FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: April 8 Main Slate

Welcome BACK to the FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups. We’re a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you build a DFS MLB optimal lineup for each slate. This post is focused on the Main slate for Monday, April 8th 2019.

We’ve had several splits slates since the start of the MLB season, until Sunday. As we’ll continue to see throughout the season, Sunday’s FanDuel MLB Main slate was focused on the games starting after 1pm ET and didn’t include the one weekly Sunday night game, typically aired on ESPN.

I didn’t write up a FanDuel MLB post for Saturday and Sunday due to family commitments, but I’m back for Monday! Again, there are a couple of games plays on Monday afternoon, offering up a very small two-game Early Only slate.

While this post is only focused on the Main slate, I will offer up some thoughts for the Early Only readers as well. There are several great pitching plays for the Early Only. However, most of the match-ups aren’t ideal. For that reason, I’m going to take the risk with Carlos Rondon ($8,100) against the Rays in Chicago.

The Rays have one of the highest K-rates in baseball, and Rondon has 15 strikeouts in just 11.1 innings. This is an ideal match-up for 30 to 40 FanDuel MLB points, leaving plenty of salary to load up on hitting.

Speaking of hitting for Early Only, I’m mostly focused on the Pirates against Jon Lester and the Cubs against Jameson Taillon. I may also layer in some red-hot White Sox bats, even through Blake Snell is a tough pitcher.

Considering there’s only two games within the Early Only slate, it’s a little surprising to realize we only have eight games for the Main slate. But, Monday’s are often a small MLB schedule with so much baseball played from Friday to Sunday.

This slate has some fantastic offensive stacking opportunities, but the best pitching options are expensive, making for a challenging DFS MLB evening.

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, weather should not be an issue on Monday. However, there are slight chances for strong isolated thunderstorms to impact the games in Baltimore and Philadelphia. There are also some shower possibilities in San Francisco, but I don’t think it’s enough to delay/postpone games.

That being said, I’d keep my eye on the weather in Philly and Baltimore as we approach game time, around 6-7pm ET>

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

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitchers Main Slate

As I said earlier, there are some fantastic starting pitchers in this slate, and frankly they’re reasonably priced. The problem we have is matching these, still somewhat expensive, salaries with the juicy but expensive hitting stacks.

The hands-down best pitcher in this slate is Justin Verlander ($10,700). Justin had a great start to the season in Tampa, fanning nine hitters, while earning the quality start and win for 55 FanDuel MLB points.

However, Verlander followed that up with a struggling game in Arlington, against the Rangers. The Rangers offense rolled into that match-up hitting the ball well.

That is a big concern, because Verlander and the Astros are now facing a Yankees set of bats who are better than the Rangers, and also hot right now. I’m frankly more focused on which Yankees hitters I can snag, versus playing Verlander in a lineup Monday night.

Masahiro Tanaka ($9,700) has been more consistent, fanning nearly six per game in his first two starts. But, those outings were at home facing the Tigers and Orioles. Now in Houston, Tanaka has a .331 wOBA offense with a low 19.7% K-rate. This, too, isn’t a great match up for MLB DFS pitching.

From there, I started to turn my attention to an apparently re-surging Madison Bumgarner ($9,200), but again the Padres offense is off to a fairly hot start. In an odd twist, I’m actually more interested in Eric Lauer ($7,100) against the Giants offense.

Lauer admittedly is risky. He gave up four earned runs with nine hits and a walk, fanning only two, against the Diamondbacks six days ago. Also, he only has five K’s in his first 11 innings of work.

However, Lauer and the Padres are in San Francisco tonight, facing a Giants offense with a low .258 wOBA and fairly high 24.1% K-rate. If we can get three to five K’s from Eric tonight, along with QS and win, Lauer could actually land us 35 to 45 FanDuel MLB points, all while leaving a ton of salary on the table to stack a good offense on Monday.

That is appealing, because this is a nice where pitching points are likely lower than normal, while offense wins the slates in all formats. For that reason, picking someone like Lauer on a night like this, actually makes sense. And it rarely does!

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

The offensive theme for the night became apparent when I looked at the pitching and hitting metrics stacked against each other for Monday’s match-ups. Many of the top hitting plays eliminated the top pitching plays.

But also, some of the better hitting plays could have lower ownership, thanks to the starting pitcher on the mound. For example, while I likely won’t do a full-on stack of the Yankees against Verlander, I’m still intrigued by the value guys like Clint Frazier ($2,700) provide. Hot hitters often overcome good pitching early in the season.

Speaking of top hitting, Miles Mikolas has his work cut out for him on Monday night. First of all, Miles is off to a rough start, holding a 7.20 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in ten innings pitched. But worse, he’s facing a Dodgers offense with a very high .414 wOBA, the best in baseball right now.

For each of those reasons, I’m looking at stacking either two-man mini-stacks or some full four-man stacks. If you need cheaper value options, Russell Martin ($2,900) / Austin Barnes ($2,900) and Kike Hernandez ($3,600) are less expensive ways to pull points from that smoking hot offense.

Also, like the Dodgers, the Mariners are off to an amazing offensive start, now holding a .388 wOBA for the second best in baseball. There are plenty of M’s I like again tonight, especially Ryon Healy ($3,900) and Domingo Santana ($4,100) against Homer Bailey and the Royals.

Finally, the most popular stacking play of the night is likely the Rockies and Braves in Coors Field. The Rockies offense improves significantly in Colorado, but the Braves offense is more appealing in this match up, even with a good Kyle Freeland pitching. Dansby Swanson ($3,900) is beginning to look like the top prospect many fantasy baseball players were hoping for two years ago.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineup for April 8th 2019

There are several great top starting pitchers on the mound Monday. But their match-ups make for a tricky night. After flipping through metrics between each pitcher and each match-up, I’ve decided to take the riskier (but is it really risky?) Lauer play at the position, and save my money for some big offensive stacks or picks.

Now with plenty of salary left to use, I’m looking at some one-off Yankee picks pair with my mini or full stacks of the Dodgers, Mariners, or Braves.

Speaking of one-off’s, I also like Juan Soto ($3,900) again right-hand fireballer Vince Velasquez and Ramon Laureano ($2,800) continues to be a sneaky fantasy baseball play, even though his salary climbed $700 in the last couple of days.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the Early Only and Main FanDuel MLB slates for Monday, April 8th 2019:

Main

P               Eric Lauer ($7,100)

C/1B        Russell Martin ($2,900)

2B             Kike Hernandez ($3,600)

3B             Ryon Healy ($3,900)

SS             Dansby Swanson ($3,900)

OF             Domingo Santana ($4,100)

OF             Ramon Laureano ($2,800)

OF             Clint Frazier ($2,700)

UTIL          Juan Soto ($3,900)

Remaining Salary: $100

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!