FanDuel's single-game slates are a great way to make any MLB matchup more exciting, and FanDuel is offering single-game contests for the Sunday Night Baseball clash each week. What better way to wrap up the MLB week than to play a little DFS on Sunday night?
For single-game slates, you have $35,000 to fill out a five-man lineup, and pitchers are not included. There are no positional requirements for hitters, but there are three utility spots, one All-Star slot, and an MVP position. The player you put in the MVP spot has his points multiplied by two while the All-Star position gets his points multiplied by 1.5. The three utility places are scored like normal.
Tonight's game is a World Series rematch as the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers tangle at 7:08 p.m. EST at Fenway Park. The starting pitchers are David Price and Hyun-jin Ryu, two of the best lefties in the game. Our models have this matchup about as close as it can be, projecting LA for a 4.69-4.68 win.
Mookie Betts ($8,500) and Xander Bogaerts ($9,000)
While Hyun-jin Ryu has been superb in 2019, he's due for some negative regression, as evidenced by his 3.49 SIERA and 1.73 ERA. Right-handed hitters have made good contact against him (40.7% hard-hit rate), and Boston has some big-time right-handed sticks, including these two, both of whom are in play for the MVP spot.
Versus lefties in 2019, Mookie Betts is walking more than he's striking out, sporting a 15.2% walk rate and 12.4% strikeout rate in the split. He's got a 47.4% fly-ball rate this year against lefties, and he posted a .488 wOBA, 17.4% walk rate, 45.8% hard-hit rate and 43.9% fly-ball rate in the split in 2018. Xander Bogaerts owns a .394 wOBA and 53.1% hard-hit rate this year with the platoon advantage, and he's got a 54.6% hard-hit rate in a small sample at home versus left-handers this season.
Justin Turner ($5,500)
David Price has limited left-handed hitters to a measly .226 wOBA, 29.7% hard-hit rate and 21.6% fly-ball rate this season, so it's hard to get too excited about rostering any of LA's lefty mashers. Price has a 29.2% strikeout rate against righties, so it's not all that fun to play right-handed bats against him, either. But with righties sporting a 36.4% hard-hit rate and 37.7% fly-ball rate versus Price, they're clearly the way to go.
Justin Turner is woefully under-priced, and when you combine his low salary with the fact he blew up for 40.6 FanDuel points last night, he could be the slate's highest-owned player. Turner boasts a .350 wOBA, 58.1% hard-hit rate and 53.5% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage this year. Last year, he finished with a .433 wOBA, 51.0% hard-hit rate and 48.0% fly-ball rate in the split. He shouldn't be this cheap.
J.D. Martinez ($8,000)
J.D. Martinez is another potent Boston righty who could do some damage against Ryu. Martinez has mauled left-handers this season to the tune of a .491 wOBA, 49.1% hard-hit rate and 43.6% fly-ball rate. It's no one-year thing, either, as he had a .406 wOBA and 44.0% hard-hit rate in the split a season ago. It's not easy to stack Mookie, J.D. and Xander, but it's possible.
Kiké Hernandez ($5,500) and Chris Taylor ($6,000)
Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor are usually in the lineup when the Dodgers face a lefty. Against Chris Sale yesterday, Taylor led off, and Hernandez hit eighth. If that holds true tonight, Taylor -- who has put up a .374 wOBA against lefties in 2019 -- will be a very popular play. Hernandez has long been a lefty masher, and he's got a 47.8% hard-hit rate and 45.6% fly-ball rate against southpaws this season. Both Taylor and Hernandez played the full game last night and shouldn't be at too much of a risk of being pinch-hit for if they face a righty later in the contest.
Joc Pederson ($5,000)
This is a shot in the dark, but it could pay off in a big way if it hits. Joc Pederson typically sits against lefties, and that should be the case again tonight. While there's obvious risk in rostering any bench player, it should keep Pederson's ownership very low, and he is capable of popping a tater against a righty if he gets into the game as he's got a .374 wOBA and 45.1% hard-hit rate in the split this campaign.
For what it's worth, Pederson didn't start last night and still got two at-bats, coming in for David Freese ($4,500) once Sale was removed from the game. On full slates, you can't take this kind of chance. Single-game slates, however, are a different animal, and one swing of the bat can change everything.