Ten games make up FanDuel's main slate Tuesday evening, with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. EDT. It's a loaded slate pitching wise with four arms priced in five figures and three more in the $9,000 tier. It's also a challenging one though, as most of the top arms are facing solid lineups.
As usual, the Dodgers (-210) are the slate's biggest favorite, followed by the Astros (-190) and Yankees (-180). Yankees-Angels (9.0) is the only game with a run total north of 8.5, so offense isn't bursting at the seams. There are some rain concerns in Chicago, but otherwise weather looks favorable for offense. It's unseasonably hot across the east, and there could be some nice wind boosts in New York, Atlanta, and St. Louis.
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Pitching
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LAD vs. NYM ($10,300): This seems like the obvious pay-up choice, so perhaps use Yamamoto for cash lineups and consider the other top arms for GPPs, aiming for lower roster rates. Yamamoto has gone six innings in each of his first three starts, never allowing more than two runs. His strikeouts have been inconsistent with 14 through 18.0 frames and there's minimal BvP history here. The Mets remain without Juan Soto, and the rest of their lineup isn't firing on all cylinders, and they come with a low expectancy of 2.7 runs.
Sonny Gray, BOS at MIN ($8,500): The price is a little high for my liking for an arm with minimal strikeout potential, as Gray has only 10 in 16.1 innings, but he's improved his output in each of his three starts and gets a Twins offense that's fanning 26.7 percent of the time against righties. Light winds are blowing in here, and it's not a spot where it will be hot. Gray has a 56.6 percent groundball rate too. We're banking on him keeping the ball in the yard and providing bulk innings with limited damage.
Ryan Weathers, NYY vs. LAA ($7,300): I have a good deal of interest in a plethora of pay-down options. Reynaldo Lopez ($7,500) seems to have a reasonable floor, and Colton Gordon ($6,600) could limit the Rockies across five or so innings. Weathers seems like the more obvious option however, with the Yankees being big favorites. He's shown ample potential, striking out 18 across 16.0 innings while not allowing a homer. The Angels are striking out at a 24.1 percent mark against lefties.
Top Targets
Lock and load Aaron Judge ($4,200) into your lineup here. He's homered three times in the last two, we've potentially got some favorable winds, and he's facing a lefty. He'll be heavily rostered, but it's such a favorable spot I can't see fading him being viable.
It's irresponsible of me not to include Jordan Walker ($3,700) here. He's homered in three straight and six of his last seven while riding a nine-game hitting streak. Weather is working in his favor as well, and he's got a robust .640 wOBA, 312 wRC+ and 1.533 OPS off lefties. It's completely unsustainable, so I wouldn't blame you for fading. He just is too hot to be omitted from this column.
Bargain Bats
Astros bats will be popular, so maybe a one-off piece is the correct play. Isaac Paredes ($3,000) hits in the heart of the order and could be overlooked. He's only 1-for-5 off Michael Lorenzen, but that ball left the yard.
Ronald Acuna ($3,100) has the same salary as Dominic Smith. Who do you feel better about at that number? Acuna is riding a six-game hitting streak that includes five extra-base hits. Austin Riley ($2,800) has posted double-digit fantasy points in five of his last six, making for an easy, inexpensive mini-stack.
Stacks to Consider
Guardians vs. Cardinals (Michael McGreevy): Jose Ramirez ($3,400), Steven Kwan ($2,800), Brayan Rocchio ($2,500)
I'm apparently all in on this game going over the 8.5 run total. It's going to be close to 90 degrees with double-digit outbound winds. McGreevy is due for some regression; his 2.16 ERA comes with a 5.79 xERA and 4.14 xFIP. He doesn't have targetable splits, so you can really build this stack based on your lineup needs positionally. Ramirez is an ideal standalone play with seven hits and four RBI in his last five. Kwan gives us a second top of the order piece around Ramirez and has reached base 12 times in his last seven. The third piece is tougher to identify. Kyle Manzardo at $2,400 likely hits cleanup, but isn't in great form. I'll side with Rocchio out of the likely nine-hole for a comearound lineup stack with the top two. He did homer last night, his second in seven games, and he's reached base in six of those outings.
Red Sox vs. Twins (Mick Abel): Jarren Duran ($3,300), Willson Contreras ($3,200), Roman Anthony ($2,900)
We noted the wind/weather above when considering Gray, so we're not expecting a power surge here. Rather, we'll target the heart of this order thinking they can feed off each other with consecutive hits. Abel is allowing a .413 wOBA to lefties and .392 to righties and we can cheaply get the 1-3-4 hitters against him. Duran has four hits and four runs over his last three, while Contreras has seven hits and six RBI in his last three. Anthony has two hits, three walks and four runs in his last three.
