FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups: May 24th Main Late Swap

We’re finally BACK for another FanDuel MLB Daily Lineups post. This is 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 May 24th 2019.

I’ve been buried in work with the day job this month and it’s been tough to make time to focus on FanDuel MLB lineup plays. However, with a 5-day Memorial Day weekend vacation, it’s finally time to focus on some top MLB DFS plays.

We’ve had some split slates this week, and there is an afternoon game on Friday. However, we’re going to only focus on the Friday night main slate. There is a decent list of top pitching plays tonight, but the best match-ups should make you be more thoughtful with your pitchers.

Also, the match-ups present some intriguing offensive options. We have three stacks we love on Friday night, and one of those stacks makes basically all options possible. That has me drooling for some offense on Friday.

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: With a front sweeping through the East Coast last night, moving offshore, we’re effectively in a clear space for baseball on Friday. The only consider are some light rain showers in Kansas City. If they intensify, we could see some delay with the Yankees and Royals in KC on Friday night. Outside of that risk, we’re clear for take-off!

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

FanDuel MLB: Top Pitching Main Slate

The Indians were one of the worst-hitting offenses in the early part of the season. At one point, they had the highest K-rate in baseball, and were consistently in the top-five for highest strikeout rates in the month of April. However, in May things changed.

With a healthier lineup, the Tribe’s K-rate has plummeted to 24.1%, 14th worse in baseball. If you consider the fact they were in the top five for so long, it would take a very low K-rate over the last couple of weeks to force that number down so quickly.

For that reason, I’m hesitating to snag Blake Snell ($11,200) as a top pitching play Friday night. I get it, Snell is smoking this season and consistently piling up nearly double-digit strikeouts. But I don’t like how the Indians are hitting the ball lately, and their recent low K-rate is also unappealing.

While Chris Sale ($10,800) had a rough start to the season, he’s starting to look like his old self again. Sale is still giving up a lot of runs, two or three per game, but has also shut out a few teams lately and has 10-17 K’s in five of his last six starts.

Don’t let the match-up against the Astros fool you into not considering Chris. Yes, he couldn’t get past 5.1 innings against the Stros in his last start, and faces them again Friday. But he also had ten strikeouts. Sale likely has a better read on this lineup, this time around, and if he keeps his WHIP lower for this outing, he’s a sneaky 50+ play.

There are several other solid options to consider in a solid-pitching-heavy Friday night, like Jose Berrios ($9,900) against the White Sox in Minnesota. Berrios is a cheaper option than Sale, although I’d argue Chris has the better chance at hitting the higher upside point potential.

That being said, I continue to go back to a very cheap play, with a fantastic match-up. I was high on Trent Thornton ($7,100) earlier in the season. In mid-April, we were expecting eventual regression for the rookie, which we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks.

But, Thornton has still managed to pile up five to seven strikeouts in most of his outing. Also, I noticed most of his high walk/run results have been against the better offenses like the Twins and Rays. For some reason, Trent also seems to struggle against the Giants.

But in Toronto Friday night, Thornton and the Blue Jays are hosting a Padres offense who’s wOBA has dropped to .295 so far this season. The Padres also, currently, happen to have a 27.0% K-rate, the worst in baseball.

Looking at just the right-handed match-ups, the Padres’ K-rate doesn’t change much, 27.1% this season. That bodes well for Thornton, who’s climbing to nearly seven per game lately. In his last four outings, Trent has two quality starts.

If he can squeeze another out of the Padres on Friday night, he’ll likely match that with a high K-rate, and could give us 45 to 50 FanDuel MLB points on a very cheap salary. And that sets us up well to go crazy with spending on top offensive plays.

FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks Main Slate

Before I really dig into the offensive metrics and pitching match-ups for each slate, I always like to look at the home runs per nine innings from each starting pitcher. Most of the time, there’s a mild difference between the starters. However, for Friday, my jaw-dropped.

Considering how many great starting pitcher options there are for this slate, I was surprised to realize ten of the starting pitchers have a HR/9 of 1.5 or more. That’s a fairly high rate, almost guaranteeing us a home run from each of those starters. But, it gets better.

Three of our starters on Friday have a HR/9 rate of over two. Mike Foltynewicz is giving up an insane 3.29, Wade LeBlanc 2.95 per nine, and Drew Pomeranz 2.09.

Before you look at those three match-ups, though, don’t over look Drew Smyly‘s 1.95 rate. This one is important. The Tigers are facing the Mets in Citi Field.

The Mets are very cheap on Friday night, but have some home run hitters likely in the lineup, like Todd Frazier ($2,500). Amed Rosario ($2,800) is also a fantastic play at shortstop. But no play in that match-up is better than Pete Alonso ($3,900).

The rookie slugger is in a great home-run hitting scenario, and with Thornton as your pitcher, and several other cheap Mets to complete the stack, Alonso is very easy to afford on Friday. In fact, if you level out your spending with the rest of your offense, you can still play Pete with Sale or Berrios.

But, I’m likely going with Thornton at pitcher, it just gives me way too many juicy options on offense. And, fortunately, we have some decent offensive lineups facing those pitchers giving up a ton of home runs.

Of those match-ups, my favorite two are the Cardinals against Folty and the Diamondbacks against Pomeranz.

With Drew on the mound for the Giants, a lefty, we have plenty of right-handed sluggers to consider for the D-Backs. Adam Jones ($3,600) is off to a good start this season, and David Peralta ($3,800) and Eduardo Escobar ($4,000) each have a shot at going yard on Friday night.

Folty is a right-handed pitcher, eliminating some good plays from the Cardinals, but you can still consider Kolten Wong ($3,000) at the 2B position, and while Marcell Ozuna ($4,200) is hitting from the right side of the plate, he’s one of those few hitters I don’t mind matching up against a pitcher, regardless of the arm-side.

FanDuel MLB: Summary and Example Lineups for May 24th 2019

Yes, Blake Snell is off to a great season, and has a very high K-rate. But I’d rather ride Chris Sale‘s surge if I’m going to spend that much on a pitcher. Although, Berrios is also a great play on Friday night and saves you some salary for a long list of juicy offensive plays.

That being said, Thornton has the best pitching match-up, against the high K-Rate Padres, and he’s dirt-cheap for FanDuel MLB. So I’m most likely to go that route, while the more risky of the three options, but I know I can load up on offense.

The stacks I want to load up on are the Mets, Cardinals, and Diamond backs. Of those three, I likely will use the value from the Mets, with Alonso absolutely locked into every lineup I create, and pivot between the D-Backs and Cards options. Between those two teams, I think the D-Backs have the best pitching match-ups.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineups for the Main FanDuel MLB slate for Friday, May 24th 2019:

Main

P               Trent Thornton ($7,100)

C/1B        Pete Alonso ($3,900)

2B             Kolten Wong ($3,000)

3B             Todd Frazier ($2,500)

SS              Amed Rosario ($2,800)

OF             Adam Jones ($3,600)

OF             David Peralta ($3,800)

OF             Marcell Ozuna ($4,200)

UTIL          Eduardo Escobar ($4,000)

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!