FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 9/30/23

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.

Pitchers

Spencer Strider ($11,400)

At his lowest salary this month, Strider will have his third opportunity this season to pitch against a Washington Nationals' lineup with a stingy 17.1% K-rate and a .305 weighted on-base average (wOBA).

While the Nationals are a pesky opponent with seven hitters with K-rates under 17.6%, there are still numerous reasons to back Strider on Saturday when analyzing his recent expected form (3.38 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), 31.8% K-rate) and today's second highest projection including a 39.2 fantasy expectation.

Luis Castillo ($10,600)

After a 1.8% decrease to his second lowest salary point in September, Castillo will challenge a Texas Rangers' offense with a .326 wOBA and a 24.6% K-rate in their last 3488 plate appearances.

Through his most recent 63.0 innings despite some inconsistent performances, the Mariners' right-hander has been in overall solid form, accounting for a 25.6% strikeout percentage and quality starts in 60% of his last ten starts.

Although today's matchup is fairly difficult, Castillo is still ranked as today's top pitching option with 40.8 expected FanDuel points versus six Rangers' hitters with K-rates ranging between 22.6% and 32.9% in a must win situation with a postseason spot up for grabs.

Michael Wacha ($9,500)

If looking for a pitching option to help fit in Coors Fields bats, Wacha is someone to consider at a salary ranked fifth among his position in a favorable matchup against aChicago White Sox' unit with a .301 wOBA and an exploitable 23.4% K-rate.

While some regression may be heading his way when comparing his 4.50 xFIP to his 3.39 earned run average, the veteran has displayed a reasonable floor and ceiling in his last eight starts, averaging 29 FanDuel points and 5.5 strikeouts during this time period.

Stacks

Minnesota Twins

After scoring 54 runs in their last nine games, the Twins are in a great spot to continue their recent hot streak in Coors Field against Colorado's right-hander Karl Kauffmann and his extremely poor 6.54 xFIP as a starter in the big leagues.

To best attack Kauffmann's profile including a strong 40.8% ground-ball percentage, Ideal Minnesota stacks should combine their top fly ball powers hitters from either side of the plate including Max Kepler (12.1% barrel rate, 30.5% fly ball percentage), Alex Kirilloff (27.6% fly ball percentage, 7.6% barrel rate), Matt Wallner (28.7% fly ball percentage, 17.7% barrel rate), Edouard Julien (25.1% fly ball percentage, 13.0% barrel rate), and Michael Taylor (28.4% fly ball percentage, 13.2% barrel rate).

Colorado Rockies

Ranking a close second among today's offenses with an eye-popping 6.26 expected run total, the Rockies must be considered in a matchup versus Emilio Pagan and a Twins' bullpen with a middling 4.22 xFIP.

While it's tough to pinpoint a specific weakness with Minnesota's bullpen approach on Saturday, optimal Colorado stacks can group together their top power hitters with a main focus on Ryan McMahon (.335 expected wOBA, 11.5% barrel rate), Nolan Jones (15.5% barrel rate, .356 expected wOBA), Brendan Rodgers (.323 expected wOBA, 10.7% barrel rate), and Charlie Blackmon (.344 expected wOBA, .412 expected slugging percentage) whileEzequiel Tovar (8.2% barrel rate), and Kris Bryant (.415 expected slugging percentage, 6.1% barrel rate) rate as secondary options.

Atlanta Braves

Outside of Coors Field, MLB's top ranked offense could be overlooked despite a great spot against Washington's Joan Adon and his poor 4.93 career xFIP through 112.2 innings.

Ideal Atlanta stacks can feature their top left-handed bats to address Adon's trouble in this split (.384 wOBA, 5.01 xFIP) including Matt Olson (.395 expected wOBA, 16.6% barrel rate), Michael Harris II (.355 expected wOBA, 10.3% barrel rate), Ozzie Albies (.341 expected wOBA, 8.4% barrel rate), and Eddie Rosario (.322 expected wOBA, 9.3% barrel rate).

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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.