We’ve got a relatively big Monday featured slate, with 24 teams in action tonight. That means we’ve got a lot more diversity in strategies, as well as no obvious chalk on a bigger slate. There are a lot of big-name pitchers taking on strong offenses tonight, which is why I’m looking to prioritize high-priced hitting over high-priced pitching in GPP formats.
Win cash playing in FanDuel’s MLB Squeeze
Starting Pitcher
Kenta Maeda (LAD): $8,600 vs. SF
Most of the high-end pitchers take on tough matchups today, so let’s drop on down to the mid-range and go after Maeda. Maeda has flashed big strikeout upside with a 25.3% K rate this season, and draws an easy matchup against the Giants. San Francisco has been one of the weakest offenses against right-handed pitching, putting up a 78 wRC+, 23.5% strikeout rate, and .671 OPS as a team versus righties this season. The Dodgers are a -230 favorite, so Maeda has a good chance to pick up both a quality start and a win in this outing. He’s a good alternative to high-priced options on this slate.
Miles Mikolas (STL): $7,000 vs. MIA
It’s been a rough ride for Miles Mikolas this season, and he’s currently sitting with a bloated 4.83 ERA and 4.41 SIERA. He’s coming off back-to-back poor outings, allowing eight earned runs in nine innings, including two home runs over that stretch. There may be a legitimate question as to whether Mikolas can turn things around long term, but it’s hard to pass him up at $7K at home against the Marlins. Sure, the Marlins got to him last time out in Miami, but we’re still talking about a team that has been downright anemic at the plate. Collectively, the Marlins have a 76 wRC+, 24.8% strikeout rate, and a .650 OPS against right-handed pitching. They also have a pathetic .111 ISO, which is 35 points than the next lowest team. Recent hot streaks from Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez don’t scare me away from the weakest lineup in baseball.
We’ve got a relatively big Monday featured slate, with 24 teams in action tonight. That means we’ve got a lot more diversity in strategies, as well as no obvious chalk on a bigger slate. There are a lot of big-name pitchers taking on strong offenses tonight, which is why I’m looking to prioritize high-priced hitting over high-priced pitching in GPP formats.
Win cash playing in FanDuel’s MLB Squeeze
Starting Pitcher
Kenta Maeda (LAD): $8,600 vs. SF
Most of the high-end pitchers take on tough matchups today, so let’s drop on down to the mid-range and go after Maeda. Maeda has flashed big strikeout upside with a 25.3% K rate this season, and draws an easy matchup against the Giants. San Francisco has been one of the weakest offenses against right-handed pitching, putting up a 78 wRC+, 23.5% strikeout rate, and .671 OPS as a team versus righties this season. The Dodgers are a -230 favorite, so Maeda has a good chance to pick up both a quality start and a win in this outing. He’s a good alternative to high-priced options on this slate.
Miles Mikolas (STL): $7,000 vs. MIA
It’s been a rough ride for Miles Mikolas this season, and he’s currently sitting with a bloated 4.83 ERA and 4.41 SIERA. He’s coming off back-to-back poor outings, allowing eight earned runs in nine innings, including two home runs over that stretch. There may be a legitimate question as to whether Mikolas can turn things around long term, but it’s hard to pass him up at $7K at home against the Marlins. Sure, the Marlins got to him last time out in Miami, but we’re still talking about a team that has been downright anemic at the plate. Collectively, the Marlins have a 76 wRC+, 24.8% strikeout rate, and a .650 OPS against right-handed pitching. They also have a pathetic .111 ISO, which is 35 points than the next lowest team. Recent hot streaks from Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez don’t scare me away from the weakest lineup in baseball.
Four Player Dodgers Stack: $14,000 vs. SF
Max Muncy (1B): $3,700
Chris Taylor (SS): $2,400
Cody Bellinger (OF): $4,700
Joc Pederson (OF): $3,200
There was a time when Tyler Beede was considered a top pitching prospect, but those days are long gone for the 26-year-old right-hander. Beede has been knocked around in 22.1 innings this season, putting up an 8.06 ERA, 1.53 K/BB ratio, and 2.01 HR/9. Opponents are hitting .382 off Beede’s fastball with a 90.6 MPH average exit velocity and .655 SLG. He’s also had troubles with lefties in his brief MLB career, allowing a .346 AVG and .438 wOBA to left-handed hitters all time. In Beede’s defense, he has been a victim to bad luck, with a .375 BABIP against and a 62.5 LOB rate. Even factoring out luck, he has a 6.17 FIP on the year. One might look at Beede’s 10.48 K/9 and think he at least has big strikeout stuff, but since he’s so inefficient allowing hits and walks, his actual strikeout rate translates to 23%, which is just a tick above league average. Beede is a pitcher that should be targeted heavily before he loses his rotation spot.
Beede’s struggles against lefties make the Dodgers a great team to stack, since we can get three powerful lefties in Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy, and Joc Pederson. Both Bellinger and Pederson have an OPS above .975 and an ISO above .330 against right-handed pitching this season. Muncy isn’t too far behind them either, with an .896 OPS and .245 ISO himself. Chris Taylor gives us a nice cheap option in an otherwise pricey lineup, and should hit fifth or sixth in this matchup with plenty of chances to get involved in the run scoring for Los Angeles. This game only has an 8.5 O/U, but the Dodgers are heavy favorites and should do most of the scoring tonight.
Four Player Angels Stack: $13,800 @ TOR
Luis Rengifo (2B): $2,400
Tommy La Stella (3B): $3,000
Shohei Ohtani (OF): $3,800
Mike Trout (OF): $4,600
They say only two things can survive a nuclear apocalypse: cockroaches, and Edwin Jackon’s major league career. 16 years and 15 teams later, Jackson is still serving up dingers with the best of them, this time in a Blue Jays uniform. Jackson has been pounded for a 10.22 ERA, 1.7 K/BB, and 3.28 HR/9 in 24.2 innings this season. It’s not all bad for Jackson, as FIP suggests his ERA should be at 7.99, nearly two runs lower than his actual ERA. Talk about bad luck! In all seriousness, Jackson grades in the bottom five percent by every statcast metric, and is an easy pitcher load up against tonight.
This stack is structured similarly to the Dodgers stack against Beede, and it’s affordable should owners choose to take a gamble on a cheap pitcher like Miles Mikolas. Mike Trout gives us a high-priced, elite hitter at the top of this order, while Ohtani and La Stella give us some left-handed thump in the mid-price range. Edwin Jackson has been slightly worse against left-handed pitching in his career, allowing a .343 wOBA to lefties, so La Stella and Ohtani are nice pieces to have with Mike Trout sandwiched in between them. Rengifo is a cheap play at second base, but since he hits ninth he could get into the run production when the lineup carries over. He’ll have the trio of La Stella, Trout, and Ohtani hitting directly behind him. While Rengifo seems like the stereotypical light-hitting middle infielder, he had a decent prospect pedigree coming into the season as the Angels’ sixth-best prospect. He has no power, but his hit tool graded above average, and he was a solid hitting in the minors. He’s not as bad as his surface numbers make look, and a perfectly reasonable cheap option to round out this stack.
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Elliott Baas is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Elliott, check out his archive and follow him @elliottbaasbb.