FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Friday July 20

We’re BACK with another FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column. This is the Friday, July 20th 2018 edition. Again, we’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

With summer vacation underway, we’ve taken a week of writing FanDuel MLB articles. After enjoying the All-Star Break, and the game, we’re back for the big Friday night Main slate for FanDuel MLB.

While most major league baseball players took the last four days off, a few of the top pitchers and hitters played during the ALL-Star game on Tuesday. As a result, even with the break we won’t see some of the leagues top pitchers for another couple of days. But tonight’s hurlers still offer plenty of great K-rate talent.

While we’re half-way through the MLB season, instead of looking at stats through the full season, we’re focusing on the pitcher and team hitting metrics since the beginning of June. That gives us a better sense for which teams, and players, are rising or falling since the early part of the season. We’ve had better success leveraging those status.

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: At the time of writing this post, it appears all baseball stadiums are clear of any showers or thunderstorms across the country. There are some shower concerns in the Ohio Valley area tomorrow, but they shouldn’t impact any baseball play locations.

One other condition to consider, there will extreme heat again the southwest, especially impacting baseball in the Texas area. With weather-related considerations addressed, let’s get to the top pitching options…

 FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

Even with some of the top pitchers off this slate, there are plenty of great options. Unfortunately, some of those options are a tad too expensive. Trevor Bauer ($12,200) probably has one of the best match ups on Friday night, and carries the highest K-rate since early June, 31.4%, of all starting pitchers on the mound tonight.

The problem with playing Bauer, is seriously limits your offensive stacking potential. As we’ll see later, we do find value in one of our stacks for Friday, but we also need some cash left over for a few All-Stars on one of our targeted clubs.

One more expensive option we do like, but expect low ownership for, is Stephen Strasburg ($10,000) against a good Braves offense. Yes, Strasburg was on the short-term DL for a minor shoulder inflammation issue. And yes, the Braves offense has been solid against RHP’s.

But Strasburg has handled his yearly foes well this season. In just two starts against the Braves, Stephen has 18 strikeouts over 14.2 innings. While he only has one win over his two starts against the Braves, he has a quality start in each game.

Also, we expect the Nats to push Strasburg to throw at least six innings in his first start since coming off the disabled list. Stephen has had plenty of time to rest. Stras also saved you over $2K, compared to Bauer.

But, our favorite starting pitcher on Friday night is Kyle Gibson ($8,600). In late April, the Twins right handed hurler almost threw a no-hitter against the Yankees in New York. Regression was expected from Gibson since that outing, but he’s done well since, with some inconsistent results from time to time.

Since early June, Gibson is fanning batters at a 23.7% rate, top eight of all starting pitchers on Friday night. And with a 3.81 xFIP, Kyle is one of the best starting pitchers on this slate since Early June.

Meanwhile, the Royals offense has fallen apart this summer, striking out 23.2% of the time against RHP’s since June 1st. Just before that time, in late May, Kyle faced the Royals and threw seven innings giving up no runs and fanning eight batters.

Gibson also earned the quality start and 49 FanDuel MLB points in that game. We’re expecting another 45 to 55 FanDuel MLB points from Gibson tonight, with a reasonable salary.

 FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

We’re feeling pretty good about our starting pitcher tonight, even while saving plenty of salary. One of the reasons we looked for value on Friday night, although we do think Gibson is also one of the best pitching options, we needed some salary left over to grab some All Stars in our offensive spots.

Francisco Lindor ($4,500) and Jose Ramirez ($4,800) were two of several Cleveland Indians putting on a show for the 2018 All Star game in Washington, D.C. Tuesday. The Tribe have a great match up against Martin Perez and the Rangers in a hot Arlington Texas stadium Friday night.

We have plenty of salary let over to grab both Lindor and Ramirez, while also considering Edwin Encarnacion ($3,600) for the utility spot. Even better, with a lefty on the mound, the Indians likely start Brandon Guyer ($2,000) in the outfield, allowing us to get some of the top four bats from our next stack.

Just before the All Star break, the Tampa Rays bats caught fire. Fortunately, their salary against Dan Straily and the Marlins, in Tampa, are still very cheap rates. Even better, some of the top Rays bats are lefties like Jake Bauers ($3,300) and Joey Wendle ($2,400) facing the righting Daily.

Along with a super cheap Kevin Kiermaier ($3,000) likely leading off against Dan and the Marlins, the Rays are a great value stacking the top three or four bats from their lineup.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

Before we jump into the recap, we had another random offensive option we like for our lineup on Friday night. Gorkys Hernandez ($2,800) is a 30-year-old outfielder for the San Francisco Giants, and he’s having a career season.

Hernandez has a hit or walk in each of his last nine games, and is driving in runs, and scoring them, consistently this season. Gorkys is a cheap shot at over ten FanDuel MLB points, while retaining salary for the expensive Tribe bats.

Yes, we’re paying up for the top Indians bats on Friday night. Along with the value based Rays stack, we think we could get 90 to over 110 FanDuel MLB points from our offense. Meanwhile, we’re expecting another 45 to 55 points from Kyle Gibson against a struggling Royals offense this summer.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the MAIN FanDuel MLB slate on Friday, July 20th 2018:

FanDuel MLB Main Slate Sample Lineup: 

P                Kyle Gibson ($8,600)

C/1B         Jake Bauers ($3,300)

2B             Joey Wendle ($2,400)

3B             Jose Ramirez ($4,800)

SS             Francisco Lindor ($4,500)

OF             Kevin Kiermaier ($3,000)

OF             Gorkys Hernandez ($2,800)

OF             Brandon Guyer ($2,000)

UTIL          Edwin Encarnacion ($3,600)

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 MLB 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, PGA, and World Cup this summer!