Adam Zibuda What is up everyone, happy Wednesday! Check out the FanDuel MLB 5/19 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 have a solid 12 game main slate with no weather concerns to worry about outside of KC and a 7:05 lock per usual. With that said, let’s get into the picks!
The Aces
A. Of course the best pitcher on the slate tonight is pitching in the one game with serious weather concerns, because that is MLB for you. Avoiding Corbin Burnes brings us directly to the doorstep of Max Scherzer ($11,700) as our ace of the day. Mad Max owns the second highest strikeout rate of the day behind only Burnes, and he draws a matchup against a strikeout-prone Cubs squad. While the flyball rate is always a potential concern with Scherzer, we can always overlook a few homers when he is striking out seven, 14, and nine over his previous three games. While he will be chalky, Scherzer is easily the top pitcher on the slate if we assume that we are avoiding Burnes due to weather concerns.
B. Getting back to my roots, I will be targeting another high-priced pitcher for my SP2 on FanDuel and then dropping down to save us some salary for my SP3. At SP2, we should look to Clayton Kershaw ($10,200) for Wednesday night facing off against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kershaw has had two shaky starts in his last three games, but he was able to notch 11 strikeouts to help offset the five earned runs against the Marlins last time out. We are getting a solid salary and ownership discount off of Mad Max here, which is really the main reason we would look to Kershaw. Obviously, Scherzer is the better pitcher with a better matchup, but this is baseball and we should not be surprised to see Kershaw outscore Scherzer tonight.
C. If looking to save some cap off of the pricey pitchers, I will be going down to Zach Eflin ($9,300) who will be throwing against the Marlins. Miami is not a team that scares me much and Eflin has been posting very solid strikeout numbers nearly every start in 2021. He has struggled a bit when it comes to limiting runs, but strikeouts are king in MLB DFS when it comes to our pitchers. Eflin owns a solid 3.41 SIERA, 26.7% strikeout rate, and only a 4.4% walk rate over the last two seasons combined. If looking to get exposure to some expensive hitters on FanDuel, Eflin is a great way to get us there.
The Bases
A. We have another Brad Keller start tonight, which means I will immediately be getting some exposure to the team that he is facing. For Wednesday, that team is the Milwaukee Brewers, who should be licking their chops for this matchup. Keller is a gas can who can be targeted nearly every time he takes the mound, even when the offense that he is facing put up a goose egg the night before. His strikeout rate of 16.9% is laughable and is the second-lowest of any pitcher on the entire day. He allows base runners and runs in bunches, and this Brewers lineup is starting to get healthy, so I love stacking this team up for tournaments.
B. The second team that I will be looking to stack for FanDuel’s Wednesday night slate is the Washington Nationals. The Nats draw a matchup against Jake Arrieta and the Cubs bullpen, which is a spot that should fail to preclude run production. Arrieta sports a 4.91 SIERA, 17.7% strikeout rate, and 8.4% walk rate. This Nationals team possesses a strong combination of speed and power which should end poorly for Jake tonight.
C. Lastly, I will look to mix in bats from yet another team that not only dropped a goose egg last night, but actually did not record a single hit, the Seattle Mariners. These stacks should definitely be low owned tonight, as the game log watchers will see the lack of production from these bats. The Mariners draw a get-right spot against an extremely hittable pitcher in Tarik Skubal. Skubal owns a 5.68 ERA and allows free passes at nearly a double digital rate. While the Mariners are ice cold, similar to the Brewers, I expect that to change tonight and will mix in their bats as both mini and full stacks.
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!
