FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Friday June 1

Welcome back to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column. This is the Friday, June 1st edition. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

We nailed some things yesterday, and missed on some risky plays. We thought Clayton Kershaw  could go more than five innings, with Dodgers management seeming confident he was healthy again without a rehab start. But he only lasted five, and gave us a low 27 FanDuel MLB point return.

However, a couple of things we got right were on the offensive side, and weather-related. Earlier in the day, we noticed the possibility of storms and heavy rain impacting the Orioles and Yankees game in Baltimore. We really wanted to stack the Yankees, but realized it was likely better to fade them. The game was postponed, headache avoided.

But we also got some slack for the Padres play against Wei-Yin Chen, who’s looked better in his last couple of outings. But the Padres bats have been swinging well in San Diego lately, and Chen is giving up over two home runs per nine, so we played the odds and won.

The Padres piled up eight runs and Christian Villanueva gave us over 28 FanDuel MLB points including a home run. We also like the Mariners against Mike Minor and the Rangers. Jean Segura continues to be dirt cheap ($3,300) for someone consistently putting up over 20 FanDuel MLB points per game.

There are some great offensive stacks again today. In fact, there are so many options it’s likely going to overwhelm FanDuel MLB players. However, we think we can narrow down the stacking to a popular expensive option and unpopular affordable option. From there, we need to do better with our pitcher pick tonight.

Before we get there, a reminder to never take DFS MLB optimal lineups 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: While there’s still some rain and storm chances in the Baltimore and Atlanta area’s, it currently looks like both should be clear to play during each game. Also, any delay tonight should be more brief than the risks we had last night. So, green light to play all lineups tonight!

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

 FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

The list of pitcher options today is awesome. However, many of the top pitchers in this slate, and really for the season so far, are facing each other. For example, Gerrit Cole ($11,400) is one of the best DFS MLB pitchers of the season. But Cole is facing one of the better lineups in baseball, the Red Sox, who also happen to have Chris Sale ($11,000) starting for them.

Playing either Cole or Sale is quite risky. Both have a solid chance of missing the win points, and they each face top ten offenses. Also, there are too many other great pitchers to consider tonight. Stephen Strasburg ($10,300) is a solid second-tier consideration, but he’s expensive considering he’s facing a decent offense in a hitter-friendly park on a humid night.

Carlos Carrasco ($9,400) and Jose Berrios ($9,100) have the same problem as Cole and Sale. Both are great pitchers in most situations, but they’re facing each other tonight, and they each have great offensive lineups supporting them.

Mike Foltynewicz ($8,600) is facing Strasburg, and Miles Mikolas ($8,800) and Jameson Taillon ($7,900) also face each in other what appears to be more like a 20 to 30 FanDuel MLB point result for each of them.

Alex Wood ($7,400) is listed as the Dodgers starter on FanDuel, but he’s not starting. So at this point, I’m starting to wonder if I need to go with value again tonight, which is not a strategy I’ve enjoyed this week. But, that’s when I realized I accidentally skipped over a fantastic option.

Nick Pivetta ($8,200) is a popular fantasy baseball name in the underbelly of the fantasy sports world. But the word is starting to get out, he’s good. In his last four starts, against the Giants, Orioles, Braves, and Blue Jays, Pivetta fanned at least seven batters, and piled up eleven K’s against the O’s.

Nick has a very good 3.2 xFIP, fourth among all starting pitchers tonight. And that is a very strong list of starting pitchers. Also, for the season, Pivetta has a 28.8% K-rate, low 6% walk rate, 0.78 home runs/9 innings, and a very solid 1.09 WHIP.

Tonight, Nick is pitching in San Francisco against a Giants team with a 24.9% K-rate against RHP’s. That is the sixth highest in baseball. So, we have our slam-dunk pick at pitcher tonight. He may not grab the ceiling level from Cole, Strasburg, Sale, and others, but he’s a safe bet at 40 to 50 FanDuel MLB points, with a shot at 60.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

After going through the litany of very good pitchers facing very good offenses, it may almost seem impossible to find some really good offensive stacks. But there’s one stack that sticks out like sore thumb, the Yankees.

They’re likely going to be chalky. But with every team playing tonight, and several other tempting stacks like the Rockies in Coors Field, the Yankees could be overlooked by some. Also, it may not be immediately obvious to some players, but the Orioles plan to start Andrew Cashner, again, tonight after last night’s postponement.

Cashner pitching to the Yankees in a humid Baltimore stadium is exactly why we loved the Yankees so much yesterday. But tonight, the weather odds are significantly better. Even better, it appears their salaries dropped since yesterday!

Aaron Judge ($4,800) and Giancarlo Stanton ($4,500) are must-haves in our lineups tonight. Pivetta wasn’t too expensive, and we have some value plays from the Yankees and our other lineup. We’ll probably play Gleyber Torres ($3,900) even though he’s expensive, but Greg Bird ($2,700) is the big value of the night, likely hitting in-between Judge and Stanton.

Our next move is to find a lower-owned value stack to play with the Yankees, who are likely heavily owned. Like yesterday, we love the Padres again, who we think will be significantly overlooked yet again.

The Padres are hosting the Reds in PetCo Park, which is typically pitcher-friendly. Fortunately, the Reds have very few decent starting pitchers, and Tyler Mahle is also giving up a lot of home runs (1.99) per nine innings.

Christian Villanueva ($3,100), who hit a bomb last night, is an awesome value play at 3B. Also, Hunter Renfroe ($2,400) has been hitting cleanup, and is 4-for-8 since returning from the disabled list. He may not pile up a lot of points, but Freddy Galvis ($2,500) is a cheap play giving up four to eight points while maintaining affordability.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

Before we jump into the summary, another one-off play we like tonight is Yolmer Sanchez ($2,900) against Chase Anderson and the Brewers. After a solid 2017 season, Anderson has struggled in 2018.

Chase is giving up 2.18 home runs per nine innings, and has one of the worst xFIP’s of all starters today. So the White Sox are even in play for a stack. But we like Sanchez the most, because his bat has been hot lately, and he’s not hitting second in the White Sox lineup.

With Sanchez in our lineup, we’re stacking four of our best Yankees, along with two to three Padres for offense. We’ve scanned all of the pitcher options which includes tons of eye candy today. But we love Pivetta more than any other pitcher tonight.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the MAIN FanDuel MLB slate on Friday, June 1st:

FanDuel MLB Main Slate Sample Lineup:

P            Nick Pivetta ($8,200)

C/1B     Greg Bird ($2,700)

2B          Gleyber Torres ($3,900)

3B          Christian Villanueva ($3,100)

SS          Freddy Galvis ($2,500)

OF          Aaron Judge ($4,800)

OF          Giancarlo Stanton ($4,500)

OF          Hunter Renfroe ($2,400)

UTIL       Yolmer Sanchez ($2,900)

Remaining Salary: $0

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 summery!