We filled in on Wednesday and Thursday, and those articles went well. Rowdy Tellez was in both of them, and he treated us with the best two-game stretch of any player all year. That has me ready to keep rolling here because I have a good read on how MLB is playing out right now. With that said, we had five postponements on Friday and the weather is one thing we can never predict.
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
We filled in on Wednesday and Thursday, and those articles went well. Rowdy Tellez was in both of them, and he treated us with the best two-game stretch of any player all year. That has me ready to keep rolling here because I have a good read on how MLB is playing out right now. With that said, we had five postponements on Friday and the weather is one thing we can never predict.
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
Since we’re just looking at the main slate, the pitching pool is limited. With that said, there are still plenty of guys to pick from. Some of the pitchers that missed the cut included Sean Manaea, Max Fried, and Logan Webb. Any one of those guys would be great options on this slate, but we prefer this foursome with how the pricing plays out.
Cash Game Recommendations:
Corbin Burnes (MIL) at ATL
Corbin took down NL Cy Young honors last season, and he’s well on his way to some more votes this year. The right-hander has a 1.93 ERA and 0.73 WHIP though his first five starts, striking out at least eight batters in each of his last four starts. That makes him one of the safest options out there, scoring at least 37 FD points in 24 of his previous 33 starts in total. Atlanta has struggled with their plate discipline this season, sitting 26th in K rate.
Pablo Lopez (MIA) at SD
Lopez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season. The Marlins pitcher allowed his first runs of the season in his most recent start, generating a 1.29 ERA and 0.89 WHIP for the season. His strikeouts have been the only thing holding him back in the past, but 30 Ks across 28 innings is an encouraging sign. San Diego is far from scary, too, with the Padres ranked 24th in hard-hit rate and 19th in wOBA.
GPP Recommendations:
Patrick Sandoval (LAA) vs. WAS
Sandoval is my highest-drafted player in season-long leagues, and I’m encouraged by his start to the season. The southpaw is slinging a 1.29 ERA and 1.14 WHIP through his first four starts. We saw that guy for most of last year, tallying a 3.31 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 10.3 K/9 rate over his final 12 starts. We expect to see that guy from here on out, and it should continue with Washington ranked 25th in hard-hit rate and 28th in exit velocity. There’s some thought that Michael Lorenzen will be pushed back here to start and he’d be a good option behind his 3.04 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.
Drew Rasmussen (TB) at SEA
Rasmussen probably won’t throw a complete game, but he’s one of the best bets for a quality start. The righty has a 3.13 ERA and 0.87 WHIP through the first five starts of the season. Mor importantly, he faced this Seattle team last week and threw six scoreless innings against them while striking out nine batters. That’s no surprise when looking at the Mariners recent form, scoring four runs or fewer in eight of their last 10 games.
Top Lineup Stacks
San Francisco Giants (vs. Steven Matz)
I rarely recommend the Giants because of how lackluster the talent can be in this lineup, but it’s simply one of the best offenses around. They were Top-5 in nearly every metric last season and should continue that against a gas can like Matz. The left-hander has a 4.79 ERA and 1.40 WHIP dating back to 2020, getting blown up nearly every time out.
Colorado Rockies (vs. Zach Davies)
Using the Rockies on the road is risky, but I want to use anyone against Zach Davies. The soft-throwing righty has developed into one of the worst pitchers in baseball, amassing a 5.57 ERA and 1.57 WHIP since the start of last year. His lack of swing-and-miss stuff is the primary reason why, posting a 6.6 K/9 rate in that span. That’s bad news with how the Rockies have been swinging the bat, leading baseball in batting average.
The Rays are always one of my favorite stacks on every slate. They play the platoon game more than any other team, and it always keeps their bats extremely cheap. That alone makes them a good option, but this matchup with Marco Gonzales is great. The Seattle southpaw has a 1.55 WHIP so far this season. That’s terrifying against a deep lineup like this, and they could knock him out early if he’s not careful.
Core Studs
- Shohei is genuinely remarkable. I never thought I’d see a guy who could win Cy Young and lead the league in homers but here we are! We really love Shohei when he faces righties, registering a .360 OBP and .877 OPS against them for his career. It also makes him likelier to steal, which is fantastic since he faces a pitcher with a 1.31 WHIP.
- Salvy has gotten off to a terrible start this year, but it’s just a matter of time before he starts raking. This guy has 53 home runs since the start of last season, totaling a .523 SLG in that span. That makes him an excellent play against this terrible Baltimore pitching staff, surrendering the most dingers over the last three years.
- Blackmon has quietly had a bounceback year in Colorado. Over his last 15 games played, Charlie has collected a .361 OBP, .571 SLG, and .931 OPS. That’s the stud we remember from years past, and we certainly don’t mind that his OPS is 300 points higher against righties this year. We already talked about how bad Davies has been, and all of that makes Blackmon a beautiful play with the recent price drop.
- Arozarena has yet to homer this year, but he’s still producing from a fantasy perspective. He has eight doubles and four steals over his last 19 games, and it’s just a matter of time before that power swing comes around. The main reason we love him here is that he gets to face a lackluster lefty, with Rozey accruing a .394 OBP and .963 OPS with the platoon advantage in his favor dating back three years.
Value Plays/Punts
| POS |
PLAYER |
DK SALARY |
FD SALARY |
| 1B |
Jared Walsh (LAA) |
$4,200 |
$3,000 |
| 1B/OF |
Trey Mancini (BAL) |
$3,200 |
$2,700 |
| 1B/OF |
Darin Ruf (SF) |
$3,900 |
$2,400 |
| 3B |
Yandy Diaz (TB) |
$4,300 |
$2,900 |
| OF |
Jordan Luplow (ARI) |
$3,600 |
$2,300 |
- Walsh is another guy that’s struggled this season, but his price has dropped way too far. This guy still demolishes right-handers, compiling a .382 OBP, .578 SLG, and .960 OPS against them since 2020. That’s all you can hope for from a player in this price range, and we love that he had a season-high 41 FanDuel points on Thursday.
- It always shocks me to see how low Mancini’s price is. We’re talking about a guy with a .800 OPS for his career, and he’s being priced like someone who never comes off the bench. That makes him really enticing against a lefty because Mancini has an .889 OPS against lefties since 2020. This is far from a scary southpaw, with Daniel Lynch owning a 5.26 ERA and 1.52 WHIP for his career.
- We haven’t gotten into any San Fran bats yet, but Ruf is probably my favorite play of the day. We already discussed how bad Matz has been, and Ruf has made a career of slaughtering southpaws. In fact, Darin has a .380 OBP, .543 SLG, and .923 OPS against them since 2020. Good luck finding that from a player in this price range!
- Diaz is one of our favorite pieces of this Tampa stack. He always bats in the top half of the order against lefties, and it’s easy to understand why. Yandy has a .400 OBP, .588 SLG, and .988 OPS against southpaws so far this season. That’s led to the best year of his career, collecting a .500 OBP over his last nine games in total.
- We’ve had a ton of platoon mashers throughout this article, but Luplow might be the best of the bunch. This guy only bats against left-handed hitters, but he plays at an All-Star level against them. Luplow has a 1.159 OPS against them so far this year and a .905 OPS against them for his career. That makes him one of the best values of the day, facing off with Kyle Freeland‘s 4.85 ERA and 1.42 WHIP.
Sunday’s Hitter Strategy
Man, this was a tough slate to pick elite batters. There really aren’t many in plus matchups, and it left us with just four in the cash game section. With that said, there were a ton of value plays that we loved. The three lineups that we want to stack are all relatively good values as well, and it should leave us with some easy lineup construction. You should pay up for pitching and stack some of these cheaper offenses!
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Joel Bartilotta is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Joel, check out his archive and follow him @Bartilottajoel.
