With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.
As a result of this, the primary method of selecting hitters is to "stack" certain teams in good spots to produce. Most of the top stacks on a given day come with hefty salaries. In addition to that, a vast majority of pitchers with the upside to win tournaments are high-salaried hurlers.
Therefore, crushing your value plays -- whether it be a pitcher unexpectedly piling up strikeouts or a low-salaried batter racking up points -- can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament.
Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?
Max Muncy, 2B/3B, Dodgers ($2,800)
The Los Angeles Dodgers flopped last night in a smash spot. We shouldn't hesitate to go back to them today. Their 4.77 implied total is nearly a full run clear of any other team's.
LA is at home versus Colorado Rockies righty Ryan Feltner. Through 91 1/3 innings this season, Feltner owns a 19.8% strikeout rate. His second-half xFIP is 4.71, and he's permitted a .349 wOBA in that span.
Since the break, Max Muncy has a .349 wOBA, 45.9% hard-hit rate and 46.8% fly-ball rate. He's a modest-salaried way to get exposure to the Dodgers, and the multi-position eligibility is another feather in his cap.
Joey Gallo ($2,200) is another easy-to-get-to Dodger our model is into tonight.
Gavin Sheets, 1B/OF, White Sox ($2,400)
The Chicago White Sox (3.91 implied total) are on the stacking radar in a date with Josh Winder.
Winder put up some juicy minor-league numbers in 2021, but that success hasn't carried over to this season or to the bigs. Through his initial 64 2/3 MLB frames, Winder sports a 4.58 SIERA and 16.5% strikeout rate. He's giving up a 44.0% fly-ball rate, leading to 1.53 homers per nine.
Gavin Sheets has upped his game in the second half after a slow start to the campaign, posting a .329 wOBA and 43.8% fly-ball rate since the break. He's likely to be slotted fourth or fifth in the lineup and makes sense as a one-off salary-saver or a low-salary addition to Chicago stacks.
We project him to total 12.5 FanDuel points and rank him as the fifth-best point-per-dollar bat.
Austin Slater, OF, Giants ($2,100)
Austin Slater is projected to hit leadoff tonight against lefty Sean Manaea. That alone puts Slater on the value radar. But it gets better.
Manaea has been hit hard by right-handers this season, surrendering a .358 wOBA in the split along with 1.96 taters per nine and a 42.8% fly-ball rate.
With the platoon advantage this season, Slater has recorded a .365 wOBA, and being atop the order is obviously an advantageous situation for him.
While the San Francisco Giants ' 3.25 implied total is the slate's second-lowest, I also like Wilmer Flores ($2,400) as a value bat who does well against southpaws.