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We have a tidy nine-gamer over on the blue site tonight and it's a doozy as exactly half of the slate is currently sporting implied totals of over five runs. There are just a ton of options on offense tonight, and there are a few very intriguing (potentially lower-rostered) pitching options that I'll be highlighting in this article. Let's make some money tonight, shall we?
I'll be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for the FanDuel main slate on 8/14/2021. You can see our DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineup pick for the early slate here as well.
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:
Dylan Cease - CWS vs. NYY ($8,900)
I realize Buehler and Ryu and in some relatively cushy matchups and yes, they'd make fine cash plays. They're also really expensive. Going to Cease allows you to do more with your stacks and one-offs on this slate, and I'm not betting he's going to get a ton of rostership against this new-look Yankees lineup. His ceiling rivals the top-salaried arms as he just put up 61 FD points against the Royals and has had at least 10 strikeouts in three of his last five starts. He holds an impressive 30.8% K% and has some filthy stuff with an elite Whiff Rate of over 44% on his breaking pitches (.171 xBA for his slider). The Yankees aren't the worst matchup, either, as they hold a high 24.9% strikeout rate and hit a weak .228 average against RHP this season. They're also only projecting for 4.0 runs - Cease is sneaky here.
Alternate Play(s)
Luis Garcia - HOU vs. LAA ($7,900)
This Angels lineup can have a lot of strikeouts in it and they're sporting a low 4.0-run implied total. No one really puts a scare into you, outside of Shohei Ohtani, of course. Enter Luis Garcia, who has been pretty damn good this year with a 3.29 ERA (3.54 xERA) and a well above average 29.8% strikeout rate. He's averaging 31.7 FD PPG and has put up over 52 points in two of his last four and at least seven strikeouts in five straight. He doesn't always go deep into games, but the K's are pretty much always there and he has nice upside at this price.
Others: Walker Buehler (vs. NYM), Hyun-Jin Ryu (vs. SEA), James Kaprielian (vs. TEX)
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Will Smith - C/1B, LAD vs. NYM ($3,300)
This play makes sense for a lot of reasons. Smith has a great hit profile, but he almost exclusively crushes against right-handed pitching. This season, he's hitting for a .978 OPS against RHP (.563. vs. LHP) and has 13 of his 15 homers in the split. He's also in good form, with a homer and 25.7 FD points on Friday and at least 12.7 FD points in three of his last four. Lastly, Walker is in a spiral (9.00 ERA in five July starts, 5.40 in August, 11 homers since July 1st) and he has been much worse against RHH.
Matt Olson - C/1B, OAK vs. TEX ($4,000)
Don't worry, we'll get to some values eventually. Olson just makes too much sense here as a pay-up option in this spot against Jordan Lyles. Lyles has allowed 27 bombs and holds a 5.46 ERA and a terrible .277 xBA and .487 xSLG. He also is much worse against RHH (6.51 ERA, 19 of his 27 homers allowed). Olson has 29 homers on the season and some of his advanced metrics (xwOBA, xSLG, Hard Hit%) rank among the best in the MLB. He went yard yesterday and I'm thinking he does so again tonight.
Nicky Lopez - 2B/SS, KCR vs. STL ($2,100)
Lopez is about as cheap as they come and he has been getting run at the top of the order out of the two-hole lately. No one's going to mistake him for Mike Trout with the bat, but he doesn't strike out (ever) and he can put the ball in play, get on base, and make some noise on the basepaths (.269 AVG, 10 steals). Lester is washed up and he's also notoriously terrible at holding runners on the basepaths, so this lines up nicely for Lopez to provide value.
Others: Marcus Semien (vs. SEA), Whit Merrifield (vs. STL), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (vs. SEA), Corey Seager (vs. NYM)
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Seth Brown - OF, OAK vs. TEX ($2,300)
This price is just patently absurd for a dude who has been raking lately. Brown has just a .210 average overall but he had a .901 OPS in July and a 1.070 OPS in August. He has put up two homers, two doubles, and five RBI over his last fives games and gets the aforementioned incredible matchup against the overmatched Lyles. Seems like an easy call here. Obviously Mark Canha and Starling Marte are in incredible spots to produce as well.
Max Kepler - OF, MIN vs. TBR ($3,200)
Michael Wacha looks absolutely cooked as he's currently sporting a 5.49 ERA and has allowed 11 combined earned runs to the Mariners and Orioles in his two August starts. He's also in the bottom-five percentile in xwOBA, xERA, xBA, and xSLG. Yikes. This isn't the most exciting team to stack after they let Nelson Cruz go (*sigh*), but they have some dudes to target and they make sense as a potentially overlooked stack tonight with a decent 5.0-run implied total. Kepler should hit leadoff and has hit RHP better this year with a .759 OPS and a high .240 ISO in the split. Polanco, Donaldson, Rooker, and Garver can be mixed into the stack. Kepler's in a major slide lately as he has just three hits all month, but that should just make him very unpopular tonight.
Tyler O'Neill - OF, STL vs. KCR ($3,000)
Man, there is certainly not a shortage of terrible pitchers to target on this slate. O'Neill comes into the game with one of the more impressive hitting profiles (see below) in the league, with his only weaknesses coming in the form of striking out and his lack of walks. This works out here, though, because Keller is sporting an awful 5.79 ERA (6.65 xERA), 18.7% K%, 10.5% BB%, and bottom-two percentile rates in xwOBA, xERA, and xBA. O'Neill is rocking a .231 ISO and has 16 homers in this split this season.
Others: Randal Grichuk (vs. SEA), Kyle Tucker (vs. LAA), Luis Robertt (vs. NYY), Andrew Benintendi (vs. STL)
FanDuel DFS Stacks
- OAK vs. Lyles
- KCR vs. Lester
- TOR vs. Kikuchi
- HOU vs. Barria
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