FanDuel MLB DFS Picks and Helper: Tuesday 8/27/24

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.

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

MLB DFS Picks

Pitcher Breakdown

Any box you'd be looking to check on this slate at pitcher probably is done so by Logan Gilbert ($10,200) at the slate's fourth-highest salary.

The Seattle Mariners' right-hander faces the Tampa Bay Rays, who have the slate's lowest implied total (3.01). Tampa has bottomed out to the league's third-worst team OPS (.639) and third-highest strikeout rate (26.5%) against righties as a product of selling several key pieces at the deadline. Gilbert was roughed up for six earned runs by the Los Angeles Dodgers in his last start but otherwise sports an outstanding 3.22 expected ERA (xERA), 25.4% K rate, and 0.98 HR/9 allowed in his home park -- MLB's friendliest for hurlers.

Gilbert makes for an obvious choice if spending up at pitcher. Dylan Cease ($10,600) is an alternative, visiting the St. Louis Cardinals, who have a sub-frightening .684 team OPS against right-handers in the past month. The problem is that the Cards' 19.7% strikeout rate in those parameters is sixth-lowest in baseball. In a world where Gilbert gets roughed up, a sharp pivot could pay off in tournaments.

However, the obvious option behind Gilbert as a value guy is Andrew Heaney ($8,000). I regularly stack against the southpaw but the Chicago White Sox are not a candidate to do so -- especially when facing a lefty. Chicago holds a league-worst .508 team OPS and 42 team wRC+ against southpaws in the past 30 days with a high rate of punchouts (27.3%). Heaney has issues with the long ball (1.25 HR/9), but his 4.20 xERA, 23.5% K rate, and 6.5% BB rate are more than equipped for this task.

I'd love Garrett Crochet in this spot when Heaney's Texas Rangers are the only one in Chicago's league of ineptitude versus lefties, but he hasn't pitched into the fifth inning in seven straight.

Instead, two other choices are Jeffrey Springs ($8,700), who draws Seattle's ugly 76 wRC+ and 30.4% K rate against lefties in the past 30 days. A similarly favorable matchup in a pitcher's park awaits Tobias Myers ($7,900); the San Francisco Giants' .686 OPS against righties since the deadline is also pretty poor, but Myers' ceiling for whiffs (9.3% swinging-strike rate) isn't ideal.

Stacks to Target

• Colorado Rockies (5.94 implied team total)
  • Roddery Munoz at Coors Field could be legendary. The right-hander has coughed up a league-worst 2.55 HR/9 across 81.1 innings with a fly-ball (45.4%) and hard-hit (44.6%) rate allowed to legitimize it. The Rockies' own 85 wRC+ against righties in the last month is a path to failure, but Munoz only adds to the gut feeling that Coors will bare its teeth before long after just five runs last night.
• Boston Red Sox (5.36)
  • I'm hyperfixating on two games for most of my hitters -- Coors and this matchup at baseball's next-best hitter's park. Boston is a modest home favorite against Yariel Rodriguez, who enters having allowed nine earned in his last 9.1 innings pitched. Something to keep in mind here is severe power splits for Rodriguez, allowing just 0.66 HR/9 to lefties compared to 1.64 HR/9 to righties. That's a Tyler O'Neill ($3,200) spot if I've ever heard one.
• Miami Marlins (5.06)
  • Just four active Marlins have a wRC+ over 100 against righties in the past month, but hey, they at least hit in the top-four spots of the order. Cal Quantrill's effective sinker can be annoying, but the righty's 4.87 xERA and 39.2% hard-hit rate allowed aren't particularly frightening. The Rox's bullpen has also fallen off a cliff in the past month (4.60 xFIP; tied for third-worst in MLB).
• Toronto Blue Jays (4.64)
  • Cooper Criswell isn't a slam-dunk target for a stack, per his 3.91 xERA and 0.90 HR/9 allowed. The case for Toronto gets better when realizing he hasn't topped 80 pitches since July 23rd, so we'll see a good bit of a Red Sox bullpen that's as bad as Colorado's (4.60 xERA) over the last month. They should be under the radar with a lower implied total, too. I still prefer them to the high-salaried Los Angeles Dodgers with Gilbert in mind.

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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.