We have a 12-game slate to close out the week and it's loaded across the board. There are plenty of strong pitching options, plenty in the mid-tier, and a slew of hitting options. There are some weather spots to note with St. Louis, Kansas City, and Denver as the main spot to keep an eye on.
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Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.
Pitching Breakdown
Shane McClanahan ($11,000): McClanahan is set to take the mound tonight against the Seattle Mariners after leaving his most recent start with back tightness. According to McClanahan himself, he did everything normal this week with his throwing routine and is ready to go. If McClanahan is truly healthy, he is too good, and in too good of a matchup, to pass up tonight.
On the season, he comes in with a 26.7% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate, 0.97 HR/9, 3.74 xFIP, 3.96 SIERA, 51.5% ground-ball rate, 15.6% swinging-strike rate, and 31.8% called-plus-swinging-strike (CSW) rate. The list goes on and on for McClanahan, who is truly one of the elite pitchers in the league.
When it comes to Mariners, they are struggling versus left-handed pitchers this season, putting McClanahan in a juicy spot. Right from the jump, we see the Mariners with a 26.9% strikeout rate in this split, which is the third-highest in the league. This gives McClanahan a chance to reach for his strikeout ceiling, which would be double digits.
The Mariners also come in with a 96 wRC+ (22nd), .146 ISO (22nd), .301 wOBA (24th), and 34.9% fly-ball rate (22nd) versus southpaws this season. They are simply a below-average offense and shouldn't pose too much of a threat to McClanahan, making him a clear option in all formats.
Bobby Miller ($9,800): Miller is a bit lower-salaried than some of the top options and will be up against the Kansas City Royals, a lineup we always look to target. The rookie has only 32.2 innings pitched this season, which means we're dealing with a smaller sample size, so take things with a grain of salt.
Miller comes in with a 22.6% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate, 0.55 HR/9, 4.07 xFIP, 4.33 SIERA, 48.4% ground-ball rate, 55.4% medium-contact rate, and a 10.8% swinging-strike rate. These are some solid numbers but they're not elite. Given the favorable matchup against a weak Royals lineup, Miller has my eye tonight.
The Royals come in with a 24.6% strikeout rate (5th), 80 wRC+ (30th), .290 wOBA (28th), and .144 ISO (25th) versus right-handed pitchers this season. They are one of the worst offenses in the league, which makes Miller very interesting tonight. He's coming off two lackluster starts but had piled up at least 33 FanDuel points in his four prior starts. This is the type of matchup that can help him return to that production.
Osvaldo Bido ($7,800): In each of the last two days, we looked at pitchers who were up against the Milwaukee Brewers, and today is no different. By no means is Bido a "safe" or "reliable" option, but his salary and the matchup are worth mentioning tonight.
Bido comes in with just three starts -- 15.2 innings pitched -- the MLB this season. It's a super small sample size, but his affordable salary will allow you to reach for any stack you want tonight. With that said, he comes in with a 25.4% strikeout rate, 7.0% walk rate, 0.57 HR/9, 3.75 xFIP, 38.3% ground-ball rate, and 48.9% medium-contact rate. He's been able to limit the hard contact and pile up a few strikeouts along the way.
The Brewers come in with a 25.1% strikeout rate (4th), 88 wRC+ (24th), .149 ISO (22nd), .302 wOBA (26th), 37.2% fly-ball rate (17th), and 32.3% hard-contact rate (17th) versus right-handed pitchers. They are simply not a good offense, which makes Bido the best value option among pitchers tonight, according to numberFire's projections.
Hitting Breakdown
This is another slate with teams at Coors Field. We all saw the offensive potential last night when there is a game at Coors Field, and it can provide a significant boost to your lineups. Since that is a well-established fact in MLB DFS, I prefer to talk about other teams on the slate.
The only note that I will make about the Detroit Tigers at Colorado Rockies is the fact the Tigers' hitters carry low salaries tonight. Their highest-salaried is only $3.3K, so Detroit didn't get the a huge bump.
Both theLos Angeles Dodgers (5.54 implied run total) and theAtlanta Braves (5.32) are very clear to stack tonight -- or any night for that matter. They have good matchups, plenty of power in their lineup, and massive fantasy upside. These two teams are rather obvious stacks on a nightly basis, so let's jump into a few other options.
We'll start with the St. Louis Cardinals, who have a 4.75 implied total against Luis Severino. To this point in the season, Severino has really struggled with the long ball, and the power in the Cardinals lineup could put that on display tonight.
Severino comes in with a 19.5% strikeout rate, 2.00 HR/9, .290 BABIP, 9.1% walk rate, 5.03 xFIP, 42.5% fly-ball rate, and 35.1% hard-contact rate. He's not striking out hitters at the same clip he is known to, walking more hitters, and is allowing a ton of fly balls. That is a very dangerous mix for a pitcher and could result in plenty of runs quickly for the opposing offense.
When it comes to Cardinals' hitters, we'll start with non-other than Paul Goldschmidt ($3,900) with a .235 ISO versus right-handed pitchers, Paul DeJong ($2,900) with a .224 ISO, Nolan Gorman ($2,900) with a .221 ISO, Nolan Arenado ($3,200) with a .193 ISO, and Jordan Walker ($3,000) with a .179 ISO.
This is some serious power, and the players have a wide range of salaries, which makes them helpful to target for stacks since you can simply take the ones that you can afford.
Next up, let's take a look at theLos Angeles Angels, who are rocking a 5.18 implied run total tonight against Tommy Henry of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Henry is the type of pitcher I like to target -- much like Severino above.
Henry comes in with a 15.4% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate, 1.58 HR/9, .275 BABIP, 5.34 xFIP, and 43.4% fly-ball rate this season. What does this mean? Henry isn't a big-time strikeout pitcher, and if he gets into a jam, he doesn't really pitch himself out of trouble by punching hitters out at the plate. He pitches to contact, but that contact is coming as a flyball a majority of the time.
That provides the Angels with some serious offensive upside tonight and can rocket your lineups up the leaderboards. If you are rostering an Angels stack tonight, you start with Shohei Ohtani ($4,600) -- full stop. He is beyond elite and carries 40-FanDuel-point potential on every single slate.
After Ohtani, we turn to Mike Trout ($4,000) with a .158 ISO and Hunter Renfroe ($2,900) with a .149 ISO. When it comes to Brandon Drury ($3,200), he actually has more power versus right-handed pitchers (.257 ISO) than he does versus lefties (.118 ISO). The same goes for Taylor Ward ($2,800), who is also a reverse splits hitter. Look to Eduardo Escobar ($2,500) if you need some salary relief to get to Ohtani.
Finally, feel free to sprinkle in some hitters from either theSan Francisco Giants (4.67 implied total) or theTexas Rangers (5.00), too. They have good matchups and solid power in their lineups. Specifically, I'd target Corey Seager ($4,200), Adolis Garcia ($4,000), Marcus Semien ($3,700), and Nathaniel Lowe ($3,100) from the Rangers.
For the Giants, I'd look to LaMonte Wade Jr ($3,200), Thairo Estrada ($3,500), and Joc Pederson ($3,300) against righty Carlos Carrasco.