FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: Tuesday August 28

Welcome back to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups column. This is the Tuesday, August 28th 2018 edition. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate.

Yesterday’s FanDuel MLB play started out well enough, and suddenly fell off a cliff. Fading the Phillies against Stephen Strasburg and the Nats was the right move. Sure, Stras was struggling lately and was pitching on a hot humid night.

However, we’re talking about an elite pitcher who is tough to hit when he gets hot. He got hot. Also, the Nats relief pitching only gave up a home run to Rhys Hoskins. So unless you had Hoskins, stacking the Phillies didn’t pan out.  That was one small win for our lineup.

The Blue Jays sat Lourdes Gurriel Jr. against a right-handed starter. So, if you followed us on twitter you know we flipped the pick to Wilmer Difo. Fortunately, Difo had two runs, a single, walk, and stolen base for 18.4 FanDuel MLB points.

The Mets against Jon Lester with the wind blowing out of Wrigley did nicely to start the game. But aside from 18.7 FanDuel MLB points from Amed Rosario and a 21.7 result from a bomb hit by Michael Conforto, it wasn’t as great as we were hoping.

Jon Jay was a low, sub 5%, owned play in the outfield and part of our Diamondbacks stack. He had two singles and a triple, but beyond that play the wheels started to fall off. Jay was essentially the only offense the D-Backs had against Chris Stratton last night, and the stack was horrendous.

Worse, our favorite pitching play didn’t pan out either. Jon Gray has been hit or miss this season. When hot, as he’s been since getting called up from a quick stint in the minors, Gray never maintained his control and gave up five runs in over six innings, with only one strikeout. He missed his point mark but over 30, and crushed our lineup potential.

For Tuesday, we’re back to a more robust schedule. All 30 teams are playing tonight, and all 15 games start at or beyond 7pm EDT, making for a huge Main slate on Tuesday. That’s great for GPP play, but creates many options for the Cash games.

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: For the most part, the weather is great for baseball across the country tonight, with two exceptions. The wind is blowing out against in Wrigley Field, but Chicago has a possibility for rain and showers toward the tail end of the game.

So it’s possible there could ultimately be a delay in the game, impacting starting pitchers and/or the final outcome.

Be careful if considering Mets and Cubs tonight. But the more concerning situations is the Tigers and Royals game in Kansas City. There’s a great chance the entire game could be impacted and we see a postponement.

However, again, most of the thunderstorm activity likely arrives after the start time. But, because the activity could arrive so close to the first pitch, this game has the greatest possibility to postponement.

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

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitcher Main Slate

Obviously there is some incredible talent on the mound tonight. Max Scherzer ($12,000) is flat-out one of the top pitchers in DFS MLB this season. Mad Max is only six K’s away from reaching 250 in the season, the fifth season in a row he would match that accomplishment.

Scherzer has at least ten or more strikeouts in four of his last six starts, and never less than 40 FanDuel MLB points in his last seven outings. Max also has the ability to effortlessly land you 50 to 60 points on the night. That’s why he’s so dang expensive. So if you’re looking for a slam-dunk cash game play at pitcher, he’s your man.

Five other starting pitchers tonight have a 30%+ K-rate and 3.00 or lower xFIP in the last 30 days. So we can expect some thin ownership across the board. However, when you look at the match ups, focused on offensive production and K-rates for the month of August, most of these pitchers do not have great match ups.

For that reason, I’m going to start digging for value. While doing so, I’m also focused on the match ups. One of the best match ups, is Lance Lynn ($8,100) against the White Sox in New York. Lynn happens to be one of the top starters over the last month, on the mound tonight.

Lynn’s xFIP is an very solid 3.00 since the start of August, and his K-rate is 30% in that time. So how have the White Sox been against RHP’s lately? Well, they have a so-so 93 wRC+, but their 26.8% K-rate is a juicy worst in baseball. So we’re getting a top six or seven K-rate pitcher against the worst strikeout ratio against RHP’s in the last month, for only $8.1K. Sign me up!

Lynn is a strong hand to play in cash games, but the Yankees hurler is likely fairly highly owned tonight and not as attractive for GPP. In fact, for GPP, things get more interesting.

Brian Johnson ($5,900) isn’t someone who’s often on my radar DFS MLB optimal lineup pitcher picks. The Red Sox lefty has a so-so 23% K-rate in the last month, and a 4.55 xFIP. But, Johnson happens to be pitching against the Marlins, in Boston tonight.

Why is that a good thing? Well, the Marlins have a dreadful 29.2% K-rate against left-handed pitchers in August and a low 87 wRC+. So, we could get a pitcher hurling over 30 to 40 FanDuel MLB points in a night full of top-dog starting pitchers, with plenty of cash to spend on the top hitters for our GPP lineup.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

Who you’re stacking will depend on your starting pitcher. Some of these stacks will be expensive tonight, but you can afford them with Johnson. Some of these stacks are value-oriented, but with Scherzer they’re worth it. If you have Lynn in your lineup, you can do a expensive/value mix.

Starting with the more expensive stack, I love the Dodgers against Ariel Jurado and the Rangers. Over the last 30 days, Jurado is giving up over two home runs per nine innings, and carries an ERA over seven, along with a 4.83 xFIP. That’s not good, but great for the Dodgers sluggers.

You can find some value in the Dodgers lineup tonight, but with Johnson as your pitcher, I’m loading up on Max Muncy ($4,000), Justin Turner, ($4,100), Cody Bellinger ($3,900), and Yasiel Puig ($3,300).

Another starting pitcher on the mound tonight, who’s giving up over two home runs per nine innings in the last month is White Sox hurler James Shields. He’s facing a tough Yankees offense in New York, making the Yanks another expensive but very attractive stack. It’s actually feasible to stack the Yankees and Dodgers, with Brian Johnson on the mound for a GPP play.

If you’re looking for a more affordable stack with some expensive upside, the Cincinnati Reds are hosting the Junior Guerra and the Brewers tonight. Typically a solid starting pitcher, Guerra has a terrible 6.00 ERA over the last 30 days, a 4.10 xFIP, and he’s giving up 1.67 home runs per nine innings. In the Great American Ballpark, that is a very attractive option.

If you’re fading Johnson’s GPP play, or in a cash game, it actually may not hurt to target Brian Johnson and stack the Marlins. It may sound weird, but guys like J.T. Realmuto ($3,300) are great plays against a pitcher giving up 2.35 home runs in the last five innings.

We don’t get negative points for strikeouts, so even though Johnson is a solid pitcher play for GPP, the Marlins are still in play for offensive stacks. In fact, the Marlins and Reds are an affordable way to get solid offense with a pitcher play like Lynn in cash games. You could even do a two-player Marlins/Red Sox stack with Boston’s top hitters and Lynn on the mound.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup

For FanDuel MLB Cash games tonight, Scherzer is an obvious top play at pitcher, but he’ll limit your options on offense. Instead, we prefer Lynn at pitcher to open up some offensive plays like the Red Sox and Marlins, a split two-person stack from each team, along with a more affordable Reds stack.

For GPP play, Brian Johnson‘s decent K-rate against the insanely high Marlins strikeout rate against lefties this month is too good to pass up. There’s certainly run risk with Johnson, which is why we may play the Marlins offense in cash games. But, Brian should give us tons of points and allows us to do something insane, like stack the Dodgers and Yankees in our GPP FanDuel MLB plays tonight.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample GPP lineup for the Main FanDuel MLB slate on Tuesday, August 28th 2018:

FanDuel MLB Main Sample Lineup: 

P                Brian Johnson ($5,900)

C/1B         Max Muncy ($4,000)

2B             Neil Walker ($2,800)

3B             Justin Turner ($4,100)

SS             Gleyber Torres ($4,000)

OF             Cody Bellinger ($3,900)

OF             Yasiel Puig ($3,300)

OF             Brett Gardner ($3,400)

UTIL          Yonder Alonso ($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.

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!