FanDuel MLB DFS Picks: Tuesday 9/17/24

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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

There's a trio of top-level arms going tonight in Cole Ragans ($10,400), Zack Wheeler ($10,900) and Michael King ($9,800). A matchup with the Houston Astros puts King into GPP-only territory for me, leaving Ragans and Wheeler in their own tier in my eyes.

Ragans gets the Detroit Tigers. While it's certainly a good matchup, Detroit has been feisty lately, so it's not a pushover. However, Ragans' K prop is at 6.5 with -152 odds on the over. He's got a 29.6% strikeout rate and 14.5% swinging-strike rate, so he's capable of a huge outing tonight. Our MLB DFS projections forecast Ragans for a slate-leading 40.1 FanDuel points.

Wheeler will see the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brew Crew are a tough matchup, but Wheeler -- the owner of a 3.41 SIERA and 27.9% strikeout rate -- is more than capable of coming through. He's -170 to record at least seven punchouts, and our projections slot him in right behind Ragans, projecting Wheeler for 39.2 FanDuel points.

If you want to go with a value arm, Griffin Canning ($7,700) is worth a look. Canning is on the radar due to a date with the Chicago White Sox. You may have heard: the White Sox are bad. They are dead last in second-half wOBA (.268) with the 12th-highest K rate (24.3%) in the split. Canning has a huge gopher-ball issue (1.61 homers per nine), but he also sports an 11.0% swinging-strike rate. He's a fine punt.

Stacks to Target

• Arizona Diamondbacks (6.16 implied total) and Colorado Rockies (5.34)
  • The top two implied totals tonight come from the Coors game. In spite of Arizona's lofty implied total, I think I'll tread lightly with them because Ryan Feltner (3.64 home xFIP) has been pretty dang good this season. The Rox, on the other hand, I'm all about stacking them against Jordan Montgomery, who has been terrible this season (4.98 SIERA and 14.9% K rate). Ezequiel Tovar ($3,700) and Brenton Doyle ($3,900) are stellar plays, and Brendan Rodgers ($3,100) is easy to like at his salary.
• Chicago Cubs (4.64)
  • The Cubs are at Wrigley versus Mitch Spence. The Oakland Athletics' righty has been decent this year (4.18 SIERA), but the Cubs' offense is cooking, ranking sixth in second-half wOBA (.326). Spence has posted reverse-splits this season, so Seiya Suzuki ($3,400), Isaac Paredes ($3,000) and Dansby Swanson ($2,900) are at the top of my Cubs wish list. Swanson has turned around his season in the second half, mashing his way to a .342 wOBA in that time.
• Philadelphia Phillies (3.99)
  • Oddsmakers are giving Frankie Montas a lot of respect today, handing the Phillies' offense a 3.99 implied total. Montas has unquestionably been much better with the Brewers (3.59 xFIP) than he was with the Cincinnati Reds (4.70), but I'm into the idea of getting Kyle Schwarber ($4,000) and Bryce Harper ($3,800) at potentially low draft percentages against a right-handed hurler. Given the implied totals and salaries at Coors, there's a chance the Phils go totally overlooked tonight.

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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.