FanDuel Price: $3,600
This is pretty simple: when Josh Donaldson is facing a left-handed pitcher, you want him in your lineup. Donaldson and the Blue Jays take on New York Yankees’ southpaw CC Sabathia this afternoon in the Bronx.
| Career | Plate Appearances | wOBA | Home Runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| vs. LHP | 682 | .417 | 42 |
| vs. RHP | 1,927 | .347 | 73 |
Sabathia doesn’t have large splits for his career, but they -- along with his overall pitching skills -- have gotten worse with age. In 2015, he allowed right-handed hitters to mash to the tune of a .370 wOBA. Overall this year, he’s sporting a 4.40 SIERA and worse-than-league-average 9.4% walk rate through 34 1/3 innings.
On top of all that, the game is being played at Yankee Stadium, which ranks second in home run factor, per ESPN’s Park Factors. Our models rate Donaldson as the second-ranked hitter for Thursday, projecting him to score 13.74 points in the middle of a Toronto lineup that has an implied total of 4.3 runs. The Blue Jays will be an attractive stack, with Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion also ranking among our top 15 hitters for the day.