FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Thursday 8/10/23

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.

Pitching Breakdown

A small four-game slate brings us limited options across the board, but we have a clear top pitching option with Aaron Nola ($10,000) of the Philadelphia Phillies.

It should be noted that Clayton Kershaw ($10,700) tops the slate in terms of salary, but he will be making his first start as he returns from the injured list. It's unknown if Kershaw will be on a limited pitch count, and he ended with only 79 pitches in his last start prior to being on the injured list. The lack of clarity on this situation makes him a risky option tonight.

Nola will be up against the Washington Nationals, who come in with a 3.63 implied run total, which is good for the second-lowest on the slate. The Nationals don't pose too much of a threat to Nola, and he should be a top-tier fantasy producer tonight.

On the season, Nola comes in with a 25.1% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate, 54.2% medium-contact rate, and 39.7% ground-ball rate. When we look at his 4.58 ERA, it's nothing to write home about, but a 3.86 xERA and 3.82 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) indicate he should be in for some positive regression.

The Nationals are a rather interesting team versus right-handed pitchers since they have an 18.9% strikeout rate (second-lowest), 87 wRC+ (fifth-worst), and .135 ISO (third-worst). They are clearly lacking power but also don't waste chances at the plate with a very low strikeout rate. Nola likely won't push toward double-digit strikeouts but should be able to limit the damage against a weak offense.

Next up, James Paxton ($9,700) from the Boston Red Sox can be considered with his matchup against the Kansas City Royals. Paxton comes in with a 27.3% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate, 52.8% medium-contact rate, 39.4% ground-ball rate, 3.72 SIERA, and 13.4% swinging-strike rate. Paxton has the ability to pile up the strikeouts and reach for a solid fantasy ceiling.

That could be on display tonight against the Royals, who come in with a 23.7% strikeout rate (9th-highest), 88 wRC+ (26th), and .144 ISO (23rd) versus left-handed pitchers this season. They strike out at a high rate and don't have a ton of power despite putting up a few runs over their last stretch of games.

If you want a true value option, Zack Littell ($7,200) could be considered against the St. Louis Cardinals. Littell has a modest 20.3% strikeout rate but a super-low 3.9% walk rate, along with a 48.7% ground-ball rate and 48.3% medium-contact rate. He keeps the ball down and can limit the damage but won't be racking up the strikeouts.

Hitting Breakdown

The Boston Red Sox have a slate-high 6.26 implied run total against the Royals and are a team worth stacking tonight. The Royals are expected to open the game with Austin Cox for a few innings, then move to Alec Marsh as the bulk reliever.

Cox, a lefty, comes in with a 20.7% strikeout rate, 12.6% walk rate, 4.92 SIERA, 38.4% fly-ball rate, and 43.8% hard-contact rate this season. That's not a set of stats you should be worried about, and it could allow the Sox to get off to a hot start.

When it comes to Marsh, he's not too much different with a 24.4% strikeout rate, 13.0% walk rate, 3.21 HR/9, 4.87 SIERA, and 48.1% fly-ball rate. Again, all of this puts the Red Sox in a great spot to rack up runs in a hurry.

There are several players on the Red Sox who all have wRC+ over 100 and are worthy of adding to a stack. Rafael Devers ($3,600) with a 123 wRC+, Masataka Yoshida ($3,200) with a 127 wRC+, Jarren Duran ($3,000) with a 126 wRC+, Triston Casas ($2,800) with a 124 wRC+, and Adam Duvall ($2,900) with a 113 wRC+. There is a lot of consistency in this lineup, and it should lead to plenty of runs versus the Royals.

Of course, we have to consider the Los Angeles Dodgers and their 5.50 implied run total tonight. They have an elite offense and are capable of pushing past that implied total before you can blink.

They are at home and will be taking on Ty Blach, who has just 26.0 MLB innings under his belt this season, so we'll glance at his career numbers. Over his career, Blach has a 12.7% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate, 0.93 HR/9, 4.99 SIERA, and .311 BABIP. Blach does not have a good skillset on the mound and is simply overmatched against this Dodgers lineup.

We'll start with Freddie Freeman ($4,500), who comes in with a 203 wRC+ versus lefties, Mookie Betts ($4,400) with a 183 wRC+, Will Smith ($3,500) with a 155 wRC+, James Outman ($2,900) with a 119 wRC+, or even Chris Taylor ($2,600) with a 109 wRC+. All of those players, except for Outman, have ISOs over .200 this season in the split.

Finally, it's always worth considering a stack against Patrick Corbin, who owns marks of 1.63 HR/9, 4.88 SIERA, 15.2% strikeout rate, and .317 BABIP. Corbin isn't going to make a ton of hitters whiff at the plate, and the dinger upside against him is always a potential source of fantasy points.

You can look to Alec Bohm ($3,200) with a .264 ISO versus lefties, Kyle Schwarber ($3,500) with a .254 ISO, J.T. Realmuto ($2,900) with a .223 ISO, Nick Castellanos ($3,100) with a .208 ISO, and even Trea Turner ($2,900) with a .206 ISO or Bryce Harper ($3,400) with a .158 ISO.

Looking to build some MLB DFS lineups? Check out FanDuel’s daily fantasy baseball lobby to see all the offerings for today’s slates.

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.