wOBA, 32.1 fly ball rate and 43.9 hard contact rate

You could just stack up any Yankee bat you want and I wouldn’t try to talk you out of it. What’s weird is that Skoglund actually is a little unlucky by some measures. His SIERA is 4.29 which is a massive difference between his ERA. The average against isn’t as bad as I expected although the fly balls and hard contact have to have New York licking their chops. It’s a coin flip to me over who is the top overall hitter on the slate between Ozzie Albies and Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankee slugger has a much higher wOBA against lefties and his OPS is 1.635. He hit a homer last night and I’m ready to go right back to the well. Gary Sanchez had a monster game last night and is second on the team in wOBA against lefties.

Yankees Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres

Secondary Options – Aaron Hicks

Home Run Pick – Salvador Perez, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez