Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Aces and Bases. Today we have a big 14 game main slate of MLB DFS on Fanduel to navigate through.
My goal today will be to walk you through my 3 favorite pitchers and 3 favorite stacks on the day. We have a great slate lined up with solid options for pitching and stacking.
Let’s dig in to today’s slates!
MLB DFS: The Aces
Vladimir Gutierrez ($8.7k) vs. Chicago Cubs – Don’t look now but it looks like Gutierrez has figured it out. He has 4 consecutive quality starts and has averaged 40 points in those starts. In his last 2 starts he’s also seen an increase in K% with both being in the mid 20’s.
Tonight he gets as good of a match up as possible as he gets to take on the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are a shell of the team they use to be. Since the trade deadline they have been striking out at an increased rate. Over the past week they are at a near 32% K rate. Look for Gutierrez to continue his solid string of starts tonight.
Alek Manoah ($9.9k) vs. Washington Nationals – At less than $10k we’re getting a pitcher in Manoah who very well could be the top scoring pitcher on the slate tonight. While the Nationals came out of the trade deadline playing well, they’ve come back down to earth.
Over the past week they’ve been striking out nearly 29% of the time. With Manoah showing elite strike out ability at times there’s a good chance for upside with Manoah tonight, even at his salary. If he can dodge Soto tonight, he will have a solid night.
Corbin Burnes ($11.5k) vs. St Louis Cardinals – I will more than likely be staying with the first two pitchers I mentioned tonight as I’m not a huge fan of the match up. Cardinals aren’t huge strike out team and over the past week only have a 25% K rate.
That said, no one on tonight’s slate has the pure upside that Burnes has. On the year he has an elite 37% K rate and an ace level xFIP of 2.60. I don’t think you need to go here tonight with some of the other pitchers going, but if you do don’t expect another 79 point outing.
MLB DFS: The Bats
Detroit Tigers vs. Dylan Bundy – Over the last 3 months Bundy has only 3 starts where he had an xFIP under 5. While he had a dominant outing vs. the Rangers a little more than a week ago, that was more of an anomaly than it was the norm.
Over the past 30 days he’s been getting shelled. He has a 50% hard hit rate in his last 15 innings of work to go with a 43% fly ball rate. With those numbers combined he’s given up 5 barrels in those 15 innings of work. Bundy has been equally bad to both sides of the plate this year with ISO’s above .230 to righties and lefties.
My focus with the Tigers today will be the guys that are swinging the hottest bats. Candelario ($3.2k), Grossman ($3.5k), and Nunez ($3.3k) all have OPS’s greater than .900 over the past week and will be sure to be a part of my Tigers stack today. If you’re into narratives Cabrera ($2.9k) is still stuck on 499. How cool would it be to get a takedown while having Cabrera hit 500 in your lineup?
Tampa Bay Rays vs. John Means – The trend of continuing to pick on Orioles pitchers past and present continues with John Means. Means hasn’t looked right since his return from the IL. While he had 1 decent start vs. the Tigers at the end of July, he took a big step back in his last outing with giving up 6 ER in just over 4 innings.
He’s been giving up way too many fly balls to have any consistency as his fly ball rate over the past month is approaching 52%. Means’ biggest struggles this year have come against righties as they have a .216 ISO against him. The two guys I want to prioritize here are Randy Arozarena ($3.9k) and Nelson Cruz ($3.6k).
Both guys have wOBA’s over .366 against lefties this year. If we dig in to pitch data they also line up extremely well. Means’ main pitch is his 4 seamer and it’s been getting drilled this year. Arozarena and Cruz have slugging %’s greater than .600 to 4 seamers. They are each set up to have great nights. We can’t leave out Zunino ($3.1k) from this stack as he has a .506 ISO against lefties this year. Not a typo.
Philadelphia Phillies vs. Caleb Smith – The Phillies will look to build on their NL East lead tonight against Caleb Smith. This sets up well for them as Smith has been dreadful over the past month. In his last 21 innings of work he has a 5.52 xFIP and has given up 4 homers.
He’s also given up a 47% fly ball rate. That many fly balls is a recipe for disaster. The guys I want to focus on with this stack are the guys that are beating up lefties this year. Segura ($3.1k), Realmuto ($3.6k), McCutchen ($3k), and Harper ($4.2k) all have wOBA’s in the mid to upper .300’s. With Harper being in the L/L match up tonight we could get him lower owned than he should be.
MLB DFS: The Wrap Up
With pitching tonight I will more than likely live in the below $10k range. I really like what Gutierrez has done of late and will look to lock him in as my SP1. Bats will be tailored around the Tigers and Rays as the pieces I want to use correlate very well together.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
Make sure you follow me on Twitter at @rangerzfan79 and be sure to sign up for an ALL ACCESS GOLD ACCOUNT here at Win Daily Sports. Gain access to our Projection Models and jump into our Discord where we will have our experts talking plays across every sport and slate!
