FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 9/16/23

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

Tyler Glasnow ($11,200)

After Tampa Bay's right-hander allowed four earned runs in his last appearance, Glasnow's salary has moved down 2.6% to his lowest point in September against a Baltimore Orioles' lineup with a 18.8% K-rate and a .327 weighted on-base average (wOBA) in their last 1238 plate appearances.

Through his most recent 58.0 innings despite his lackluster start, the 30-year old has pitched at an extremely high level in the second half of this season, accounting for a stellar 2.70 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), a 32.0% K-rate, and seven or more strikeouts in 77% of his appearances.

While some may be hesitant about today's challenging matchup versus a Baltimore offense ranked eighth among MLB in runs, there are many reasons to believe Glasnow can still succeed in this spot when analyzing his recent form and today's third highest projection at 34.3 expected FanDuel points.

Pablo Lopez ($11,000)

In a divisional matchup versus a weak Chicago White Sox's lineup with a .287 wOBA and a 22.6% K-rate, Lopez ranks first among his position with a 42.7 fantasy projection and a 3.88 value rating.

Overall through 178.2 innings in his first year with the Twins, the 27-year old is on pace for his best full season, producing a 3.40 xFIP, a 28.9% strikeout rate, and a 14.4% swinging strike rate.

When evaluating Lopez's impressive splits against right-handed bats (2.87 xFIP, 33.4% K-rate) and today's top strikeout projection (7.55), there are several reasons to believe Lopez should contain today's highest expectations against a White Sox lineup expected to utilize seven righty bats with K-rates ranging from 18.4% to 24.2%.

Corbin Burnes ($10,700)

At his highest salary point this month, Milwaukee's All-Star will take the mound versus a Washington Nationals' team .306 wOBA and a 19.9 K-rate.

In his last ten starts, Burnes' recent performances has warranted today's high ranking with his solid form through 65.2 innings, recording a 3.47 xFIP, a 12.5% swinging strike rate, and quality starts in 70% of his outings during this time period.

While Burnes' FanDuel salary has increased by 3.6%% since his last start, the 28 year old still rates fourth in value with a 3.44 rating and second overall with a 36.9 FanDuel point projection.

Stacks

Minnesota Twins

After scoring twenty runs in their first two games of this series, the red-hot Twins are today's top ranked offense with a 5.25 expected run total against Touki Toussaint and his poor form this season including a below-average 5.08 xFIP, a bloated 15.8% walk percentage, and troubling splits versus left-handed bats (6.18 xFIP, .360 wOBA).

To best attack Toussaint's main weakness, optimal Minnesota stacks should group together their top power lefty bats with high weighted on-base averages including Edouard Julien (.344 expected wOBA, 13.4% barrel rate), Jorge Polanco (.358 expected wOBA, 14.1% barrel rate), Max Kepler (12.5% barrel rate, .366 expected wOBA), and Matt Wallner (.372 expected wOBA, 18.2% barrel rate).

Milwaukee Brewers

In a great matchup with a 4.86 expected run total versus Trevor Williams, the Brewers present plenty of options against a low strikeout right-hander with a 5.27 xFIP and an eye-popping 10.7% opposing barrel rate.

With most of his struggles occurring against the opposing side of the plate (5.78 xFIP, 12.5 K%-rate), Milwaukee combinations should feature their top lefty hitters including Christian Yelich (.351 expected wOBA, 8.7% barrel rate), Carlos Santana (6.2% barrel rate), Sal Frelick (.316 expected wOBA), and Rowdy Tellez (9.3% barrel rate).

Philadelphia Phillies

Ranking fourth on today's slate with a 4.61 expected run total, the Phillies could be an overlooked offense against Miles Mikolas and his career worst metrics including a 4.82 xFIP and a 15.4% strikeout percentage through 176.1 innings.

Ideal Philadelphia stacks should lean towards their top left-handed bats to attack Mikolas' 4.32 career xFIP in this split with a main focus on Kyle Schwarber (.367 expected wOBA, 16.1% barrel rate), Bryce Harper (.386 expected wOBA, 13.8% barrel rate), Bryson Stott (.270 expected wOBA), and Brandon Marsh (8.6% barrel rate) while Trea Turner (8.7% barrel rate, .265 expected average) still rates well enough to be mixed in with recent impressive form.

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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.