This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
A massive 14-game slate is on tap Friday night, with only Tampa-Cincinnati missing. Weather has been relatively calm of late, and that appears to be the case again Friday as well. Despite the slate's size, only three pitchers sit at $10,000 or higher, with five more coming in north of $9,000. As such, we should be able to find some decent mid-tier pitching options. San Francisco is the only team without a listed pitcher as of submission.
Pitching
If paying up is your preference, Charlie Morton ($10,000) is the favorite thanks to a soft matchup with Washington. Morton is in great form too, averaging 43.3 FDP across his last six while posting 50+ FDP three times.
The 9k tier is littered with head-to-head matchups, so it's possible we can enjoy a pitchers duel and find success on either side. All five have some up and down game logs, so slight leans towards Chris Bassitt ($9,800) and/or Sonny Gray ($9,100) in softer matchups against the Marlins and Rangers, respectively. Tyler Anderson ($9,000) is the lone H2H exception, and while he's been equally inconsistent, I see the appeal against a Cubs lineup that fans 23.5 percent of the time.
We're now at the portion of this breakdown where we look towards arms against Oakland and Detroit, and Friday sets up very nicely for these matchups. Lucas Giolito ($8,800) has put together consecutive quality starts, allowing nine hits and three runs while striking out 13 in his last 12 innings entering Friday's start against the Tigers. And amazingly, he could be overlooked thanks to the presence of Jose Urquidy ($8,100) in Oakland. Uriquidy has earned four straight quality starts, averaging 36.25 FDP in that stretch. He comes at such a discount, he's kind of hard to fade given the upside, floor and how much he opens up your budget.
The appeal to Urquidy is so obvious, I don't find it too advantageous to look much below his price. But if hunting for more bargains, perhaps Aaron Civale ($7,300) is worth a look. He's topped 30 FDP in three of his last six, averaging 24.5 in that stretch, which gives a decent 3.3x return. He's averaged a strikeout per inning in June and July, had a 2.77 FIP last month and a 2.85 xFIP so far this month entering a matchup with Kansas City.
Top Targets
Unless the matchup is just far too great, I'm trying to think a little outside the box in regards to top-priced bats for the time being, trying to highlight some decent matchups for players who may go completely overlooked. Willson Contreras ($3,900) seems to fit that mold, assuming he's healthy enough to play Friday. He's simply mashing lefties to the tune of a .497 wOBA, 224 OPS and .446 ISO. And there's some familiarity here too from Anderson's days in Pittsburgh. Contreras is 6-of-22 (.273) with a decent .905 OPS.
Charlie Blackmon ($3,800) surely goes overlooked as well, especially given the Rockies are on the road. He's 10-of-24 in his career against Zac Gallen, who has really fallen of late, allowing nine runs across his last 11 innings, one start of which was against Colorado.
In a far more obvious spot, Aaron Judge ($4,300) is an easy in to the Yankees lineup in a spot against Connor Seabold, who has allowed eight runs and 15 hits, including three homers, across just 8.2 innings.
Bargain Bats
We shouldn't get too carried away with Pittsburgh, as the upside isn't great, but Milwaukee starter Aaron Ashby has allowed at least four runs in four straight starts, making it 5+ innings just once. Ke'Bryan Hayes ($2,900) has a team-best .371 wOBA against lefties, but next to no power. Bryan Reynolds ($3,000) could offer that greater upside.
Baltimore doesn't have a ton of positive splits against lefties, but some shares against Reid Detmers, who allowed nine runs across his last 8.2 innings before being sent to Triple-A, makes some sense. I don't care for the price of Ryan Mountcastle ($3,600), but his .353 wOBA is second amongst O's regulars, trailing only Rougned Odor ($2,300) who is far more budget friendly.
Stacks to Consider
White Sox vs. Tigers (Tarik Skubal): Tim Anderson ($3,400), Jose Abreu ($3,400), Eloy Jimenez ($3,200)
Skubal is in a funk, having allowed 26 runs and 36 hits across his last six starts, spanning 30.0 innings. And the White Sox have a plethora of options against lefties we can feel good about, all of which come at $3,500 or less. Anderson and Abreu are the clear building blocks to this stack. Anderson has a .467 wOBA and 213 wRC+ against lefties, and is 7-of-13 with a homer and six doubles against Skubal. Abreu isn't far off, carrying a .385 wOBA and 155 wRC+ into Friday while going 6-of-13 off of Skubal. The third piece here is up to preference. Jimenez is cheap and offers power potential, but likely hits lower in the order, not making this an overly traditional stack. Luis Robert ($3,500) and/or Andrew Vaughn ($3,200) are certainly viable, we'll just have to see how the White Sox line up.
Braves vs. Nationals (Erick Fedde): Austin Riley ($4,200), Dansby Swanson ($3,800), Marcell Ozuna ($3,200)
There may be no bad answer from the Braves' lineup Friday, as the team collectively is is 39-of-102 (.415) with seven homers and a 1.121 OPS against Fedde. Ronald Acuna ($4,400) is still the straw that stirs this offense, but the power isn't there and he's priced a tad too high for my liking. Swanson isn't piping hot like he was last month, but is still getting on base and finding ways to impact, stealing two bags Thursday. Riley has multiple hits in three straight and in seven of eight. Ozuna is a favored stand alone play for me Friday, and depending on who catches for Atlanta, he could hit in the five-hole. He's quietly hit in six straight and in seven of eight, homering three times. He's a crushing 7-of-11 with two homers off Fedde.
