This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Ten games are featured in FanDuel's main slate Tuesday evening, with a standard 7:07 p.m. EDT first pitch. It appears void of numerous high end pitching options, as Chris Sale at $11,200 headlines just four pitchers priced at $9,000 or greater. The home matchup against Colorado is an obvious smash spot if you can afford him.
Dodgers-Angels is our highest run total at 9.5, with Rangers-Yankees the only other game at 9.0. Four games come with a slate-low 7.5 runs, so we may be able to find some cheaper pitching if those play out accordingly. We're looking completely dry across the slate, and wind only appears to be a factor in Atlanta, where it's blowing in at a double-digit clip, further making Sale a clear and obvious choice.
Pitching
Carlos Rodon, NYY at TEX ($9,600): The top options aren't easy to navigate outside of Sale. Paul Skenes is next pricewise, but I question his innings upside. Luis Castillo probably has a safer floor than Rodon, but we need upside to combat not paying for Sale. Rodon has just three quality starts in his last seven outings, but has topped 40 fantasy points in four of those starts, including 5.2 shutout frames against these Rangers while striking out six. Texas overall doesn't swing and miss a ton at just 22.4 percent off lefties, but that comes with a weak .304 wOBA and 97 wRC+.
David Peterson, NYM vs. BOS ($8,500): Peterson is on a roll, so much so I'm a tad shocked by this relatively low salary. He's turned in four straight quality starts and five in his last six, showing a 28-point fantasy floor and 43-point ceiling. He's allowing just a .284 wOBA to lefties, which we know Boston struggles against, posting a massive 28.8 percent K rate and below average 98 wRC+.
Kyle Harrison, SF vs. ARI ($7,700): Harrison lands here as an exercise in how low can you go with the pitching options, and he's my bottom point. Big innings upside isn't his forte, but Harrison has struck out 21 across his last 20.1 innings which can help make up for that. Arizona's lineup remains riddled with injuries, and while not a large sample, the Diamondbacks are a collective 5-for-27 (.185) with a .407 OPS and 29.6 percent K rate against the Giants' starter.
Top Targets
Dodger bats are almost as obvious a target as Sale is on the mound. Reid Detmers will return from Triple-A, where he was solid over his last three starts but has labored for the entire season otherwise. Mookie Betts ($3,900) is coming off a three-run, three-RBI game and has double-digit fantasy points in nine of his last 11 games, making for a terrific building block against the lefty.
It seems Francisco Lindor ($3,700) is getting permanent space in this column. He continues to rake nightly, and the price has even fallen slightly. He's riding a 13-game hitting streak during which he's collected 19 hits in total, including five homers.
Phillies starter Tyler Phillips has allowed 17 runs and 20 hits across his last three starts, spanning just 11 innings. Righties have earned a .402 wOBA and .972 OPS off of him, setting up Vladimir Guerrero ($3,600) to possibly outperform his sliding salary.
Bargain Bats
This is a somewhat fun slate, in that we've got a lot of bottom-tier pitchers against bottom-tier offenses; which side do we back? Kyle Hendricks against Pittsburgh fits that profile, and he enters Tuesday with a .401 wOBA and .935 OPS allowed to lefties, which gives us some value options to consider. Rowdy Tellez ($2,500) and Yasmani Grandal ($2,400) fit that bill. Neither has homered off Hendricks, but Tellez has had some BvP success, going 8-for-22 (.364). Grandal less so at 5-for-25 (.200).
Walker Buehler against the Angels is a similar situation, though I think we can at least argue his viability as a usable starter given the run support he's expected to receive. Buehler's been brutal on the road (8.84 ERA, 8.82 FIP) though, allowing a .487 wOBA and 1.179 OPS to lefties. As such, Nolan Schanuel ($2,700) and/or Mickey Moniak ($2,600) can help round out lineups. Moniak quietly has four two-hit games in his last five.
Stacks to Consider
Atlanta vs. Kyle Freeland (Rockies): Marcell Ozuna ($3,800), Matt Olson ($3,300), Jorge Soler ($3,200)
Freeland has curious home/road splits, as he's solid in Coors Field and struggles away from home. That's the case Tuesday, making his 7.34 ERA and 5.52 FIP on the road juicy targets. It's righties that mash him to the tune of a .433 wOBA and 1.026 OPS, which attracts me to Ozuna and Soler atop this lineup. Soler isn't a must-use as he's regularly replaced late in the game for a better defender, but he's 5-for-13 off Freeland with a homer. Olson and Ozuna have both taken Freeland deep as well, and Olson is surging enough to consider despite the LvL matchup. If you need additional savings, you can remove him in favor of Ramon Laureano ($2,600) or whomever starts at catcher, preferably Travis d'Arnaud ($3,000), to get a third righty that's slotted into the heart of the Atlanta order.
Guardians vs. Brady Singer (Royals): Jose Ramirez ($4,100), Steven Kwan ($3,100), Andres Gimenez ($2,900)
The Guardians have dominated Singer, and given that it's a divisional matchup, it's a larger sample size to back. Overall, this lineup is 52-for-141 (.369) with a .928 OPS. They got him for nine hits and three runs across just 3.2 innings in an earlier meeting this year, and while Singer has been better at home, he's allowing a .374 wOBA to lefties overall. We can easily stack the top three in this order thanks to reduced prices on Kwan and Gimenez while targeting the LvR splits against Singer. Kwan is 9-for-20, Gimenez 8-for-25 and Ramirez 12-for-25 with three homers off of Singer.
