This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
11 games await Tuesday's main slate, with first pitch at a standard 7:05 p.m. EDT. Thanks to most of the league being off yesterday, all 22 teams have listed starters so, barring a scratch, we have all the tools we need to dive in and win!
Pitching
Carlos Rodon ($11,100) is the obvious choice in a plus matchup against an Oakland side that fans 27.5 percent of the time against lefties, but he's got a huge price tag. As such, Sandy Alcantara ($9,500) is my preferred pay-up option to save a bit of salary. The Nationals don't fan nearly as much at just 23.2 percent, but with only a .112 ISO, you'd expect an incredibly stable floor. His adversary in Josiah Gray ($9,000) merits consideration for almost identical reasons.
In continuing to work our way down in price, Luis Severino ($8,300) screams high usage in a matchup against Baltimore. The O's are fanning 24.9 percent of the time and have only a .088 ISO, but they've overall been frisky opponents. Pair that with knowing Severino is still on a bit of a pitch count, and 4x value is no guarantee. He's made it there only once in three starts thus far. The unfortunate side of this is none of the other mid-tier arms profile favorably. As such, rolling with Severino in cash lineups is a fine play, but for GPPs, I'd target any of the arms priced above him, or take a chance on some cheaper options.
Those cheaper options can include Eduardo Rodriguez ($7,100) or Marcus Stroman ($6,800). Neither has been in peak form, but could start rounding into it in plus spots. Rodriguez gets a Twins' lineup that can certainly hit it hard and far on a given night, but they're currently fanning at a 24.3 percent clip against lefties, walk only 9.5 percent of the time and carry only a .139 ISO. Rodriguez's whiffs are down and his walks are up, something Minnesota seems capable of helping him return to his norms. Stroman meanwhile gets an Atlanta lineup that profiles similarly, fanning 24.2 percent while walking only 8.7 percent of the time. They are getting absolutely nothing from the bottom portion of their order, which should help Stroman's 8.78 ERA fall down closer to his 3.31 xFIP.
Top Targets
I'd expect many lineups to have heavy Dodger exposure against soft-tossing Zach Davies, who's allowing nearly two homers per nine, and his 5.02 ERA is backed up by a 4.07 xFIP. Their bats aren't too priced up, so a stack is doable, but if you just want a one-off, Freddie Freeman ($3,900) is a nice option to build around. He's posting a .428 wOBA and 183 RC+ in 48 plate appearances against righties to date.
The depth of this slate doesn't force us to use any particular high-priced bat, and as this column evolved, I feel far more confident in paying for pitching while taking advantage of favorable discounted matchups for my offense. If you're really looking to get different, maybe building around Jose Ramirez ($3,800) is in play. In a small sample this season, he has a .498 wOBA, 238 wRC+ and .400 ISO while striking out only 5.9 percent of the time. He'll surely come with a low roster rate given the past week, and the fact that Angels' starter Patrick Sandoval hasn't allowed an earned run this season.
I would never fault anyone for using the likes of Matt Olson ($3,700) or Juan Soto ($3,700) regardless of form or pitching matchup. They're just priced too favorably to ignore.
Value Bats
The salary is climbing to near-uncomfortable levels for Nathaniel Lowe ($3,400), who continues to show minimal power, has a 62.5 percent groundball rate and only a 28.1 percent hard hit rate against righties. That said, Jake Odorizzi has been woeful, and this Rangers lineup doesn't have many others to choose from. Despite Lowe's limited upside, he sports a .451 wOBA and 206 wRC+ against righties.
Salvador Perez ($3,300) has picked up right where he left off last year mashing lefties. He's got a .600 ISO, .788 wOBA and 442 wRC+ in 10 plate appearances. Obviously that's a small sample, but he sits with a .427 wOBA, 174 wRC+ and .352 ISO in 194 plate appearances since last season. Perhaps his 6-for-35 line against Dallas Keuchel, who's allowed 13 runs and 16 hits in only 6.0 innings, will keeps his usage low.
Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta is allowing an unsustainable 3.09 HR/9 thus far, and some slumping Blue Jay bats are priced low enough where we could stack this lineup with surprising ease. Bo Bichette ($3,100) is a preferred one-off. He doubled his season HR and RBI total in Monday's outing, and is 8-for-17 with two homers and two doubles against Pivetta.
Stacks to Consider
White Sox vs. Royals (Daniel Lynch): Tim Anderson ($3,400), Jose Abreu ($3,300), Andrew Vaughn ($2,800)
Lynch gave up four homers, 16 hits and 15 runs across just 8.1 innings against the White Sox last year. Only Adam Engel is hitless against Lynch amongst all current White Sox, who are a combined 15-for-26 against him, and the Sox hit lefties well in general. Anderson has a .383 wOBA against southpaws -- the lowest of this group -- since the start of 2021. Abreu has a .395 wOBA with a .299 ISO and continues to hit the ball hard this season with minimal success. Vaughn has a .409 wOBA and .292 ISO. There's not a wrong answer, and you can pick and choose based on positional needs.
Astros vs. Rangers (Taylor Hearn): Alex Bregman ($3,400), Yordan Alvarez ($3,200), Michael Brantley ($2,600)
Hearn is allowing a .383 wOBA to lefties and .491 to righties, and while he's been better at home against same-handed bats, he's someone we can still target. Bregman has a.463 wOBA, 216 wRC+ and .294 ISO against lefties to date. Alvarez goes .408/177/.400 and Brantley .390/164/.158. All three strike out less than 15 percent of the time, which should counter Hearn's current 11.8 per nine pace. Jeremy Pena ($2,800) is also in play here, but the top three here are priced low enough we don't need to be too creative.
