We had one and a half games yesterday for the official opening day of the 2020 MLB season but we all know today is the real opening day with 14 games going, and more importantly, 28 starting pitchers. Last year in the FantasyPros expert accuracy, I was ranked #1 out 70 fantasy baseball analysts for starting pitchers. This morning, and most other weekday mornings, I’ll bring you my daily fantasy baseball pitcher’s chart along with my top streamer of the day, top DFS cash game option and top DFS tournament option. Every Tuesday, this chart can be found within my FanDuel lineup advice article which comes out around lunch time. Alright, ready? Let’s do this!

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Top Streamer

Ross Stripling (LAD vs SF)

As most teams are throwing their aces today, there isn’t much in the way of starting pitchers going today that you can find easily on your waiver wire. Nathan Eovaldi, Danny Duffy, Marco Gonzalez, Sandy Alcantara, Jeff Samardzija and Tommy Milone are the only ones available in at least 50% of leagues and trust me when I say you do not want to start any of them today unless you are employing The Bichette Strategy and punting ERA/WHIP (Eovaldi and Duffy would be the plays here). So I’m going to cheat a little today and talk about a starter who is still available in over 40% of leagues, and frankly, isn’t much of a streamer. Ross Stripling should be owned now and for the rest of the season in every single league as he made the Dodgers’ rotation and is one of the top 30 starting pitchers in baseball inning for inning. Today, he has a home matchup against a team that uses Pablo Sandoval in the 3rd spot of their batting order so you know very well what to do.

Top DFS Cash Game Option

Justin Verlander (HOU vs SEA)

Typically on a day where we have four+ aces going, let alone 20+ like today, the pickings are much more difficult. Yeah, there are some great options from Shane Bieber (vs KC) and Lance Lynn (vs CHI) but today Verlander stands out far above the rest. You see, most aces today are going up against another ace so their odds of winning are much lower than usual. In a cash game, you need that win and Verlander is your best bet for it considering he draws a lackluster Mariners’ lineup and Marco Gonzalez on the other side. Additionally, a lot of aces will be on a pitch count tonight as they are still getting ramped up. Verlander, however, is near-certain to still pitch the 6+ innings needed for that important quality start. He is worth spending up for with all of the hitting value available to you today.

Top DFS Tournament Option

Lance Lynn (TEX vs COL)

I typically don’t consider the best cash game option to also be the best GPP play because they tend to be more expensive and have higher ownership. Verlander is more expensive and might have the highest ownership, but still likely below 20% and I do consider him the GPP play too, for all the reasons listed above. Lynn, though, is a close second, as he draws a Rockies lineup that was 29th in baseball in away game OPS and #3 in away game K%. This is exactly the team you want to pick on. Lynn, meanwhile, was dominant last year outside of the old Globe Life Field. Today, he’ll be pitching in the much more pitcher-friendly new Globe Life Field. He should mow down the Rockies and pitch deep into the game as he often does.

Start/Sit Table

Guide

*All stats based on our daily projections
OWN – ownership % between ESPN and Yahoo!
Score – Based on an algorithm that weighs if their ratios are too high to offset the odds of them getting a win and add strikeouts to your team totals
Recommendation – For Roto and H2H season-long leagues
DFS Cash – Not based on value, but performance only. Heavily favors ratios and odds at getting the win and quality start
DFS GPP – Not based on value, but performance only. Built to focus more on strikeout potential and stamina
*The table is sorted by their season-long fantasy appeal

Thanks for reading and good luck today!

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