FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Tuesday August 14

Welcome to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column for Tuesday, August 14th 2018. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

For yesterday’s FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups, we focused on value at the pitcher spot. The play has worked well recently. But Artie Lewicki ($5,500) missed on expectations. He had a solid 4.2 innings giving up only three earned runs and fanning three hitters. But we were expecting a higher K-rate and we know he had a higher ceiling.

The value allowed us to stack up on expensive bats. Most of our stacks worked, depending on who you picked. For example, we loved the Tigers bats but focused on value with with Niko Goodrum ($2,200) hitting cleanup. But Goodrum only gave us three points. Meanwhile, Nick Castellanos had over 53 FanDuel MLB points.

Paul Goldschmidt and David Peralta were just ‘OK’ totaling over 20 FanDuel MLB points together. For that price-point, it would’ve been better to grab Castellanos and another bat. Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor did just enough to make it worth their play, but getting any other one of the Indians bats, totaling ten runs, would’ve worked out better as well.

The Cubbies start early again today in Wrigley Field. So we’re fading the Brewers and Cubs lineups and focusing only on the Main slate for Tuesday night. We may grab another value play at pitcher, but there are some strong arms on the mound tonight. That may be tough to do.

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: Sticking with the theme of the month, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Kansas City have some early rain shower and storm threats. So the Blue Jays, Royals, Mets, Orioles, Red Sox, and Phillies all have at least a potential delay threat.

However, we’re not expecting any postponements tonight, with most of the weather issues ending around 7pm to 8pm EDT. At worst, you may want to re-think all of those pitching options. But that is even a low risk issue.

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

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

Without question, the best FanDuel MLB pitching play tonight is Justin Verlander ($11,200). It’s almost odd saying that because Verlander is giving up 3.38 home runs per nine innings. That means there could be some sneaky Rockies offensive plays to consider.

But, Verlander has a ridiculously low 1.64 xFIP in the last month and his 40.7% K-rate is juicy for DFS MLB optimal lineups. At least for cash games, we may try to fit an expensive Verlander in our lineup. And we may play at least one random Rockies offensive stack for GPP.

Yes, Corey Kluber is having a great year. But Kluber hasn’t been great over the last month. Also, while the Reds offense hasn’t been productive against RHP’s in the last month, 78 wRC+, their K-rate is lower, in the 20% range, and Kluber’s strikeout rate is only 19.4% in the last 30 days. That seems like too much risk for the hefty price.

Ironically, while looking at Cincinnati’s woes against RHP’s in the last month, I realized they were tied with the Houston Astros offense. The Stros are fanning around 21% of the time against RHP’s, which isn’t bad, but they’re tied with the Reds with 78 wRC+ in the last month for fourth worst in baseball.

So the next thought is, if they’re playing a high K-rate pitcher, that could be a sneaky value play tonight. Especially against Verlander. And to get me even more excited, the Rockies have one of my favorite DFS MLB pitching plays on the mound tonight, German Marquez ($7,900).

If you’ve followed this column in the last month, I’ve talked about Marquez for each of his last four outings. Like many in the Rockies starting rotation, German has taking a turn for the better in the last month.

Marquez has a so-so 4.21 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in the last month. But, German is only giving up around one home run per nine innings. Considering the fact that many of his games are in Coors Field, that’s not bad. Even better, his K-rate is over 30%, with six to ten strikeouts in each of his last five starts.

And due to injuries, the Astros lineup isn’t what is used to be, at least right now.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

There are plenty of juice offensive stacks we could go with tonight. My favorite is the Indians against Sal Romano. But even though Marquez is a decent value at the pitching spot, he doesn’t really give us enough salary to grab more than just Jose Ramirez ($5,000) or Francisco Lindor ($4,700).

So we’re looking for a couple of stacks who may give us one or two big bats, with some solid upside paying only $2,800 to $3,000 for the rest of the stack.

While Yovani Gallardo is 7-1 this season, his 6.11 ERA and 1.55 WHIP tell another story. And in the last month, Gallardo has been worse, holding a 5.57 xFIP. In fact, that’s the second worst xFIP of all starting pitchers on the mound tonight, over the last thirty days.

Fortunately, the Rangers are hosting the Diamondbacks tonight, a stack I’m continuing to target. If the D-Backs can provide some value plays, with 15-20 FanDuel MLB point upside, like Nick Ahmed ($2,800) and Daniel Descalso ($2,700), then affording guys like Eduardo Escobar ($4,000) and David Peralta ($4,000) is feasible.

In a similar position against a worse pitcher on the mount tonight are the Angels. Starting for the Padres in San Diego, Brett Kennedy carries a 4.96 xFIP over the last thirty days, with a jaw-dropping 13.50 ERA. Even better, Kennedy is giving up almost seven home runs per nine innings in that time.

Yes, you read that correctly. We can afford sluggers Albert Pujols ($2,900), Andrelton Simmons ($3,300), Shohei Ohtani ($3,500), and Justin Upton ($3,900) against a pitcher giving up an incredible amount of home runs in a short period of time. Sign. Me. Up.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

Rounding everything up for tonight’s FanDuel MLB Main slate play, we like Verlander for some cash games, but also will consider a sneaky Rockies stack for GPP. However, German Marquez is the best pitching option in this slate. Marquez has a high K-rate, and the Astros current offensive lineup is struggling.

For offensive stacks, we’d love to afford the Indians, but we’ll likely focus on the the Angels and Diamondbacks. The Rangers starter, Gallardo, isn’t pitching well lately, and the Padres have a high home-run rate pitcher in Brett Kennedy on the mound in San Diego tonight.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the Main FanDuel MLB slate on Tuesday, August 14th 2018:

FanDuel MLB Main Sample Lineup: 

P               German Marquez ($7,900)

C/1B        Albert Pujols ($2,900)

2B             Daniel Descalso ($2,700)

3B             Eduardo Escobar ($4,000)

SS             Andrelton Simmons ($3,300)

OF             Justin Upton ($3,900)

OF             Shohei Ohtani ($3,500)

OF             David Peralta ($4,000)

UTIL         Nick Ahmed ($2,800)

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.

Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across MLB, NFL, PGA, and NASCAR this summer!