FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 10/6/20
We have a four-game slate on tap for Tuesday, and we should embrace these while we can, as this will be the last week we get MLB slates of this size in 2020. Today's first game begins at 2:08pm ET and the latest gets going at 9:38pm ET, so we'll have to deal with lineups trickling in throughout the day as usual.
Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!
On that note, let's highlight some of the top options for today's FanDuel main slate. Below are tonight's projected starters with their 2020 stats. Opposing team strikeout rate and wRC+ date now show this year's splits against a given pitcher's handedness using up-to-date active rosters, per FanGraphs.
| Pitcher | Salary | L/R | Opp. | SIERA | K% | BB% | Opp. K% | Opp. wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Framber Valdez | $10,000 | L | @OAK | 3.23 | 26.4% | 5.6% | 22.2% | 94 |
| Tyler Glasnow | $9,600 | R | NYY | 3.04 | 38.2% | 9.2% | 21.5% | 123 |
| Walker Buehler | $8,900 | R | SDP | 3.80 | 28.6% | 7.5% | 20.6% | 128 |
| Max Fried | $8,700 | L | MIA | 4.32 | 22.3% | 8.5% | 22.4% | 118 |
| Deivi Garcia | $8,500 | R | @TAM | 4.21 | 22.6% | 4.1% | 26.4% | 104 |
| Sandy Alcantara | $7,800 | R | @ATL | 4.39 | 22.7% | 8.7% | 23.1% | 125 |
| Sean Manaea | $6,800 | L | HOU | 4.01 | 20.3% | 3.6% | 19.7% | 94 |
Let's check out the top spots on today's slate.
Pitchers
There are no easy paths on today's pitching slate, but Tyler Glasnow ($9,600) is probably the closest thing we have to a top option. His 38.2% strikeout rate does laps around everyone else, but he faces a New York Yankees offense that's now dispatched Shane Bieber, Carlos Carrasco, and Blake Snell. Pitch counts are always a worry with Glasnow, too, but the same can be said for most of the hurlers going today. Despite the obvious risks, we're going to get an off night from New York at some point, and Glasnow has the goods to get it done. He's tallied at least eight strikeouts in eight of the last nine starts.
Framber Valdez ($10,000) actually came out of the bullpen in his wild-card appearance, finishing off a Game 1 victory with five scoreless innings on 66 pitches. He should theoretically be allowed a full workload against the Athletics after eclipsing 100 pitches numerous times this season, but the Astros haven't been afraid to pull the plug early on their starters this postseason. Oakland's lineup isn't quite as imposing as many of the others in play, and Valdez brings rock-solid numbers to the table, including a 60.0% ground-ball rate that led all qualified starters this year. The salary is a bit high for his strikeout rate, but on a slate with so many question marks, that shouldn't deter us from looking here.
On the value side, Max Fried ($8,700) and Deivi Garcia ($8,500) fall under consideration.
The Marlins have been better against left-handers in a small sample, but if we include their 2019 numbers, they have just a 93 wRC+ in the split, so this is a matchup that should favor Fried. He's not much for punchouts, but he's another guy who keeps the ball out of the air with a 53.0% ground-ball rate, and he only gave up two dingers all season. He only went 78 pitches in his wild-card start, but that was after logging 7.0 scoreless innings (40.0 FanDuel points), and he's usually allowed to pitch into the 90s range.
Garcia draws the Rays and their high strikeout rate. His regular season numbers don't blow us away, but he got up to 103 pitches in his final regular season start and showed strikeout upside in the minors.
Hitters
The Houston Astros continue to embrace their role as heels and came through with a big performance at the plate on Monday, piling on 10 runs in Game 1. Perhaps they keep things going against left-hander Sean Manaea, who has the lowest strikeout rate on the board. Houston's lineup is mostly comprised of righty sticks, and their 4.50 implied total qualifies as being fairly high in these playoffs.
Manaea actually has a solid 4.01 SIERA and 50.3% ground-ball rate, but it's not like we're going to find any perfect matchups today, and the likelihood of the Astros consistently putting the ball in play gives us a path to a high-scoring stack. Not only does Houston have one of the lowest strikeout rate against southpaws this year, but if we extend back to last year, it's tops in the league (17.0%). Let's also not forget that Houston was one of the league's elite offenses not so long ago, so it's not like we would be completely shocked if they went on a run in October.
George Springer ($4,000) and Alex Bregman ($3,600) remain top choices, while Jose Altuve ($3,200), Yuli Gurriel ($2,500), and Carlos Correa ($3,100) give you more salary leeway. Note that yesterday's offensive outburst will likely lead to them being popular in tournaments.
The Atlanta Braves also see a solid implied total (4.57) in their matchup against Sandy Alcantara. Attacking Alcantara with lefty sticks is the way to go, as he owns a 5.27 xFIP in the split this year and 5.60 over his career.
The Braves' lineup isn't the best one to take full advantage, but Freddie Freeman ($4,200) clearly stands out, and Ozzie Albies ($3,800) and Nick Markakis ($2,400) get a boost. Although Alcantara is tougher on right-handed bats, the power of Ronald Acuna ($4,500), Marcell Ozuna ($4,100), and Adam Duvall ($2,900) are all fair game in any Atlanta stack.
Beyond those teams, it's a matter of picking your spots between the other top offenses on the slate in the Yankees, Dodgers, and Padres.
The Bronx Bombers get the worst matchup of the slate, but they've proven how dangerous they can be in any spot. They shouldn't see an especially high roster percentage with eight teams in play.
The Dodgers will most "likely" face Mike Clevinger today, but it technically isn't official yet. Considering Clevinger is coming off an elbow issue and wasn't nearly as dominant this season, this could be an advantageous scenario to stack up Los Angeles. Perhaps the late game and name value of Clevinger also keeps their roster percentages lower than they might otherwise be.
Lastly, the Padres face Walker Buehler, and they're purely a game theory play, as I would expect San Diego draws the least attention of these squads. Buehler pitched well in the wild-card round, but that did come against a lesser Milwaukee lineup, and blister issues led to inconsistent results during the regular season.
