DFS Baseball 101: FanDuel April Report

DFS Baseball 101: FanDuel April Report

This article is part of our DFS Baseball 101 series.

Last year, I wrote an article each month based on team hitting. This is a huge thing to look at in daily fantasy baseball when selecting your starting pitcher, especially when you need a cheaper option as a second pitcher or tournament play. You want to find that underpriced pitcher who is in a great matchup. I will admit that those articles would take hours for me to compile all the data and break out all 30 teams, so I have a different approach this year.

Starting with FanDuel data, I will breakdown all the team pitchers/hitters and give you the rankings with the value reports on individual players.

TEAMS TO TARGET AGAINST FOR STARTING PITCHING

Just like 2016, the Padres at home are the team you want to pick on the most with your starting pitchers. Toronto has been one of the worst teams in baseball and got off to a slow start last April, as well. Seeing Houston on this list is surprising, but much like Toronto, the Astros also off to a slow start last April. The Royals are one of the worst hitting teams in baseball.

Road

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
at SD 39.11 9
at TOR 39.00 12
at ATL 32.57 7
at HOU 32.43 14
at KC 30.70 10

Home

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
OAK 36.67 12
SD 36.59 17
KC 36.31 13
TB 34.92 13
ARI 34.50 10

Overall

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
SD 37.46 26
TOR 34.71 24
KC 33.87 23
CWS 31.74 23
LAA 31.15 27

Top 10 Teams to Start LHP Against

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
STL 41.50 4
KC 40.33 6
CLE 36.40 10
TOR 35.33 6
BAL 34.50 10
TEX 34.17 6
SD 33.78 9
MIA 33.67 3
HOU 32.25 8
OAK 31.50 8

Top 10 Teams to Start RHP Against

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
SD 39.41 17
CWS 38.73 15
TOR 34.50 18
LAA 34.11 19
KC 31.59 17
HOU 29.65 17
OAK 29.41 17
ATL 29.14 22
CHC 28.88 17
STL 28.83 18

TEAMS TO AVOID STARTING PITCHING AGAINST

The Nationals are a team you absolutely want to avoid taking starting pitchers against, especially coming off their destruction of Coors followed by a 23-run performance against the Mets. Some surprises on this list would be the Rays and the Mariners, who are not known for being offensive juggernauts.

The Brewers and Diamondbacks are starting to play like Coors Lite with run totals approaching 10 and 10.5.

Road

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
at SEA 17.67 9
at TB 18.77 13
at COL 20.08 12
at NYY 22.08 12
at ARI 22.65 17

Home

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
MIL 15.63 8
NYM 18.70 10
WAS 20.46 13
TEX 24.78 9
DET 24.91 11

Overall

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
WAS 22.24 25
MIL 22.46 26
SEA 23.42 26
DET 24.00 24
PIT 25.33 24

Teams to Avoid LHP Against

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
MIL 15.57 7
CWS 18.63 8
CHC 21.86 7
NYM 24.17 6
PIT 24.60 10
LAA 24.86 7
NYY 26.80 5
SEA 27.50 6
ARI 28.00 10
BOS 28.75 4

Teams to Avoid RHP Against

TEAMFANDUEL PPGCOUNT
CLE 19.31 13
BAL 20.85 13
DET 21.31 16
SEA 22.20 20
LAD 22.29 14
WAS 22.33 24
COL 22.60 15
TEX 24.11 19
MIL 25.22 18
PIT 25.86 14

TOP 10 VALUE STARTING PITCHERS

Start watching the salaries on these pitchers. If they keep outperforming their price, they will no longer be considered value plays.

PITCHERFANDUEL PPGVALUEAVG SALARYSTARTS
Luis Severino 44.25 6.15 $7,125 4
Jesse Chavez 31.25 6.10 $5,425 4
Jason Vargas 44.75 6.10 $7,550 4
Wade Miley 43.50 6.08 $7,100 4
Mike Leake 41.00 5.90 $7,175 4
James Paxton 46.60 5.64 $8,300 5
Brandon McCarthy 37.50 5.60 $6,725 4
Miguel Gonzalez 38.25 5.55 $6,900 4
Trevor Cahill 32.50 5.45 $6,025 4
Amir Garrett 30.00 5.45 $6,350 4

BOTTOM 10 VALUE STARTING PITCHERS

Start targeting hitters and stacking against these pitchers.

PITCHERFANDUEL PPGVALUEAVG SALARYSTARTS
Steven Wright 9.75 1.18 $8,475 4
Rookie Davis 6.67 1.47 $5,367 3
Kyle Gibson 9.20 1.54 $6,000 5
Dylan Covey 9.33 1.60 $6,033 3
Josh Tomlin 13.50 1.83 $7,500 4
Kevin Gausman 14.17 1.92 $7,433 6
Jon Gray 15.33 1.93 $7,900 3
Hisashi Iwakuma 17.20 2.24 $7,600 5
Jason Hammel 17.25 2.25 $7,725 4
Jordan Zimmermann 17.25 2.25 $7,825 4

TOP 10 STARTING PITCHERS -- PPG

The only pitcher I don't trust on this list is Vargas.

PITCHERFANDUEL PPGVALUEAVG SALARYSTARTS
Chris Sale 56.00 4.92 $11,400 5
Clayton Kershaw 47.20 3.80 $12,240 5
James Paxton 46.60 5.64 $8,300 5
Jason Vargas 44.75 6.10 $7,550 4
Max Scherzer 44.40 4.02 $11,140 5
Luis Severino 44.25 6.15 $7,125 4
Dallas Keuchel 44.20 4.86 $9,120 5
Jacob deGrom 43.80 4.42 $9,940 5
Noah Syndergaard 43.75 3.95 $11,150 4
Ervin Santana 43.60 5.38 $8,120 5

BOTTOM 10 STARTING PITCHERS -- PPG

Start targeting hitters and stacking against these pitchers.

PITCHERFANDUEL PPGVALUEAVG SALARYSTARTS
Rookie Davis 6.67 1.47 $5,367 3
Kyle Gibson 9.20 1.54 $6,000 5
Dylan Covey 9.33 1.60 $6,033 3
Steven Wright 9.75 1.18 $8,475 4
Adalberto Mejia 13.33 2.30 $5,633 3
Josh Tomlin 13.50 1.83 $7,500 4
Tyler Glasnow 14.00 2.38 $5,425 4
Kevin Gausman 14.17 1.92 $7,433 6
Jon Gray 15.33 1.93 $7,900 3
Ubaldo Jimenez 16.50 2.43 $6,775 4
The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Michael Rathburn plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: burnnotice, DraftKings: burnnotice, Yahoo: burnnotice, Fantasy Aces: burnnotice, FantasyDraft: burnnotice.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Rathburn
Known as “Rath” in the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) community, he has helped run operations for two prominent daily fantasy sports startups. Michael has taken his insider knowledge and expertise in daily fantasy sports to the content side. Rath won the 2016 FSWA "Baseball Article of the Year, Online" award and was a finalist for the FSWA Best Baseball Series in 2011.
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