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. Which pitchers should you consider on today's main slate?

High-Salaried Option

Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians

Vs Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Salary: $10,800

Targeting the Pittsburgh Pirates has been a pretty solid earnings opportunity for DFS players, and on Friday, that will be no different as we look to Carlos Carrasco of the Cleveland Indians.

Unsurprisingly, the Pirates have showcased a moribund offensive attack in 2020 -- they clock in worst in the league in terms of team wOBA (.272) and isolated power (.126, ISO). Their strikeout rate of 24.3% is nothing to sniff at, either.

Carrasco, meanwhile, has been outstanding in his own right, logging a 28.8% whiff rate in 2020. If you can stomach the coin, Cookie Carrasco is a great bet.

Mid-Salaried Play

Brad Keller, Kansas City Royals

Vs. Detroit Tigers

FanDuel Salary: $8,300

We are going to also keep picking on those poor ole Detroit Tigers, and tonight, Brad Keller takes the bump for Kansas City and could be in line for a big night.

Keller has enjoyed a mini-breakout season in 2020 thanks to a gorgeous 51.7% ground-ball rate, leading to his sub-3.00 ERA. While he doesn't strike out as many hitters as we often hope with that vicious slider, the Tigers take care of that in spades -- they own a 27.3% strikeout rate to go with their poor .305 team wOBA mark.

Often overlooked because of his few swings-and-misses, Keller could light up the scoreboard tonight.

Low-Salaried Play

Jose Urquidy, Houston Astros

At Texas Rangers

FanDuel Salary: $6,800

Another offense we have consistently picked on in this space is that of the Texas Rangers, who might be the league's worst offense. The Rangers rank 29th in both team wOBA (.278) and ISO (.142), and they are striking out 25.1% of the time against right-handers.

Like we did yesterday by recommending teammate Cristian Javier, this could be a smash spot for Jose Urquidy because of that poor offense. On Thursday, Javier nabbed the win by striking out six over 5 2/3 innings, and Urquidy could do just the same.

The strikeouts should tick up a bit for Urquidy, too -- he's posted a solid 10.0% swinging-strike rate, and the Rangers will be more than happy to oblige. If you are looking for a low-cost play, peep the righty.

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.