FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball NLCS Helper: Dodgers at Braves, Game 6
The Atlanta Braves host the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight in Game 6 of the NLCS. First pitch is set for 8:08 p.m. EST.
For those unfamiliar with the single-game daily fantasy baseball format, scoring is identical to its full roster cousin, except you only roster hitters, and lineups consist of five flex spots. The one twist? One of the five roster spots is your designated "MVP," who receives 2-times his total fantasy points, along with a "STAR" slot that gets 1.5-times the points. Naturally, it's crucial that you choose your MVP and STAR carefully if you want to be at the top of the leaderboards when it's all said and done.
On that note, let's highlight some of the top options for today's FanDuel single-game slate.
Pitching Breakdown
Editor's Note: Since this article was published, Walker Buehler has been announced as the Dodgers' starter.
Ian Anderson and Max Scherzer were listed as the probable starters, but Scherzer has been scratched due to arm fatigue. Oddsmakers still like the Dodgers, who are -136 moneyline favorites in a game with an over/under of 8.5.
As of early Saturday, it's unknown what the Dodgers are going to do. The two most likely options are Walker Buehler on short rest or a bullpen game, and even if Buehler starts, we're likely to see a good amount of LA's bullpen. With an off day Friday, both 'pens should be ready to rock. If it's Buehler, he has no splits we can attack, and as one of baseball's best hurlers, he'll be a rough matchup for the Braves.
Anderson was a little underwhelming in the regular season, but he's held the opposition scoreless in four of his six career postseason outings. He was excellent at home in 2021, allowing just a .266 wOBA and 3.77 xFIP in the split. A lot of his numbers against lefties and righties are fairly even, but lefties had a 35.8% fly-ball rate against him and produced 1.44 homers per nine while righties had a 26.4% fly-ball rate and 0.88 dingers per nine.
Slate Strategy
It's hard to dig too deep into things with Atlanta's hitters until we have confirmation on who they'll be facing. At the same time, matchups may not matter too much if LA opts for a bullpen game, and as we've seen all postseason, playing matchups might be a little overrated anyway with how short the leash is for starting pitchers.
Freddie Freeman ($9,000), Austin Riley ($7,500) and Ozzie Albies ($7,000) are good picks in any matchup.
Freeman has six hits across the past three games, two of which were jacks. He'll likely be the most popular bat on Atlanta and could be the most popular hitter on the slate. Albies is someone I'll have a lot of in the MVP and STAR spots. While he has at least one hit in every game in this series, Albies has only one multi-hit game, which could keep the masses away from using him as a multiplier. His speed gives him a nice ceiling, and he'll always have the platoon advantage as a switch-hitter.
Eddie Rosario ($6,000) will attract attention if he's atop the order. He went nuts in Game 4, posting 59.6 FanDuel points in a two-homer game. He followed it up with two hits on Thursday and is having a really productive series.
For the Dodgers, I ever so slightly lean toward their lefties, which are likely to be Corey Seager ($8,500), Gavin Lux ($4,500) and Cody Bellinger ($6,000).
Seager is my favorite play on the slate. He had a 41.3% hard-ball rate and .389 wOBA against righties and 40.4% hard-hit rate and .390 wOBA versus southpaws, so he'll be fine regardless of who Atlanta brings out of the bullpen. Lux offers a lot of freedom at his lowly salary.
Righties Mookie Betts ($9,500) and Trea Turner ($7,500) are great plays, too. I like the idea of using Turner at MVP. He'll be in a meaty spot in the lineup and offers an elite ceiling thanks to his power/speed combo. With Turner putting up five goose eggs in this postseason, he probably won't be too chalky.
