Due to differences in main slates on both DraftKings and FanDuel, we will be covering Thursday’s all-day Major League Baseball slate on FanDuel, which features 13 games starting at 12:10 pm ET.
Pitchers
The four pitchers projected to score the most fantasy points are:
Brandon Woodruff (R)
Yu Darvish (R)
Jose Berrios (R)
Shohei Ohtani (R)
The highest-priced pitcher on the slate is Brandon Woodruff from the Milwaukee Brewers. Woodruff has a tough task, as he’s following Corbin Burnes in the rotation. Burnes tied a MLB record with 10 consecutive strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs in Wednesday’s game. Hoping to follow in Burnes’ footsteps, Woodruff ranks seventh in all of baseball with 160 strikeouts in only 137.1 innings pitched. Since their trade deadline moves, the Cubs have struggled mightily. They have lost nine of their last 10 games, including their last seven contests. Chicago is projected for the fifth-lowest implied runs total (3.7 runs) on the slate.
Rated as a top-three pitcher on Bales Model, Yu Darvish of the San Diego Padres will be pitching against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Darvish was electric in his last start which was also against the Diamondbacks. In seven innings, he allowed four hits, two earned runs and struck out 12 opposing batters. Looking for a similar performance, Darvish will need to keep the ball in the yard. He has allowed at least one home run in 11 of his last 12 starts, which has increased his moderately low 3.43 ERA.
Jose Berrios from the Toronto Blue Jays is the fifth-highest rated pitcher on Bales Model for the slate. Berrios is coming off three consecutive quality starts, in which he allowed only one earned run over 19 innings pitched. In those same 19 innings, he struck out 17 batters and walked only one. That’s an impressive run Berrios is on. Hoping to continue his recent dominance, he will be on the mound against the Los Angeles Angels, who are looking to end a two-game losing streak. In those two games, the Angels scored a combined two runs on eight hits.
Pitching against Berrios will be Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani. The standout’s last start was August 4, where he pitched six innings against the Texas Rangers. In those six innings, Ohtani allowed only four hits, one earned run, while striking out six batters. It’s worth noting that Ohtani is not highly rated on Bales Model for the all-day slate. I think a strong reason as to why he isn’t highly rated is due to the matchup at hand. The Blue Jays have won eight of their last 10 games, plus they’re fighting for a wild-card spot or maybe even AL East division title.
Value
Bales Model projects two lower priced pitchers as the highest rated options on the card.
Logan Webb from the San Francisco Giants is the stand-alone pitcher rated above 70 on the statistics. Webb was dominant in his last start against the Milwaukee Brewers. In six innings, he allowed only three hits, gave up one home runs and struck out nine opposing batters. The Giants have an impressive four-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West division, and hoping to lean on Webb for another solid performance.
Another strong value play to consider is Marco Gonzales from the Seattle Mariners. Although his 4.73 ERA and 3-5 record is not the most attractive, last outing was one he is hoping to build off. Last start, Gonzales pitched 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball, where he allowed only three hits against, while striking out five batters. The most impressive part of his recent performance is that he threw a total of 108 pitches which was a season-high for him.
Hitters
Notable Stack
The top projected points stack comes to you from the Baltimore Orioles (-138):
- Cedric Mullins (L)
- Ramon Urias (R)
- Trey Mancini (R)
- Anthony Santander (S)
The Orioles are projected for the second-highest implied runs total (5.7 runs) on the card. Although the Orioles have the second-worst record in baseball (38-74), they have been putting up a decent number of runs. They scored 12 runs in their last three games to be exact, which is not bad at all. Hoping to avoid a three-game sweep against the visiting Detroit Tigers, the Orioles are due for a big output. On FanDuel, this stack will cost you $11.8k in salary and are projected for a combined 51.6 fantasy points.
Other Hitters
The highest-rated floor play on Bales Model is Freddie Freeman from the Atlanta Braves. Freeman has been in a slump lately, but last game was able to break his poor hitting stretch. Sometimes, all it takes is one hit to get a player on track and we are all for this thought process holding true with Freeman. With only one home run in the month of August, he will be looking to increase his season total of 24.
The highest-rated bargain batter per Pro Trends is Trea Turner from the Los Angeles Dodgers (98%). Turner was traded from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline and has not looked back. In the four games he has started, he collected at least one hit in each of them including scoring five combined runs.
Value
Finally, here is a handful of batters to consider while completing your lineups that are projected for a high fantasy points/salary:
- Myles Straw
- Adam Frazier
- Sean Murphy
- Brad Miller
- Ian Happ
