FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Tuesday June 19

Welcome back to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column. This is the Tuesday, June 19th 2019 edition. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

Yesterday’s FanDuel MLB Main slate plays worked out pretty well. We won our Cash and GPP plays, thanks to a solid pitching pick and picking the top of the order with our two favorite offense stacks for the day.

We took a risk playing Jacob deGrom ($9,000) in Coors Field. Thanks to the stadium location, it appeared his salary was very reasonable. The match up against the Rockies, even in Coors this season, was ideal. Jake lasted eight innings, fanned seven hitters, earned the quality start and win for a total of 52 FanDuel MLB points. Even better, deGrom was only 15-20% owned.

For the offensive stacks, we were focused on the Rangers and Royals game, literally. We had plenty of salary left over to stack players who had reasonable salaries in their top five spots. There was nine total runs produced during the game, and Shin-Soo Choo ($3,600) was the big winning with three walks, a home run, and double for 36.9 FanDuel MLB points.

Nomar Mazara ($3,500) appeared day-to-day in the FanDuel MLB app, but we knew it was likely he’d be back on the field. So we played the young OF, and he gave us three singles, a run, and an RBI for 15.7 FanDuel MLB points. J.T. Realmuto was a solid 12.7 FanDuel MLB points in the utility spot.

Tuesday, is a typical summer baseball Tuesday schedule. We have all 30 teams on the field with 15 games being played. That usually presents the scenario where you could have multiple great lineups winning cash and GPP. The pitcher spot is tricky to narrow down, but offense won’t be hard to find.

Before we get there, a reminder to never take a DFS MLB optimal lineup 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: Unfortunately, after great weather over the past week, most of U.S. is rapidly heating up, and the summer storm scenario is in place at the moment. We’re completely avoiding the White Sox and Reds in Cincinnati, as the storm possibility is very high.

There are some delay risks for the Cubs and Dodgers game, along with the game at Coors Field between the Mets and Rockies. I’m more worried about the game in Chicago, and while there are shower risks in Denver, it’s likely only producing a minor delay. Finally, there’s an outside chance of isolated storms potentially impacting the Nationals and Orioles.

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

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

There are many great pitchers on our list for tonight’s FanDuel MLB Main slate. However, the match ups and salary present quite a problem. We’ll get to that in a minute. In the meantime, Chris Sale ($11,400) is the best pitcher with the best match up on the mound tonight.

Justin Verlander ($11,500) is having a better season than Sale, which is quite an impressive feat, but we don’t love the match up against the Rays. Also, Verlander’s K-rate has dropped over the last month.

The Rays have been a popular K-target for the last couple of years, but their 22.2% rate and 99 wRC+ against RHP’s is underwhelming to target this season. Justin could have a decent 40 to 50 FanDuel MLB point outing, but Sale has a higher ceiling.

With an 87 wRC+ against LHP’s, the Twins are struggling against southpaws like Sale. Better, their 24% K-rate is in the top ten among teams facing left-handed pitchers, and it matches well with Sale’s awesome 34% strikeout rate. Chris is also one of the few pitchers with an xFIP (2.86) below three. The big problem with this play, most of the great hitting stacks tonight are expensive. Very expensive!

Jose Berrios ($9,600) has been pitching well, but the Red Sox are crushing RHP’s this year. Mike Clevinger ($9,300) is a boring pick against the Indians, and we’re fading the game due to weather. And Blake Snell ($9,000) has the Astros in Houston, no thanks.

Vince Velasquez ($8,800) was a great for us against the Rockies late last week, but there’s risk playing Vinny against the Cardinals in a hitter-friendly park. Instead, we’re going way-way-way outside of the box with our favorite pitcher pick tonight. Jefry Rodriguez ($5,500).

When you see our offensive stack, you may feel more comfortable with this pick. Until then, here’s why we like Rodriguez, but also understand there’s tremendous risk with this play. The rookie may not even last six innings, but he was called up from AA Harrisburg to fill in the rotation for the Nationals, and after playing one and a quarter game during the day off yesterday, they need Jefry to go as long as possible.

So can he? Rodriguez is averaging 5.2 innings per game in the minors. That’s not ideal, but not surprising either. With a 3.31 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, Jefry is managing batters well in 13 games this season. But the intriguing part of his season is the 25% K-rate.

Even if Rodriguez gives up some runs to the Orioles today, we just need him to get some K’s, last around five innings, and get us around 20 to 30 FanDuel MLB points. The offense will do the rest. Fortunately the O’s have an 81 wRC+ against RHP’s this season, third worst in baseball. And their 24.9% K-rate matches perfectly with Rodriguez. So here we go!

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

Well, the first offensive stack for tonight is an obvious one. The Mets and Rockies are back in Coors Field this evening, after piling up 14 runs last night. Most of that run total was from the Mets, and we think the Rockies have a decent shot of trying to even the series out, completely, tonight.

The Mets have an opportunity to continue to roll tonight, though, too. German Marquez has a horrendous 5.13 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, and he’s giving up over 1.5 home runs per nine innings. But worse, the Mets have Jason Vargas on the mound tonight. Vargas is giving up over two home runs per game and carries a 1.7 WHIP into tonight’s slug-fest.

But, we think the Mets and Rockies stacks are going to be the chalk plays tonight. Instead, we like two other stacks we believe could fall of many DFS MLB players radars. The Nationals offensive lineup is getting healthier, and they still have 19-year-old Juan Soto ($3,800) blasting the ball. Tonight, the Orioles trout 2.2 home runs per nine innings to the mound, David Hess. That bodes well for an offense starting to come back together again.

If you play Rodriguez, you have plenty of cash left over to play some of the Nats top bats, with a mini-Rockies stack, or at least one player. Finally, you can add our other favorite stack tonight, the Angels.

Matt Koch had a decent start to his career earlier this season. But if you looked at Koch’s MiLB metrics, you knew there would be some negative regression. Now, we’re starting to see that from the RHP. Even though Koch has a decent WHIP and ERA of only around 4.09, he’s giving up just under two home runs per nine innings. Oh, by the way, Mike Trout ($5,400) is on fire.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

We will likely go with Chris Sale in a few of our lineups to hedge our big bet for tonight. But our favorite play at pitcher is Jefry Rodriguez, starting his first major league game. Rodriguez has already pitched fairly well against the Braves this season, and we’re taking the chance the O’s struggle against the young right-handed pitcher.

With plenty of salary left on the table, we’re sticking with the Nats and stacking their offense against Hess and the Orioles. Our favorite stack with the Nats tonight is Mike Trout and the Halos. The idea of having Adam Eaton, Mike Trout, and Juan Soto in our lineup is intriguing, but also risky. Finally, still with plenty of cash left over at the utility spot, we’re going to grab some action from Coors Field, with a Rockies or Mets play, like DJ LeMahieu.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the MAIN FanDuel MLB slate on Tuesday, June 19th:

FanDuel MLB Main Slate Sample Lineup:

P              Jefry Rodriguez ($5,500)

C/1B       Albert Pujols ($3,100)

2B            Daniel Murphy ($3,600)

3B            Luis Valbuena ($2,500)

SS            Andrelton Simmons ($3,200)

OF           Adam Eaton ($3,800)

OF           Mike Trout ($5,400)

OF           Juan Soto ($3,800)

UTIL        DJ LeMahieu ($4,100)

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.

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