FanDuel Price: $10,800
On almost every slate, there seems to be a decision similar to the one involving Noah Syndergaard tonight. Do you take a top-tier pitcher with a less than stellar matchup and Vegas projection or do you roster a lesser pitcher with a better matchup?
In tonight’s case, you could take Jeff Samardzija as a -170 favorite at home versus Oakland. Given that he’s cheaper than Syndergaard, he’ll likely be a lot higher owned in tournaments, too.
But Syndergaard’s ownership tonight will not reflect his ability and upside. The Nationals are no easy matchup, but they don’t rank in the top 10 in strikeout percentage, ISO, or wOBA versus right-handed pitching.
And it’s not like Syndergaard is a huge underdog -- at -105, the Mets are basically a coin flip to win.
When you can roster a pitcher with a 10.88 strikeouts per nine innings, 54.2 percent ground ball rate, 8-2 record, and 2.23 xFIP as the third-highest owned pitcher in a GPP, your lineup has immense upside.