FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 9/11/23

We have both top-notch pitchers and tantalizing matchups for stacks tonight. However, there's weather to monitor, as well, particularly on the East Coast where games in Boston and New York could have delays.

Our daily fantasy helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups.

Be sure to also incorporate numberFire's great tools into your research process, including daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, and batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups.

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Pitching Breakdown

There's little question that Tyler Glasnow ($11,500) is the top pitcher on the board, and he's fresh off racking up a season-high 14 Ks last week against the Boston Red Sox.

Over 17 starts, the right-hander has put up a lethal 3.01 SIERA, 33.5% strikeout rate, 7.0% walk rate, and 51.1% ground-ball rate. He's once again reminding everyone that he's one of the sport's elite arms when healthy.

The Minnesota Twins are an above-average offense, but their active roster has a 25.5% strikeout rate versus righties, further boosting Glasnow's prospects of a ceiling game. His 8.5 strikeout prop is the highest on the slate and another sign that we want him in lineups.

Brandon Woodruff ($11,000) has looked like his old self since returning in early August, and his 31.3% strikeout rate trails only Glasnow. While the Miami Marlins aren't an amazing matchup for punchouts, they have one of the slate's lowest implied team totals (3.28).

Woodruff will have a tougher time matching Glasnow in Ks, but he's logged quality starts in four of his last five and recently posted a season-best 11 strikeouts in a more difficult matchup than this versus the San Diego Padres.

Logan Gilbert ($10,200) gives us a little more wiggle room at this salary, and he has an excellent matchup against the Los Angeles Angels. It's possible Shohei Ohtani returns this week, but even if he does, there otherwise isn't much to fear in this lineup loaded with high-strikeout bats. As it stands, the Angels have a slate-worst 3.11 implied team total.

Gilbert doesn't have anywhere near the same firepower as Glasnow or Woodruff, but his 25.4% strikeout rate is good enough to take advantage of this spot, and his 4.5% walk rate helps him pitch deep into games.

Framber Valdez ($10,800) and Jesus Luzardo ($9,700) are others to consider in the upper-tier range. Valdez has a plus matchup facing the Oakland Athletics while Luzardo boasts the night's third-best strikeout rate (28.2%) in a neutral spot versus the Milwaukee Brewers.

For a value play, Dylan Cease ($8,400) is appealing against the Kansas City Royals.

This is a repeat matchup for Cease, and while his fantasy score didn't move the needle last time, he did log seven Ks. This is an ideal opponent for him to do well, though, as KC's active roster has an 87 wRC+, 23.6% strikeout rate, and 6.3% walk rate versus righties.

Hitting Breakdown

The one hesitation to spending up for Glasnow is that the Chicago Cubs are checking in with a massive 6.09 implied team total at Coors Field.

We've been attacking left-hander Kyle Freeland regardless of the venue this season. He has poor numbers across the board against right-handed batters with a 5.43 xFIP, 12.9% strikeout rate, and 2.01 home runs allowed per nine innings. If that wasn't enough, Freeland's strikeout rate jumps to just 18.8% when facing lefties, so Cody Bellinger ($4,600) should get in on the fun, too.

The Los Angeles Dodgers make their usual appearance here, this time with right-hander Pedro Avila slated to be tonight's potential victim.

Avila's lucky to have allowed just one home run over 37 innings this season, but he's induced an elite 60.4% ground-ball rate and has a respectable 4.13 SIERA, so some credit is due. However, he hasn't been punished enough for his 11.9% walk rate and most recently somehow escaped a 6-walk outing without allowing any runs against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Given that Avila also had an awful 8.57 ERA and 6.38 xFIP in Triple-A this year, everything points to some harsh regression coming his way.

Against lefties, he's produced a 5.24 xFIP, 17.6% strikeout rate, and 17.6% walk rate, so Freddie Freeman ($4,200) and Max Muncy ($3,400) are enticing plays.

If the forecast doesn't get in the way of the game at Fenway playing, the Boston Red Sox should be able to do some damage against Clarke Schmidt on a humid night.

While Schmidt has strong numbers in same-handed matchups, that isn't the case versus lefties, where we see a 4.89 xFIP, 19.5% strikeout rate, and 41.1% ground-ball rate. Boston has seven lefties starting on Monday, including sluggers Rafael Devers ($3,900) and Triston Casas ($3,200). For some possible value, Wilyer Abreu ($2,900) and Enmanuel Valdez ($2,400) both have some pop lower in the order.

The Houston Astros have one of the slate's highest implied team totals, though they'll initially have to face top prospect Mason Miller, who's shown promise when healthy this year. Even if he's on his game, Miller's unlikely to pitch many innings after logging just two innings in his last appearance, meaning the Astros will face a poor A's bullpen for the majority of this game.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.