FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 9/10/23

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

Gerrit Cole ($11,500)

At his second highest salary this season, the Yankees' ace still presents value among today's slate, ranking second overall with a 36.3 FanDuel point projection against a Milwaukee Brewers' team with a .318 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 21.1% K-rate.

Since August 3rd in his last 43.2 innings, the 33-year old has accounted for similar form to his yearly metrics (3.64 xFIP, 27.1% K-rate), recording a 3.60 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), a 11.1% swinging strike percentage, and seven or more strikeouts in 57% of these appearances.

While today's matchup does not present an ideal spot for accumulating strikeouts, Cole still has the right stuff to reach his 6.47 punch-out projection when observing his fairly even 27.3% strikeout rate to right-handed hitters and 27.0% percentage to batters from the left side.

Pablo Lopez ($10,600)

After a noticeable 3.6% salary decrease, Lopez ranks as today's top pitching option with an eye-popping 40.8 fantasy projection against a New York Mets' offense with a 20.3% K-rate in their last 1653 plate appearances.

When observing his stellar recent form including quality starts in six of his last seven appearances and his recent salary decrease, there are many reasons to believe the Twins' right-hander presents today's top combination of value and ceiling in a matchup against six hitters with K-rates between 20.4% and 34.7%.

Corbin Burnes ($10,300)

Milwaukee's sixth-year starter is another highly rated option with a 3.89 xFIP and a 25.0% K-rate at a discounted salary after a 1.9% decrease since his last start.

In an intimidating but juicy matchup for strikeouts versus a New York Yankees' unit with a .335 wOBA and a 13.1% barrel rate including five batters with K-rates over 22.4%, Burnes offers plenty of upside with Sunday's third highest prediction at 34.2 expected FanDuel points.

Stacks

Atlanta Braves

Despite last night's disappointing three run performance on Saturday, Atlanta remains today's top ranked offense against Pittsburgh's Luis Ortiz and his ugly expected metrics including a 5.15 career xFIP through 84.0 innings.

To best attack Ortiz's struggles against left-handed bats (6.09 xFIP, .414 wOBA), top targets among Atlanta's elite lineup should include Matt Olson (.396 expected wOBA, 17.7% barrel rate), Ozzie Albies (.332 expected wOBA, 8.6% barrel rate), Eddie Rosario (10.5% barrel rate, .334 expected wOBA), and Michael Harris II (9.4% barrel rate, .349 expected wOBA) while Ronald Acuna Jr. (14.9% barrel rate, .462 expected wOBA), Austin Riley (.364 expected wOBA, 13.3% barrel rate), and Marcell Ozuna (16.5% barrel rate, .395 expected wOBA) present pop from the right side.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Ranking second on Sunday with a 5.5 expected run total, the Dodgers have a great opportunity to produce against veteran Trevor Williams and his massive trouble versus lefty bats (5.77 xFIP, 12.4% Kr-rate).

With his main weakness in focus, ideal Dodgers' combinations can feature Freddie Freeman (.409 expected wOBA, 11.2% barrel rate), David Peralta (.275 expected average), Max Muncy (.375 expected wOBA, 16.4% barrel rate), Jason Heyward (8.6% barrel rate), and James Outman (10.7% barrel rate).

Houston Astros

In an underrated matchup against San Diego's rookie Matt Waldron, the Astros are a sneaky option versus a low strikeout right-hander with a career 4.93 xFIP and poor expected metrics in the minors including a 5.11 xFIP in 92.1 Triple-A innings.

Ideal Houston stacks should include their top left-handed hitters to attack Waldron's glaring main weakness (6.19 xFIP, 14.3% K-rate, 9.3% walk percentage) with a focus on Yordan Alvarez (.432 expected wOBA, 16.7% barrel rate), Kyle Tucker (.392 expected wOBA, 10.3% barrel rate), and Michael Brantley (.340 expected wOBA, 52.2% hard hit rate) while Jose Altuve (.349 expected wOBA, 10.2% barrel rate) and Alex Bregman (.347 expected wOBA, .266 expected average) grade out as secondary options.

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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.