FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 9/22/23

Following some smaller MLB slates the past couple of days, we're jumping up to 11 games on Friday night. Despite that, we can narrow both our pitchers and stacks to a pretty tight group of core plays.

Our daily fantasy 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 numberFire's great tools into your research process, including daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, and batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups.

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Pitching Breakdown

The Los Angeles Angels' lineup looks nothing like the one we saw on Opening Day, and this is an offense we should be attacking regularly in what little time remains of this 2023 campaign.

That's especially the case when a potent arm like Pablo Lopez ($11,000) is opposite the Halos. Over 30 starts, Lopez has posted a 3.40 SIERA, 29.2% strikeout rate, and 6.1% walk rate, and he recorded a season-high 14 punchouts just two weeks ago.

The Angels' active roster is tied for the league's second-worst wRC+ (85) and strikeout rate (25.7%) versus right-handed pitching. On FanDuel Sportsbook, Lopez's K prop is set at 7.5, and it's pretty telling that he's at -146 odds to exceed that mark.

Despite the high salary, we shouldn't overlook this tantalizing spot for Lopez tonight.

But if you need to allocate more funds for hitters, Chris Sale ($9,200) is a potential alternative.

While it's been a frustrating season for Sale that's been marred by injury yet again, his underlying metrics have generally been positive throughout the year. Since returning in August, he's logged a 3.76 xFIP, 32.1% strikeout rate, and 8.6% walk rate.

The lanky lefty's actual results have been much more mixed, but he most recently mowed down the Toronto Blue Jays for 10 punchouts, so the potential for a tournament-worthy performance remains intact.

This is the ideal matchup for him to duplicate that performance. The Chicago White Sox may have a predominantly right-handed lineup, but it hasn't amounted to much versus southpaws. In the split, their active roster is showing a 91 wRC+, .135 ISO, and 24.0% strikeout rate. That lack of power is particularly helpful for a pitcher who's struggled with the long ball at times this year.

Perhaps the biggest concern for Sale is pitch count. Although he got up to 100 pitches earlier in the month, he logged just 81 in his last start, and there's little reason for the Boston Red Sox to push him over his final starts. Additionally, despite that Toronto outing, Sale's velocity has been down, as well.

In all, the southpaw carries a good deal of risk -- but the payoff could be huge if he's dealing again.

In between Lopez and Sale, we've got Charlie Morton ($10,300), who continues to be maddeningly inconsistent but is still capable of racking up the Ks here and there (25.6% strikeout rate). Over his last six starts, Morton has logged eight or more punchouts four times, including two with double-digit strikeouts.

Although the Washington Nationals are notorious for suppressing strikeouts, they also rarely draw walks, which should help Morton keep his 11.4% walk rate from ruining this start. We're also expecting strong winds blowing in from right field in Washington, which should help lead to some easy flyouts from a team lacking in power to begin with.

Framber Valdez ($11,300) is less appealing at this salary, but he's still in play against a Kansas City Royals team with a slate-low 3.30 implied team total. Facing what's expected to be a righty-heavy lineup, I'm not sure how much strikeout upside Valdez will have, but he's posted five straight quality starts and has gone seven innings in four of them. The southpaw could still get his fantasy score up if he can keep the Royals off the board over seven-plus frames.

If you're willing to roll the dice on a complete unknown, Sawyer Gipson-Long ($8,300) is coming off an 11-strikeout game in just his second-ever MLB start. That might not normally be enough to get our attention -- he was facing the Angels after all -- but he's not exactly going up in competition versus the Oakland Athletics tonight.

Gipson-Long has now logged 16 Ks over his first 10 innings with a 21.3% swinging-strike rate, and his 32.7% strikeout rate in Triple-A suggests this may not be entirely a fluke. He got up to just 82 pitches last time, so expectations need to be in check, but this is the right salary and matchup to take the plunge.

Hitting Breakdown

The Atlanta Braves are facing left-hander Patrick Corbin, so in a shocking turn of events, their implied team total is one of the night's best (5.39). Against righties, Corbin has a mere 16.0% strikeout rate and is allowing 1.68 home runs per nine innings.

However, as noted earlier, the wind is blowing in at Nationals Park, which could kill some potential home runs. It's by no means enough to knock off the Braves as the night's top stack, but it's something to keep in mind if it sounds like they'll be overwhelmingly popular.

We're more than familiar with Atlanta's bats at this point, though, so let's move on to the Boston Red Sox, who actually have the slate's highest implied team total (5.51).

They're facing Touki Toussaint, a right-hander with terrible control (15.2% walk rate) and has major issues getting left-handed batters out. While Toussaint is generally strong in same-handed matchups -- outside of issuing walks at least -- he has a woeful 5.70 xFIP and 18.4% strikeout rate versus lefties.

Boston has lost some of its key lefties to injury, but we can still roll out Rafael Devers ($4,100), Alex Verdugo ($2,900), and Masataka Yoshida ($2,900) as solid building blocks. Justin Turner ($3,300) is arguably the most appealing right-handed batter against Toussaint due to his excellent 16.8% strikeout rate.

The Minnesota Twins are getting Davis Daniel, who's making his second-ever MLB appearance. He logged three scoreless innings earlier this month, but the underlying metrics were ugly, as he posted three walks to just one strikeout and managed just a 4.5% swinging-strike rate.

Daniel has been injured for most of the season, so it's hard to read too much into his limited minor league work this year. However, when he had a full Triple-A campaign in 2022, he produced an underwhelming 5.83 xFIP and 19.4% strikeout rate.

This Minnesota lineup is all value, too, which is a nice added bonus. Daniel will likely have to face five lefties/switch-hitters in a row between Edouard Julien ($3,000), Jorge Polanco ($3,200), Alex Kirilloff ($2,600), Max Kepler ($2,900), and Willi Castro ($2,700). Matt Wallner ($2,800) generally hits near the bottom but is sporting an eye-popping 16.7% barrel rate this year.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and Philadelphia Phillies check in as quality stacks, as well.

The Dodgers are pretty much a nightly play, but this isn't a bad matchup for their righties against southpaw Sean Manaea. Manaea has allowed 1.51 home runs per nine innings to right-handed batters.

Dakota Hudson gets ground balls, but that doesn't make up for a 13.0% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate. The Padres could do well here.

Philadelphia will face Tylor Megill, another right-hander who's short on Ks (17.9%) and walks too many batters (10.7%). The difference is he gives up more fly balls than Hudson, particularly when up against lefties.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.