FanDuel MLB DFS Picks and Helper: Thursday 8/15/24

Our daily fantasy helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and give you a starting point when you're building lineups.

Be sure to incorporate our MLB DFS projections -- which are powered by numberFire -- into your research process. numberFire also has the latest starting lineups and weather as well as heat maps to help you find the best matchups.

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate, which starts at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Note: All MLB odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook. All stats come from FanGraphs and Baseball Savant unless noted otherwise.

MLB DFS Picks

Pitcher Breakdown

We've got a funky four-game afternoon main slate today (1:10 p.m. ET start). Despite there being only four games, we have a handful of big-name pitchers at various salaries in Jack Flaherty ($10,800), Logan Webb ($9,700) and Max Fried ($8,600).

In my eyes, Flaherty is the clear top arm. He's got a dazzling 2.73 SIERA on the back of a 32.1% strikeout rate and 14.2% swinging-strike rate. The matchup versus the Milwaukee Brewers is a tough one as Milwaukee is eighth in wOBA versus right-handers (.325), but oddsmakers are backing Flaherty. Per the MLB odds at FanDuel Sportsbook, Flaherty's K prop is at 6.5 with -162 odds on the over.

While Webb and Fried are very good real-life pitchers, their lack of strikeout upside isn't ideal for DFS, especially Webb at his lofty salary. Obviously, Webb and Fried are in play on this small slate, but I'm passing over those two and targeting Bryce Miller ($9,100) as my SP2.

Miller gets a delectable road date with the Detroit Tigers, a team with the ninth-highest K rate against righties (23.8%) along with the sixth-worst wOBA in the split (.298). The owner of a 3.95 SIERA and 22.7% strikeout rate, Miller as the ability to crush in this superb matchup.

Others to Consider

• Jose Quintana ($8,800 vs. Oakland Athletics) - The A's have been tough on lefties of late, but their lineup isn't the same without Brent Rooker (paternity leave). If Rooker is out again, I feel much better about using Quintana, who can serve as a pivot off the likely popular Miller. The veteran lefty has a 24.2% strikeout rate in the second half.

Stacks to Target

• Los Angeles Dodgers (4.30 implied total) -- I'm a wee bit confused why the Dodgers' implied total is only 4.30 as I view them as the day's clear number-one stack. The return of Mookie Betts ($4,000) is a big boost. He and Shohei Ohtani ($4,800) are the slate's top two bats, per our MLB DFS projections. They'll surely be chalky against Tobias Myers despite the meh implied total. The only issue is finding the salary to stack LA's best hitters.
• New York Mets (4.72) -- The Mets have the slate's top implied total. They're in a decent enough spot against Mitch Spence, but as I said, I prefer LA. Spence has a 4.20 SIERA and 10.4% swinging-strike rate, so he's not that bad. However, the Mets' salaries -- aside from Francisco Lindor ($3,800) -- make them a whole lot easier to get to than the Dodgers.
• San Francisco Giants (3.55) -- I'm going off the grid for the Giants, a team with the slate's second-lowest implied total. Fried is really good, but San Fran can do damage versus southpaws, sporting the seventh-best wOBA in the split (.329). Plus, Fried has not looked sharp in his first two starts off the IL, allowing five earned runs to the Miami Marlins and four (at Coors) to the Colorado Rockies. Rather than a full stack, I prefer to zero in on Tyler Fitzgerald ($3,500), Matt Chapman ($3,400) and Heliot Ramos ($3,300) as one-offs or mini-stacks.

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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.