FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 8/26/23

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.

Pitchers

Max Scherzer ($11,000)

Despite recording his worst start in a Rangers' uniform in his last appearance, Scherzer's salary has moved to his highest point this season against a Minnesota Twins' offense with a .324 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 23.8% K-rate.

While his command has been somewhat concerning with a 9.7% rate in his last 23.2 innings, 'Mad Max" has been in much better form since his trade, accounting for a 3.40 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), a 15.4% swinging strike percentage, and a 32.3% K-rate.

In an underrated matchup versus seven Minnesota hitters with K-rates ranging from 23.7% to 40.2%, Scherzer has the right opportunity to get back on track with today's second highest expectations among his position including a 34.3 fantasy projection with 6.59 strikeouts.

Freddy Peralta ($10,600)

At his second highest salary point in August, Milwaukee's right-hander will take the mound versus a San Diego Padres' lineup with a 20.9% K-rate and .324 wOBA in their last 3594 plate appearances in this split.

After producing a stellar 2.82 xFIP in July, Peralta has continued his recent hot streak this month, recording a 2.73 xFIP, four quality starts, and a spectacular 39.4% K-rate through 24.2 innings.

With dominant splits against right-handed hitting including a 3.03 xFIP and a 35.0% K-rate this season. Peralta has another spot to produce a ceiling performance against five righty batters in San Diego's lineup with K-rates between 18.4% and 26.3%.

Kyle Bradish ($10,300)

Baltimore's 26-year old starter offers underrated value with a 3.34 rating and a 34.4 FanDuel point projection against a Colorado Rockies' unit with a weak .290 wOBA and a 26.1% K-rate including five hitters with strikeout percentages over 26.1%.

When analyzing Bradish's great matchup and his recent form in August including a 3.09 xFIP and a 29.3% K-rate, the Orioles' starter should be evaluated as a top play even at his highest second highest salary this season.

Stacks

Chicago Cubs

After scoring just one run in the second game of their series against the Pirates, the Cubs could be overlooked on Saturday against Pittsburgh's rookie combo including opener Colin Selby and Osvaldo Bido.

With Bido likely to see more innings during today's game, optimal Chicago stacks should include Ian Happ (8.4% barrel rate), Cody Bellinger(.263 expected average, .433 expected slugging percentage), Mike Tauchman (.345 expected wOBA, .271 expected average), and Jeimer Candelario (7.4% barrel rate, .327 expected wOBA) to focus on his main trouble against left-handed bats while Dansby Swanson (.358 expected wOBA, 12.4% barrel rate), Christopher Morel (14.7% barrel rate, .337 expected wOBA), and Seiya Suzuki (9.3% barrel rate, .337 expected wOBA) still rate well enough as secondary options with their power.

Baltimore Orioles
In a mouth-watering opportunity versus Colorado's Chris Flexen the Orioles rank second on Saturday with a 5.24 expected run total against a right-hander accounting for a subpar 4.99 xFIP and a 9.2% opposing barrel rate during his time with the Rockies.

Ideal Baltimore stacks should contain their best right-handed hitters to focus on Flexen's reverse splits (5.17 xFIP, .372 wOBA) with a main focus on Ryan Mountcastle (.367 expected wOBA, 13.8% barrel rate) and Austin Hays (9.5% barrel rate) while Gunnar Henderson (.343 expected wOBA, 11.2% barrel rate), Anthony Santander (11.0% barrel rate), and Ryan O'Hearn (10.3% barrel rate) should be mixed in with their pop from the left side.

Anaheim Angels

Despite averaging 3.4 runs in their past four games, the Angels have a great spot to break out of their slump against a struggling Carlos Carrasco and his glaring inability to get outs versus left-handed bats (5.64 xFIP, 14.4% walk rate, .355 wOBA).

With Carrasco's main weakness in focus, ideal targets among Los Angeles' lineup should group several options among the middle of their order including Shohei Ohtani(.434 expected wOBA, 20.2% barrel rate), Mickey Moniak (13.6% barrel rate), Nolan Schanuel (.395 expected wOBA, .306 expected average), and Mike Moustakas (41.5% hard hit rate).

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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.