FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 5/28/23
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!
Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.
| Team | Opp SP | Opp | O/U | Moneyline | Implied Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD | Gerrit Cole | NYY | 7.5 | 124 | 3.48 |
| CIN | Drew Smyly | CHC | 8 | 136 | 3.62 |
| MIL | Alex Cobb | SF | 8 | 104 | 3.89 |
| CLE | Jordan Montgomery | STL | 8.5 | 124 | 3.95 |
| DET | Dylan Cease | CHW | 8 | -104 | 3.96 |
| NYY | Yu Darvish | SD | 7.5 | -146 | 4.02 |
| CHW | Eduardo Rodriguez | DET | 8 | -112 | 4.04 |
| SF | Colin Rea | MIL | 8 | -122 | 4.11 |
| TEX | Kyle Bradish | BAL | 9 | 124 | 4.18 |
| MIN | Jose Berrios | TOR | 8.5 | -104 | 4.21 |
| TOR | Bailey Ober | MIN | 8.5 | -112 | 4.29 |
| CHC | Graham Ashcraft | CIN | 8 | -162 | 4.38 |
| KC | MacKenzie Gore | WSH | 9 | 102 | 4.39 |
| STL | Hunter Gaddis | CLE | 8.5 | -146 | 4.55 |
| WSH | Daniel Lynch | KC | 9 | -120 | 4.61 |
| BAL | Cody Bradford | TEX | 9 | -146 | 4.82 |
Pitchers
Gerrit Cole ($11,100)
After a disappointing 6.0 fantasy point performance in his last start, Cole's salary has remained at his second lowest point this month against a San Diego Padres' offense with a .295 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 20.6% K-rate versus right-handers in their last 413 plate appearances
Through 67.2 innings this season, the Yankees' ace has produced at a level slightly lower than his career norms when observing his current 25.3% K-rate (career 28.9%), 8.3% walk percentage (career 6.4%), 11.0% swinging strike rate (career 12.4%), and 3.81 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (3.17 xFIP).
While his current form definitely promotes legitimate concern, the 32-year old is still ranked as Sunday's top pitcher with a 37.6 fantasy projection and 7.18 expected strikeouts versus four San Diego hitters with K-rates between 22.3% and 30.0% and contact percentages under 79.2%.
Yu Darvish ($10,400)
At his highest salary this season, San Diego's veteran will take the mound against a New York Yankees' lineup with a 21.9% K-rate and a .332 wOBA including five potential spots with strikeout percentages over 20.9%.
In 24.0 innings during May, Darvish has maintained his solid form after producing a 3.90 xFIP in the first two months of the season, accounting for a 3.98 xFIP and a 24.2% strikeout percentage through four starts.
With six or more strikeouts in 55% of his appearances this season, the Padres' right-hander offers plenty of upside among today's top rated options with Sunday's second highest fantasy projection at 35.2 FanDuel points and 6.32 punch-outs in 6.10 expected innings.
Eduardo Rodriguez ($9,600)
After an eye-popping 9.4% salary decrease to his second lowest point in May, Detroit's left-hander will challenge a Chicago White Sox's team with a 21.5% K-rate in this split.
While Rodriguez is likely due for a slight decline in his performance when comparing his 2.19 Earned Run Average to a 3.57 xFIP, the 30-year old is still ranked sixth in expected strikeouts with a 5.09 mark against four hitters with K-rates between 20.3% and 35.6% and contact percentages under 72.2%.
Stacks
Despite producing just eight runs in their last three contests, the Orioles are first among today's offenses with a 4.82 run expectation against Rangers' right-hander Corey Bradford.
In 45.1 Triple-A innings, Bradford has profiled as a below-average pitcher despite a 0.99 Earned Run Average when analyzing his 5.46 xFIP while his largest sample size in the Minor Leagues in 2022 supports this depiction with a 4.88 xFIP in 118.2 Double-A innings.
Ideal Orioles' combinations should feature the middle of their lineup including Adley Rutschman (.395 expected wOBA, 7.5% barrel rate), Austin Hays (13.4% barrel rate, .364 expected wOBA), Anthony Santander (10.0% barrel rate) and Ryan Mountcastle (.376 expected wOBA, 17.2% barrel rate) while James McCann (.270 expected average, 6.9% barrel rate) and Gunnar Henderson (11.0% barrel rate) offer some value at the bottom of their order.
In a mouth-watering opportunity against Hunter Gaddis, the Cardinals' 4.55 run total appears undervalued versus a struggling right-hander with an ugly 6.16 career XFIP, a low 14.7% strikeout percentage, and a 8.7% opposing barrel rate.
To best attack his glaring trouble versus left-handed bats (7.16 xFIP, .415 wOBA), Lars Nootbaar (8.0% barrel rate, .355 expected wOBA), Nolan Gorman (.392 expected wOBA, 14.8% barrel rate), and Brendan Donovan (.337 expected wOBa, .260 expected average) are top options while Paul Goldschmidt (14.6% barrel rate, .407 expected wOBA), Nolan Arenado (.417 expected slugging), and Paul DeJong (11.8% barrel rate) deserve consideration with their power from the right side.
Riding high after scoring 23 runs in their first three games in this series, the Giants are another underrated option against Colin Rea and his pedestrian 4.72 xFIP through 36.1 inning this season.
San Francisco stacks should contain their best power fly-ball dominant hitters to counter Rea's tendency to keep the ball on the ground (45.5% career rate) including LaMonte Wade Jr (9.4% barrel rate, 43.9% fly-ball percentage), Mike Yastrzemski (42.0% fly-ball percentage, 7.4% barrel rate), Mitch Haniger (10.0% barrel rate, 44.4% fly-ball percentage), and David Villar (14.3% barrel rate, 41.6% fly-ball percentage) while Michael Conforto (11.5% barrel rate) and J.D. Davis (12.3% barrel rate, .383 expected wOBA) are secondary options.
