FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Saturday, May 26

Cardinals at Pirates

Cardinals Probable Starter – Jack Flaherty, RHP

2.31 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 30.3 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .200 average, .233 wOBA, 35.7 fly ball rate and 50.0 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .214 average, .274 wOBA, 51.9 fly ball rate and 37.0 hard contact rate

Flaherty is one of the other pitchers that I’m interested in today. It’s just as risky as Nola in my opinion because the Pirates offense rates well against right handed pitching. It also has the tendency to score a lot of runs or very few in any given game. Flaherty is coming off a massive game against Philly. He’s also almost a full $2,000 cheaper than Nola. With so many offenses in good spots this afternoon, that extra salary could come in handy. I might wind up chasing the righty hitters form Pittsburgh but I think I’d side with the young gun from St. Louis in this matchup.  He’s already faced the Buccos once and the results weren’t very good for him. Today is a different day.

Pirates Hittes to Target

Elite Options – None

Secondary Options – Austin Meadow, Josh Harrison, Corey Dickerson, Francisco Cervelli

Pirates Probable Starter – Trevor Williams, RHP

3.05 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 17.1 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .226 average, .276 wOBA, 38.2 fly ball rate and 20.9 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .188 average, .278 wOBA, 43.8 fly ball rate and 33.7 hard contact rate

Williams is a fine real-life pitcher, but he’s not as worthwhile in fantasy baseball. The slate isn’t filled with great options but I’d rather find the extra $800 for Flaherty in the same game. St. Louis has a bunch of righties and the only right handed hitter I’d be happy with today is Tommy Pham but that’s accurate everyday. It’s a tough task to try and pick one-off players for this game. Both pitchers are in play with Flaherty being the far better option of the two. The Cardinals offense is the better stacking option of the two but neither are the most attractive on the slate.

Cardinals Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Tommy Pham

Secondary Options – Tyler O’Neil, Marcell Ozuna

Home Run Pick – Tyler O’Neil

Nationals at Marlins

Nationals Probable Starter – Tanner Roark, RHP

3.39 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 22.8 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .235 average, .316 wOBA, 34.5 fly ball rate and 30.9 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .156 average, .224 wOBA, 40.5 fly ball rate and 27.0 hard contact rate

I’m still not ready to talk to Max Scherzer after what he did to me and a lot of other players yesterday. Roark is a steady Eddie as far as a pitcher goes. He’s almost a sure thing to get around 30 points and that could legitimately threaten to lead all pitchers on the slate. Roark is in a weird price range but is in a solid matchup. Last night was more of a fluke than anything else. I hate trying to pick Marlins hitters out of the bunch under a lot of circumstances. This is one of those times and It’s Roark or nobody else from this side of the game.

Marlins Hitters to Target 

Elite Options – None

Secondary Options – J.T. Realmuto, Justin Bour

Marlins Probable Starter – Wei-Yen Chen, RHP

6.55 ERA, 1.64 WHIP and 13.9 strikeout rate

Vs LHH – .261 average, .348 wOBA, 50.0 fly ball rate and 31.3 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .277 average, .423 wOBA, 57.4 fly ball rate and 34.5 hard contact rate

It’s not been a good start of the season for Chen. He’s only got five starts under his belt and basically none of them have gone well. The Nationals are in a solid spot for sure and I don’t think we have to be picky about which type of hitters we want to chase. Bryce Harper and Trea Turner lead the charge tonight as the best options but they are obviously expensive. Matt Adams is also pricey coming off of two big games but he was fairly quiet before this games. It’s going to be tough to figure out where the Nationals offense falls in the hierarchy  of offenses I want a piece of today.

Nationals Hitters to Target 

Elite Options – Bryce Harper, Trea Turner

Secondary Options – Anthony Rendon, Matt Adams, Mark Reynolds, Juan Soto

Home Run Pick – Mark Reynolds