FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 10/1/23

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

Kevin Gausman ($11,100)

At his third highest salary this season, Toronto's ace will take the mound in their season finale against a weakened Tampa Bay Rays' lineup with a .285 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 24.1% K-rate.

Through his most recent 57.1 innings despite some inconsistency due to a 9.4% walk percentage, Gausman has often displayed a high ceiling with his recent form, accounting for a 12.5% swinging strike percentage and seven or more strikeouts in 40% of his ten appearances during this time period.

With Sunday's top strikeout expectation (7.13) and fantasy projection (37.4 FanDuel points) by more than four points, Gausman offers a sky-high potential ceiling when evaluating his slate-high projections and soft matchup versus six Tampa Bay hitters with K-rates between 24.5% and 37.0%.

Michael King ($8,600)

After consecutive quality starts including an impressive 13 strikeout performance, the Yankees' right-hander will challenge a Kansas City Royals' offense with a 20.9% K-rate and a weak .296 wOBA in their last 2891 plate appearances.

While King's sample size as a starter is limited to only 36.1 innings this season, the 28-year old has displayed intriguing potential in this role, accounting for an impressive 2.84 xFIP and a sizzling 34.7% K-rate.

Reid Detmers ($7,300)

Ranking 17th among his position in salary, Detmers is an intriguing value option to consider against an Oakland Athletics' team with a putrid .297 weighted on-base versus left-handed pitching this season.

When considering his favorable matchup and impressive recent form including a 3.92 xFIP and a 25.7% K-rate in his four starts, the Angels' southpaw deserves serious consideration especially when attempting to stack Coors Field bats.

Stacks

Minnesota Twins

After scoring 21 runs in the first two games of their series at Coors Field, the red-hot Twins remain a crucial decision point on Sunday with a slate-high 6.98 expected run total against Colorado's journeyman Brent Suter and his middling 4.03 career xFIP as a starter.

Optimal Minnesota stacks can still feature their top left-handed hitters due to Suter's uneven splits (3.76 xFIP against RHH / 4.69 xFIP against LHH) with a main focus on Matt Wallner (.379 expected wOBA, 18.8% barrel rate), Max Kepler (.364 expected wOBA, 12.3% barrel rate), Trevor Larnach (.328 expected wOBA, 13.3% barrel rate), and Edouard Julien (.349 expected wOBA, 13.3% barrel rate).

Atlanta Braves

Ranking a close second among today's offenses with a 6.44 expected run total, Atlanta's elite offense will attempt to break MLB's team home run record versus Washington's rookie Jackson Rutledge and his glaring inability to get outs against left-handed hitting (7.92 xFIP, .489 wOBA).

With Rutledge's main weakness in mind, ideal Atlanta combinations can group together Matt Olson (16.4% barrel rate, .394 expected wOBA), Ozzie Albies (.340 expected wOBA, 8.3% barrel rate), Michael Harris II (.356 expected wOBA, 10.2% barrel rate) and Eddie Rosario (9.3% barrel rate) while Ronald Acuna (.463 expected wOBA, 15.3% barrel rate), Austin Riley (.366 expected wOBA, 14.0% barrel rate), and Marcell Ozuna (.394 expected wOBA, 16.2% barrel rate) remain in play with their pop from the right side.

Colorado Rockies

In an underrated matchup against Bailey Ober, the Rockies could be overlooked at Coors Field despite ranking third overall with a 5.52 expected run total.

Colorado stacks can feature several of their top left-handed bats in the middle of their order to attack Ober's 4.62 xFIP in this split with top options involving Charlie Blackmon (.343 expected wOBA, .271 expected average), Nolan Jones (.357 expected wOBA, 15.4% barrel rate), and Ryan McMahon (.335 expected wOBA, 11.5% barrel rate while Brendan Rodgers(10.3% barrel rate) and Ezequiel Tovar (8.1% barrel percentage) rate as viable infield options with their recent batted ball form.

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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.