FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Wednesday 9/13/23

We have a slightly earlier main slate that begins at 6:35 pm ET, and due to all but one of tonight's games taking place before 7:40 pm ET, the lone West Coast game (San Diego Padres-Los Angeles Dodgers) is being excluded. That still leaves us with a 10-game offering, so let's dive in.

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

In a rare misstep, Spencer Strider ($11,800) got knocked around by the St. Louis Cardinals last week, and he also had this start pushed back due to illness.

Of course, none of that should deter us from rolling with him as our top option against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies are a middle-of-the-pack opponent just about across the board, so if Strider is back to being his usual self, he shouldn't have any trouble racking up those Ks as he typically does. Among qualified starters, the 24-year-old's 37.8% strikeout rate remains a full six percentage points higher than the next-best mark.

Strider's salary is still up there, but at least his recent clunker has dropped it below $12,000 for tonight, making him slightly easier to fit into lineups.

If someone is going to dethrone Strider, it's probably NL Cy Young contender Zac Gallen ($10,600).

Following back-to-back stinkers, Gallen bounced back in a big way versus the Chicago Cubs, blanking them for a complete-game shutout on his way to 64 FanDuel points. Despite his recent skid, he's been one of the league's most consistent arms, ranking second in innings pitched and sitting inside the top 10 in quality starts.

Overall, he's amassed a rock-solid 3.65 SIERA, 26.0% strikeout rate, and 5.2% walk rate across 30 starts. Gallen's matchup is somewhat mediocre against the New York Mets, but taking the mound at pitcher-friendly Citi Field can't hurt.

Hunter Brown ($9,900) will be opposite the Oakland Athletics, and that tends to get our attention. Sure enough, the A's have the slate's lowest implied team total (3.56).

Brown has been shakier on the mound lately, but this could be the soft landing spot he needs to get back on track. The combination of a 26.9% strikeout rate and 52.5% ground-ball rate points to better days ahead, as does a 3.70 SIERA that's over a full run lower than his ERA.

Note that Brown isn't someone who tends to get as much leash as Strider or Gallen, so he's likely to be capped at six innings, which will make it tougher for him to post a slate-high score.

For a value play, Mike Clevinger ($8,900) could be worth a look versus the Kansas City Royals. Things have started to click more often over Clevinger's last six starts as he's posted a 25.4% strikeout rate and four quality starts over this span.

That includes taking advantage of some recent plus matchups; he's scored over 50 FanDuel points in two of the last three. There's no question that Kansas City qualifies as another weak opponent when their active roster owns the fifth-worst wRC+ (88) versus righties this season.

Hitting Breakdown

The Houston Astros failed to get going as an offense again last night, so they get one last shot to redeem themselves in this series. They're once again showing a high implied team total (5.44) and face roughly a league-average hurler in right-hander Paul Blackburn.

Blackburn can be attacked by both sides of the plate, but we should especially like our chances with Houston's star lefties Yordan Alvarez ($4,100) and Kyle Tucker ($3,800). In the split, Blackburn has posted an unimposing 4.42 xFIP, 22.8% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate, and 41.6% ground-ball rate.

The Astros ought to finally light up this A's bullpen, too, as this current batch of relievers has the league's worst xFIP (5.04).

Moving on, the Baltimore Orioles are a standout stack against left-hander Drew Rom.

Rom -- who was traded by the Orioles to the St. Louis Cardinalsbefore the trade deadline -- could have a brighter future, but his four MLB starts with his new team haven't gone swimmingly.

He's been rocked for a 7.79 ERA, and a 6.00 SIERA, 12.8% strikeout rate, and 11.6% walk rate doesn't inspire much confidence. While it's a small sample, all of those numbers are even worse against right-handed batters, including a dismal 7.0% strikeout rate.

Baltimore projects to have eight players hitting right-handed tonight, so Rom's outing could be a quick one. Anthony Santander ($3,800) and Ryan Mountcastle ($3,100) should be our go-to power bats, and Adley Rutschman ($3,300) and Austin Hays ($2,900) are appealing as the expected leadoff man and cleanup hitter, respectively.

If you need a salary-saver, Aaron Hicks ($2,500) has been an above-average hitter against lefties over his career (108 wRC+).

Particularly with the Dodgers off the slate, the Atlanta Braves are pretty firmly in a tier of their own offensively -- though left-hander Cristopher Sanchez could offer some resistance.

While Sanchez doesn't have a notable strikeout rate (22.8%), he boasts a 58.6% ground-ball rate that has helped him produce a 3.45 SIERA. He's been lethal when in same-handed matchups, too, with both the strikeout rate (33.3%) and ground-ball rate (76.5%) reaching some scary levels, albeit over a smaller sample.

However, with just a 20.4% strikeout rate versus righties, he'll have a difficult time keeping the Braves' immense power in check. As is usually the case, there isn't much value in this lineup, but Orlando Arcia ($2,900) and Kevin Pillar ($2,400) can help us make room for Atlanta's superstars.

Clarke Schmidt's start got pushed to tonight, so the same analysis from Monday applies for the Boston Red Sox. Schmidt is tough on righties, whereas he's logged a 4.89 xFIP, 19.5% strikeout rate, and 41.1% ground-ball rate against lefties. Rafael Devers ($3,800) is our headliner here, and then the rest of Boston's lefty sticks come in at $3,200 and below.

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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.