MLB FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Monday, May 21

Yankees at Rangers

Yankees Probable Starter – Masahiro Tanaka, RHP

4.73 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 22.5 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .231 average, .272 wOBA, 33.9 fly ball rate and 25.4 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .229 average, .322 wOBA, 37.6 fly ball rate and 37.2 hard contact rate

I can’t quite figure out what to do with this spot for either side. For Tanaka, he does draw a Texas team that strikes out in the top 10 in MLB. That’s always something we can attack but the issue here is Tanaka just flat out isn’t pitching well. Texas is a great hitters park as well and things could go south for Tanaka in a hurry. Tanaka doesn’t see a major split in the handedness but he does strikeout lefties at a little bit of a lower clip. Either side of this game is tournament only and if you side with the Rangers, I’d want the upside players like Joey Gallo or Nomar Mazara.

Rangers Hitters to Target 

Elite Options – None

Secondary Options – Nomar Mazara, Shin-soo Choo, Joey Gallo

Rangers Probable Starter – Bartolo Colon, RHP

2.82 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and 16.6 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .208 average, .250 wOBA, 30.8 fly ball rate and 40.0 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .207 average, .276 wOBA, 31.9 fly ball rate and 44.0 hard contact rate

I flat out don’t understand how Colon is still getting it done this close to his 45th birthday. He’s throwing his fastball almost 90 percent of the time and the hitter that matches up with hitting fastballs well and have a high wOBA against righties is Aaron Judge. Giancarlo Stanton is the best hitter against fastballs but also way down the list in wOBA against righties. This is a spot that even though Colon has been good in real life, the Yankees should knock him around like a piñata. Many stacks against “Big Sexy” Bartolo have flamed out this season. I don’t think that’s the case tonight.

Yankee Hitters to Target 

Elite Options – Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres

Secondary Options – Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, Tyler Austin

Tigers at Twins

Tigers Probable Starter – Blaine Hardy, LHP

3.38 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and 19.4 strikeout rate

I’m skipping the splits for Hardy as well because the sample size is so small, it could skew what we want to do tonight. Hardy is not in consideration for any format because it appears the best case scenario for him is five innings pitched. Since it’s so limited, we’ll stick to the Twins bats that hit lefties well. Max Kepler might be a lefty hitter but he leads Twins regulars in wOBA against left handed pitching. He’s also just $2,700 which is a great price. Not far behind him is Eduardo Escobar. It’s going to be tempting to not play Brian Dozier tonight since he’s down at $3,600. Maybe it’s a better tournament play than cash play.

Twins Hitters to Target 

Elite Options – Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario, Eduardo Escobar

Secondary Options – Brian Dozier

Twins Probable Starter – Jose Berrios, RHP

4.05 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 23.5 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .213 average, .283 wOBA, 37.1 fly ball rate and 24.7 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .200 average, .260 wOBA, 36.8 fly ball rate and 30.3 hard contact rate

The last four starts for Berrios have resulted in -3, 18, 7 and 59 FanDuel points. There’s just no way to tell what you’re going to get with Berrios any given and that makes him a hands off in cash games. He’s definitely a great tournament option since the Tigers offense is just not that good. They don’t have the highest strikeout rate against righties but I can’t bring myslef to roster Detroit hitters against Berrios. It seems like a spot to fade this side of the game and just pretend it doesn’t exist when building a lineup.

Tigers Hitters to Target 

Elite Options – Nicholas Castellanos

Secondary Options – Leonys Martin

Home Run Pick – Max Kepler