FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 9/2/23

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

Luis Castillo ($10,800)

Despite producing his fourth straight quality start, Castiilo's salary has decreased 1.8% versus a New York Mets' unit with a .351 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 22.5% K-rate including four hitters with strikeout percentages between 24.4% and 32.9%.

Through his second year with the Mariners, the 30-year old is in the midst of another solid season, producing a 3.64 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), a 15.0% swinging strike percentage, and seven or more strikeouts in 44% of his appearances.

When considering Castillo's reliable form and the Mets' recent cold offense (19 runs in last 8 games), Seattle's seventh-year starter should have an ideal spot to continue his quality start streak and achieve today's second highest projections including 6.86 expected strikeouts in 6.01 innings.

Blake Snell ($10,600)

After a 3.9% jump to Snell's second highest salary since August, San Diego's leading contender for the National League Cy Young award will take the mound against a San Francisco Giants' offense with a .341 wOBA and a 23.9% K-rate versus left-handers.

In his most recent five appearances while his command is a concern when observing Snell's 14.2% walk percentage , the 30-year old has still accounted for elite production, recording 41.0 FanDuel points per game during this time period, a sizzling 30.8% K-rate, and a solid 3.65 xFIP.

With today's top best fantasy projection (41.4) and strikeout prediction (7.85), the Padres' southpaw is trending towards for another ceiling performance versus four San Francisco batters with K-rates over 25.9% and a great matchup he recorded 11 strikeouts against earlier this season .

Aaron Nola ($10,300)

At his second highest salary point this season after recording 58 FanDuel points in his last season, Philadelphia's right-hander will challenge a Milwaukee Brewers' lineup with a .312 wOBA and a 21.2% K-rate in their last 2620 plate appearances.

While the Brewers are not an ideal matchup for strikeouts with six hitters with K-rates under 21.9%, Nola is still a solid option to consider when observing his recent form in August (3.27 xFIP, 29.9% K-rate) and today's third highest expectations including a 35.7 FanDuel point projection with 6.24 strikeouts.

Stacks

Toronto Blue Jays

After last night's 12-run explosion at Coors Field, the Blue Jays are Saturday's top offense with an eye-popping 6.46 expected run total against left-hander Ty Blach.

Through 34.2 innings in a starting role this season despite producing a 2.86 Earned Run Average, Blach is due for a massive future blow up when analyzing his expected metrics including a ugly 5.05 xFIP, a below-average 14.8% strikeout percentage, and a concerning 8.2% opposing barrel rate.

Ideal Toronto stacks should prioritize their top right-handed bats to attack Blach's main weakness (career .347 wOBA, 4.84 xFIP) including George Springer (.337 expected wOBA, 8.5% barrel rate), Davis Schneider (.287 expected average, 16.7% barrel rate), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.379 expected wOBA, 11.4% barrel rate), and Alejandro Kirk (.310 expected wOBA, 36.% hard hit rate).

Boston Red Sox

Despite scoring just two runs in Kansas City on Friday, the Red Sox are in a promising bounce back spot against Alec Marsh and his troubling 5.00 xFIP through 32,2 innings this season as a starter.

To best attack Marsh's unique reverse splits against right-handed bats (5.32 xFIP, .422 xFIP), Boston combinations can feature Justin Turner (.348 expected wOBA, .265 expected average), Adam Duvall (13.9% barrel rate, .331 expected wOBA), and Trevor Story (12.5% barrel rate) while Rafael Devers (.379 expected wOBA, 12.5% barrel rate) and Triston Casas (.373 expected wOBA, 13.6% barrel rate) offer the most pop from the left side.

Texas Rangers

In an underrated matchup versus Dallas Keuchel, the Rangers could be a sneaky option with a 5.14 expected run total against a regressing veteran with expected marks (5.14 xFIP) almost two runs higher than his 3.50 earned run average.

Optimal Rangers' combinations can group together their best power fly-ball hitters to counter Keuchel's 50.0% ground-ball rate including Adolis Garcia (28.8% fly-ball percentage, 15.2% barrel rate), Marcus Semien (.34.4% fly-ball percentage, .261 expected average), Corey Seager (29.7% fly-ball rate, 17.9% barrel rate), and Mitch Garver (34.6% fly-ball percentage, 15.8% barrel 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.