Adam Zibuda What is up everyone, happy Wednesday! Check out the FanDuel MLB 6/2 breakdown below.
As usual, I will be going over 3 pitchers and 3 teams that we should be looking to stack in our FanDuel lineups. We get the weather concerns out of the way with the early slate, as the eight game main slate looks clear. I had a nice long MDW weekend, but it is good to be back on the grind. With that said, let’s get into the picks!
The Aces
A. This is a very interesting main slate for pitching, as we do not have any of the household names that first come to mind when we think of MLB aces. To put things in perspective, Shane McClanahan ($7,100) has the lowest SIERA on the main slate tonight. While that is a wild thought, he is definitely my SP1 tonight at that price point. Shane will be throwing against the New York Yankees who we know are never afraid to strikeout. McClanahan owns a nearly 30% strikeout rate and only a 6.5% walk rate and he is an elite option for a more than reasonable price tag.
B. My SP2 is another name that not many casual MLB fans have ever heard of, Alek Manoah ($10,000). I know what you are thinking, “I am going to pay 10 grand for a pitcher that I have never even heard of before”, but hear me out. Manoah is one of the top prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays organization who just came out and pitched a gem in his MLB debut against the aforementioned New York Yankees. The pricing of a slate is all relative, so with no expensive aces to pay up for, $10,000 for a very promising young talent like Manoah is actually very reasonable. If I am paying up at pitcher on FanDuel Wednesday night, it will either be on this Jays future ace, or my SP3 below.
C. My SP3 of the night is not typically a pitcher that you would expect to see in this third section of my article, Walker Buehler ($9,700). Buehler is coming into this game as a massive favorite over the St. Louis Cardinals, who are not a team that frequently come into games as large underdogs. While his SIERA is not exactly elite, he does own a low 2.94 ERA, a decent 26.5% strikeout rate, and a low 5.6% walk rate. While that is not exactly and overly enthusiastic endorsement, that is why he is my SP3. Buehler is a fine option if we start to get wind that Manoah will be chalky, as he is still a young and inexperienced pitcher with a wide range of outcomes.
The Bases
A. The main reason that the Los Angeles Dodgers are such large favorites against a solid St. Louis Cardinals team is due to the pitcher that they have taking the mound Wednesday night. Carlos Martinez has been nothing short of an absolute gas can this season. His two year statistics have ballooned to a 5.01 SIERA, 5.77 ERA, and a 14.5% strikeout rate. While it is hard to believe, if we just look at this season those numbers manage to get even worse. If C Mart is getting blasted by other teams in the MLB, he can certainly get lit up by this potent Dodgers offense and they are strong targets in all formats on a slate where we do not need to pay up for pitching.
B. While I typically do not like to target bad offenses just because they are in Coors Field, when a bad offense is facing an awful pitcher in Coors Field I have no choice but to have some interest. FanDuel does not typically adjust pricing quite as drastically as DraftKings to account for games being in Colorado, so I usually have more interest in Coors bats over there as well. The bad offense facing the worse pitcher in Coors Wednesday night is the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies will be taking swings against Jordan Lyles and his 6.41 ERA, 5.01 SIERA, and 17.2% strikeout rate. While these two teams did not combine for many runs on Tuesday, I do not expect that to be the case tonight.
C. The final team that I will be targeting tonight is the Atlanta Braves, who will be facing off against Jon Lester and the Washington Nationals bullpen. Lester is definitely not the pitcher that he used to be, although he has still been able to limit hard contact to a reasonable rate. His strikeout rate is low and his advanced metrics are high, which is just not a combination for success when you are going up against a guy like Ronald Acuna Jr. We can target the Braves bats as one-offs or stacks in tournaments, and I will specifically be looking at hitters that generate plenty of hard contact to eliminate the one strength of Lester’s game.
That is it for me today! Please also check out our projection model by clicking here. If you have any questions, I will be in our expert chat in Discord leading up to lock, so feel free to shoot me a DM or @ me in chat!
