Adam Zibuda What is up everyone, happy hump day! Check out the FanDuel MLB 8/11 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. What a disaster of a slate last night was in terms of weather. Luckily tonight it looks like we only have one game to worry about in Chicago, but clearly you never really know. With plenty of early games, we are left with 10 games on the main slate that locks at 7:05. With that said, let’s get into the picks!
The Aces
A. The clear-cut top arm on the FanDuel slate tonight is Corbin Burnes ($11,000) who will be throwing against the Chicago Cubs. Lately, we have had to think a bit about these aces because they have had some difficult matchups against some solid teams that are still trying to make the playoffs. Fortunately, that is not the case tonight. The Cubs traded away their entire team before the trade deadline and have totally mailed in this season. As I mentioned above, we do need to keep an eye on the weather in this game, but it seems like it may be a later-innings issue so we should still be able to get our full output from Burnes as long as he is not on pace to throw a complete game.
B. After Burnes, we have another very solid arm in another excellent matchup. Kevin Gausman ($10,300) will be throwing against the Arizona Diamondbacks who have also all but given up on this 2021 MLB season. The Giants are listed as one of the larger favorites that you will see, and Gausman has actually managed to post an even lower ERA than Burnes, while also saving us $700 on FanDuel. His 30.2% strikeout rate is definitely a step down from Burnes’ 35% rate, but I also expect Burnes to have the highest ownership of any pitcher so I am more than fine dropping to KG in tournaments.
C. Dropping down into the upper-mid tier at pitcher tonight, my SP3 will be Alek Manoah ($9,400) as he faces off against the LA Angels. Outside of Ohtani, this Angels lineup is pretty rough these days. I can remember back to the game where Trout started limping while running the base paths and how nobody expected him to be out for essentially the entire season at that point, but here we are. Manoah owns a very strong 2.58 SIERA, 28.2% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate on the season. He has really been somewhat of a breakout star for this Toronto rotation and as long as he is able to keep Ohtani’s batted balls inside the ballpark, he should be able to post a very solid outing at this price point with miniscule ownership.
The Bases
A. A team that has given up on the season typically sends out subpar arms from their bullpen during games as well. This is usually due to some combination of tanking while also getting a good look at some guys that would not normally see any work during a competitive game or season. So when we have a hittable starting pitcher along with a team that has given up, that is a recipe for fantasy goodness. The Milwaukee Brewers are facing the Cubs as I mentioned in the Burnes blurb above and they are the top stack on the slate tonight by miles. Arrieta is the worst pitcher taking the mound and these bullpen arms do not look pretty, so I am expecting significant run production from the brew crew tonight.
B. The second team that I am looking to stack as much as possible in tournaments on FanDuel tonight is the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards draw a matchup against Wil Crowe and his 4.86 SIERA. Crowe also sports a 20.9% strikeout rate and an inflated 10.9% walk rate. That is good for the second worst SIERA on the entire slate, and the Cardinals have one of the higher implied team totals as a result. While the Pirates have not given up quite as much as the Cubs, they still have a very hittable bullpen as well so I love this spot for St. Louis.
C. You did not think you would get out of this article without me writing up a team that is facing Matt Harvey, did you? The Detroit Tigers are still looking to make a playoff push coming off of their dominant win against the Orioles last night and they draw the dream matchup that is Matt Harvey’s pitching. Harvey owns a 4.85 SIERA, a laughably low 16.3% strikeout rate, and a 6.5% walk rate which is really the lone bright spot of his pitching. The reason that his walk rate is so low is because batters are putting the bat on the baseball before Harvey is even able to throw four balls. This Detroit team is motivated and they draw one of the best matchups on the board for more than reasonable price tags across the industry, so sign me up!
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!
