FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Wednesday 8/2/23

Wednesday's main slate may have only eight games, but it has a fair number of quality pitching options, which could spread out roster percentages. That leaves a narrow selection of obvious spots for stacks, particularly with Coors Field taking place earlier in the day.

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 favorite to win the AL Cy Young on FanDuel Sportsbook, Gerrit Cole ($10,900) is the conventional pick at pitcher tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Cole's 27.3% strikeout rate may not be as high as years past, but it's still the night's fourth-best mark, and he's been about as consistent as they come in terms of both performance and volume. He's tied for the league lead in quality starts (16), has logged the league's fifth-most innings, and routinely cracks 100 or so pitches.

The Rays aren't an easy matchup by any means, but they're coming off a sluggish July that cost them a once comfortable AL East lead. It's possible regression has set in for a team that's well exceeded preseason expectations, and their 3.66 implied team total is one of the slate's lowest.

While Cole provides a level of safety, there are plenty of worthwhile contenders who could surpass him for Wednesday's top fantasy score.

We know the drill when it comes to Kodai Senga ($10,600) at this point. He can light up any opponent with his 29.1% strikeout rate but will often come up short because of his 11.9% walk rate.

But if there was ever an opponent that was tailor-made for Senga, it's the Kansas City Royals. Against right-handed pitching, the Royals' active roster has produced an 85 wRC+, 23.2% strikeout rate, and 5.9% walk rate this season -- and that walk rate is the league's worst mark.

While Senga's ceiling games seem to pop up when we least expect them in tough matchups, an impatient lineup like this should really tip the scales in his favor.

Joe Ryan ($10,300) leads the slate with a 29.6% strikeout rate, but home runs have suddenly become a major concern, as he's allowed a whopping 13 dingers over his last six starts. The good news is his punchouts have jumped to a 35.8% clip over this span, and his homer-to-fly-ball rate has been all out of whack, so the hope is that the long balls are just a small sample-size fluke.

This isn't an easy spot versus an above-average St. Louis Cardinals offense, and rain could be a potential issue late in the game. But if the weather holds and Ryan is able to keep the ball out of the outfield stands, his ceiling is among the slate's best.

Logan Webb ($10,500) isn't someone we typically expect to contend with guys like Senga and Ryan when it comes to strikeouts, but he can sometimes get there through sheer innings volume. He's the guy who's tied with Cole for the most quality starts, and he's just a couple of frames away from leading the league in innings pitched.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are another tricky opponent, but their 3.56 implied team total is the slate's worst mark, and Webb has been excellent at home this year. While it's expected to be quite windy even by Oracle Park standards, temperatures will be way down in the 60s, and Webb's 60.8% ground-ball rate typically keeps him out of home-run trouble.

Dylan Cease ($9,300) is risky in a tough matchup against the Texas Rangers (4.54 implied team total), but he's also a pretty good value at this salary. His 27.6% strikeout rate gives him upside, though much like Senga, a 9.4% walk rate sometimes lets him down. His boom-or-bust profile is amplified if Texas has more righties in the lineup, as Cease's strikeout rate (32.4%) and walk rate (12.4%) both go up in that split.

Lastly, Yusei Kikuchi ($8,600) can be considered versus the Baltimore Orioles if you're on a budget. Round-trippers are always a problem for Kikuchi, but he has a solid 25.3% strikeout rate and has popped for eight strikeouts in three of his last six starts.

Hitting Breakdown

The Los Angeles Dodgers are facing a struggling left-hander in Hogan Harris, so their slate-best 5.74 implied team total isn't surprising. Harris comes in with a 4.65 SIERA, 20.2% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate, and 40.0% ground-ball rate, and absolutely none of that will scare this vaunted Dodgers lineup.

We'll obviously want to prioritize righties against the southpaw, and that naturally means starting with Mookie Betts ($4,200) and Will Smith ($3,500) whenever possible. Amed Rosario ($2,900), Chris Taylor ($2,800), and Enrique Hernandez ($2,500) continue to get starts versus lefties, giving us a trio of righty value plays, too.

The Chicago Cubs' offense went nuclear on Tuesday, and while they'll have a hard time matching those 20 runs, they should be able to make some noise versus Brandon Williamson.

Despite his run of decent results, Williamson continues to look like a serious regression candidate. The lefty has a 5.26 SIERA, 17.8% strikeout rate, and 10.0% walk rate, and it's not like he's even suppressing hard contact, either, with his xERA way up at 5.70. As is, he's allowing 1.40 home runs per nine innings off a 44.3% fly-ball rate, and it's possible that could get even worse.

Cody Bellinger ($3,700) hasn't missed a beat against lefties, so we shouldn't hesitate to roster him here, and then Seiya Suzuki ($2,800), Dansby Swanson ($3,200), and Christopher Morel ($4,100) are the top righties to target. Morel's salary is getting up there, but his .258 ISO exceeds even Bellinger's (.228).

The Cincinnati Reds scored "just" nine runs against the Cubs last night, but we'll happily take that mark if they can duplicate it versus Drew Smyly. Yet another left-hander, Smyly has a mediocre 4.59 SIERA and isn't doing much in the way of getting strikeouts (20.7%) or grounders (34.6%), leading to 1.50 home runs per nine innings.

We could see the entire Reds lineup loaded with righties. Matt McLain ($3,900) and Spencer Steer($3,400) are the best power bats, and guys like Nick Senzel ($2,800) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand ($2,900) stand out as low-salaried options.

The New York Mets round out the slate's best stacks with a 5.01 implied team total and a date with minor league call-up Cole Ragans. Although Ragans has demonstrated some strikeout potential in Triple-A, it's come with a double-digit walk rate that's carried over into his limited big league appearances. Dating back to last season, the young lefty has amassed a 4.93 SIERA, 18.0% strikeout rate, and 10.7% walk rate over 69 1/3 innings.

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.