FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Wednesday, May 23
Welcome into the Wednesday edition of the FanDuel daily fantasy baseball column! We have a 10-game slate tonight so let’s get moving!
Last night was a serious sweat and it looked like we weren’t going to make it for a very long portion of the night. Chris Sale was mega chalk, which surprised me a little bit. Sale is an insanely good pitcher but Gerrit Cole was only $300 more and has been better for fantasy this season. It looked like the Sale chalk would be our undoing until a late Austin Meadows home run helped set us just inside the cash lines.
As soon as Cole got the bonus for the win, we were safely in. That makes five slates in a row now, even though our streak of 160+ points came to an end. I’ll take a win however it comes so let’s go get number six tonight!
Yankees at Rangers
Yankees Probable Starter – C.C. Sabathia, LHP
2.40 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 19.1 strikeout rate
Vs LHH – .138 average, .209 wOBA, 38.9 fly ball rate and 16.7 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .241 average, .296 wOBA, 37.8 fly ball rate and 31.5 hard contact rate
Tonight represents an interesting spot for Sabathia. I usually don’t even give him a second glance because the strikeout rate is mediocre and I just don’t believe he’s as good as his metrics show this year. Still, the Rangers rank first in baseball in strikeout rate against lefties. If Sabathia can get by Delino DeShields and Jurickson Profar, no other regular has a wOBA of .350 against left handed pitching. DeShields is a great play at just $2,700. Sabathia himself is a tournament play but nothing more.
Rangers Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Delino DeShields, Jurickson Profar
Secondary Options – Nomar Mazara
Rangers Probable Starter – Doug Fister, RHP
3.43 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 17.1 strikeout rate
Vs LHH – .204 average, .283 wOBA, 28.2 fly ball rate and 43.7 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .329 average, .395 wOBA, 20.3 fly ball rate and 30.4 hard contact rate
Fister has been actually pretty productive so far this season and I’m not sure how much exposure I’ll have to the Yankee offense tonight. They can make any pitcher look like a chump but groundball pitchers always have the ability to frustrate an offense. Since Fister is a reverse splits pitcher, I’m only looking towards the righties for New York tonight. They are expensive but if you go that route it’s players like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres. Even Aaron Hicks is up to $3,700 which makes it difficult to play a ton of Yankee hitters tonight.
Yankees Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez
Secondary Options – Gleyber Torres, Aaron Hicks
Home Run Pick – Delino DeShields