In daily fantasy baseball, success starts with nailing the starting pitcher spot in your lineup.
When compared to hitters, pitching performance tends to be much more predictable and stable throughout the course of the season. You know what you're getting from a top-level ace when you roster him: probably a dominant effort with only one or two implosions per season. In contrast, even the game's best hitters have days at the plate when they go 0-for-4.
As a result, lineup construction should begin with the starting pitcher. Each day we will highlight a starter to consider from each pricing tier, and we'll also look at one contrarian play for tournaments. Who should you consider on today's main slate?
High-Priced Option
Sonny Gray, Cincinnati Reds
at Miami Marlins
FanDuel Price: $11,300
If you aren't all in on Sonny Gray at this point, I am unsure how to help you. Dude has been on fire and facing the worst offense in baseball in the Miami Marlins. He should be a lock on a shortened main slate.
Arguably Gray's finest season of his professional career, the right-hander has balled out this year with a 2.92 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate, and 3.89 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) this season.
Gray's delicious 52.4% ground-ball rate continues to lock in his significant upside, and against this woeful Miami offense, where Gray has a slate-best 3.44 implied team total, he becomes an easy roster decision.
Mid-Priced Option
Homer Bailey, Oakland Athletics
at Kansas City Royals
FanDuel Price: $8,000
Reading Homer Bailey's game log is a little bit like playing with a yo-yo; there are some ups and downs, but overall, it's a solid time.
Tonight is trending towards being one of those ups.
Against the Kansas City Royals, Bailey's former team, he could post an outing similar to his most recent one -- a 44-point FanDuel effort against the strong New York Yankees lineup. That comes on the heels of a 52-point, two-hit, seven strikeout performance.
When you peek into the most recent performance by these Royals, it makes an even more attractive approach. Over the last two weeks, they rank last in team wOBA (.236), isolated power (ISO, .096), and seventh-worst in fly-ball rate (32.6%).
Peep this mid-priced options that could be ready to explode.
Low-Priced/Contrarian Play
Dustin May, Los Angeles Dodgers
at San Diego Padres
FanDuel Price: $6,200
Returning back to the rotation for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dustin May has been confirmed as the starter tonight, and against the San Diego Padres, this could return some major value.
In his first three turns in the rotation, May has gone exactly 5 2/3 innings -- and hopefully, he can exceed that in tonight's start to qualify for a quality start. Where he has been excellent is his strikeout rate -- he owns a 9.7% swinging-strike rate, and his 25.9% fly-ball rate has been strong as well.
Against righties, the Padres have been dreadful -- they own a 26.5% strikeout rate and .304 wOBA, both of which clock in for the bottom ten of the league.
For a cheap option, May seems to be a strong play.
Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.