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As is customary on Saturday's, we have a modest six-gamer on the FanDuel main slate tonight. The marquee Padres-Dodgers matchup profiles as a pitchers duel with Trevor Bauer and Blake Snell on the mound, while there are a few stackable teams with the Athletics, Braves, and Phillies projecting for over five runs.
I'll be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for the FanDuel main slate on 4/24/2021. Be sure to also check out all the MLB player news, including late scratches, and the projected and confirmed daily MLB lineups for each DFS slate. You can also check out today's DraftKings MLB DFS lineup picks, and read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports too. Let's get to it!
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FanDuel DFS Pitchers
Cash Game/GPP Anchor Play:
Blake Snell - SDP vs. LAD ($8,900)
Trevor Bauer is in another pricing stratosphere at $11,000 and while he holds the highest upside on the slate, he'll be chalky and the Padres hold the second-lowest strikeout rate in the MLB (21.7%). We're going with Snell here, who seems to be priced at a relative bargain for a pitcher of his caliber. He holds an eighth-percentile strikeout rate at what would be a career-high 34.3% this season, and he has been productive with between 30 and 38 FanDuel points in three of his four starts. He put up 30 FD points against the Dodgers in his last start, and there's plenty of upside for more tonight. The reigning champs do not hit southpaws well. Check out their numbers and MLB ranks against LHP: 24.1% K% (17th), .204 AVG (26th), .303 OBP (22nd), .339 SLG (25th), .642 OPS (26th), .135 ISO (23rd), .287 wOBA (27th).
Alternate Play(s)
Pablo Lopez - MIA vs. SFG ($8,200)
Lopez' Statcast profile isn't going to blow anyone away and his price has come up quite a bit from when we could get him for around $7k, but the young hurler is still worth considering tonight in GPP's against the San Francisco Giants. Lopez has been stellar aside from a 4 IP, 6 ER effort against the Braves, going for 27, 36, and 49 FanDuel points in his other three starts. The 49-pointer came in a nine-strikeout gem against the Giants in his last time on the mound, which should give us some confidence here. The Giants have a bottom-10 offense thus far and strike out at the second-highest rate in the MLB against RHP (28.9%). The Giants are projecting to score 3.9 runs. The only problem is that the Fish are only projecting for 3.2 runs, but it's worth noting that Lopez has been productive despite a serious lack of run support so far this year.
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Alec Bohm - 1B/3B, PHI vs. COL ($3,200)
So...stacking Philly tonight is going to be the ultra-chalk as they're in Coors and have the highest implied total on the slate at 5.9 runs. The trick, of course, is to pick the correct combination of Phillies. Bohm might go a little underlooked tonight and he's eligible at 1B and 3B. He's on a bit of a heater with four hits, a homer, three RBI, and three walks over his last four games. Senzatela is a pitcher we can target against with confidence as he holds a 4.54 xERA and ranks in the bottom-three percentile in strikeout rate, whiff rate, and chase rate.
Nick Madrigal - 2B, CHW vs. TEX ($2,200)
He's likely going to hit ninth again, but that's not enough to take us off of him at his near-minimum salary. He's averaging 12.65 FD points over his last four games as he has five hits, a double, a triple, four RBI, three runs scored, and a walk over that span. Kyle Gibson has been very tough this season, but the White Sox have an implied total of 4.3 runs and Madrigal is likely to at least get in on part of that action.
Austin Riley - 3B, ATL vs. ARI ($2,400)
We can't be scared of targeting against MadBum just because he flashed his vintage self for one outing. His season-long form still suggests that he is now a shell of his former self as he holds an awful 6.93 ERA, .424 wOBA, and a fastball that averages just 90 MPH. Riley has mashed lately as he has put up 18.4, 6, 34.1, and 25.2 FD points over his last four games. He has two bombs, three RBI, four runs scored, and three walks over his last two outings. Keep rolling with him.
Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, SDP vs. LAD ($3,500)
It's a solid strategy to get a leverage play or two from the Padres in lineups that you're not overpaying for Bauer. Tatis is not hitting to his standards this season, and the injury didn't help, but he is coming off a monster two-homer, 43.9 FD point outing against the Dodgers yesterday. He's hitting just .162 against RHP this season, but that should normalize closer to his career average of .282 vs. RHP. I also like Manny Machado as a leverage play here - BvP (Batter vs. Pitcher) stats are generally not something to check out, but Machado's success against Bauer (.588/.667/1.412 slash line with 4 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB) is hard to ignore.
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Bryce Harper - OF, PHI vs. COL ($4,800)
Harper and Acuna are my primary pay-up targets on tonight's slate, and they're the reason that most of the remaining picks in this article are of the value variety. Harper has been scorching-hot this season (see advanced metrics below) and he had put up five straight games with at least 15 FD points before a 6.2-point disaster yesterday. He's in Coors and priced up for it, but the "boom" factor is just so high for him in this spot.
*via Baseball Savant
Ronald Acuna Jr. - OF, ATL vs. ARI ($4,500)
Acuna has been even more impressive than Harper this season, which is saying a lot. He has insane outputs of 28.4, 53.6, 30.4, 31.4, 37.2, 27.9, and 40.9 FD points over his last 14 games. I don't think it's a stretch to say that he has displayed the highest ceiling of any DFS hitter so far this season. He's averaging 19.6 FD points per game. He only has eight at-bats against LHP this year but he has five hits, two homers, five RBI, and three runs scored despite the small sample. Bumgarner went prime-MadBum in his last start but I don't expect that to happen again.
Marcell Ozuna - OF, ATL vs. ARI ($3,200)
Phillies and Braves stacks - that's basically what I'm trying to express with these picks today. Ozuna has had a slow-ish start to the year and remains relatively cheap because of it. He was in the top three percentile in the MLB in xBA, xSLG, wOBA, xwOBA, and Hard Hit % last season, and I don't believe he just snapped into suddenly being bad. His numbers will all start regressing to the mean sooner rather than later, and what better time to really kickstart the process than against the vulnerable Bumgarner?
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