Sunday’s main slate on features nine games, starting at 1:05 pm ET. FanDuel’s slate includes the Milwaukee Brewers at Colorado Rockies, while DraftKings consists of eight full games (not including the Brewers’ game) and one seven inning game (St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves). We will be using Bales Model to highlight some pitchers and batters to consider when making your lineups.
Pitchers
The four pitchers projected for the most fantasy points today are:
Hyun-Jin Ryu
Lance McCullers
Mike Minor
Taijuan Walker
Although Hyun-Jin Ryu is projected to have the highest fantasy point ceiling on the slate, Bales Model does not consider him as a top five pitcher for both DraftKings and FanDuel. After starting the season strong, Ryu has struggled in the month of June. In 17.2 innings pitched, he has allowed 12 earned runs which includes five home runs. Today he will be pitching against the Baltimore Orioles who have scored seven runs in each of their last two games. Even though the Orioles have the worst record in the American League (23-47), this may be a spot to fade the Toronto Blue Jays left-handed pitcher.
The highest rated pitcher for FanDuel on Bales Model is Lance McCullers from the Houston Astros. Although McCullers has not been averaging a huge amount of fantasy points, his pitching stats have been great through the first two and a half months of the year. In 56 innings thrown, McCullers has an ERA of 2.89, struck out 62 batters, and a 3-1 record. This afternoon, he will be pitching against the Chicago White Sox who are projected to have the second lowest implied runs total on the slate (3.9 runs). Even though the White Sox have the best record in the AL Central, they are currently on a three-game losing streak. This may be a perfect opportunity for McCullers to score a large amount of fantasy points.
A pitcher who has been extremely inconsistent this year is Mike Minor from the Kansas City Royals. Like Ryu, Minor is not highly rated on Bales Model due to his expensive salary price. In 79.2 innings pitched, Minor has allowed 42 base runners to cross the plate and has a 4.63 ERA. However, if Minor follows the trend of his last four outings, he may be in line for a big fantasy day. Today, he will be pitching against the Boston Red Sox who will be hoping to grow their lead in the AL East as it is currently only half a game.
Another pitcher that does not rate highly on Bales Model is Taijuan Walker from the New York Mets. Walker has solid pitching stats in 2021 and will be hoping to continue this strong form. In 68 innings pitched, he has struck out 72 opposing batters, has a 2.12 ERA, and a 6-2 record. This afternoon, Walker will be on the mound against the Washington Nationals who have won seven of their last 10 games and have a projected implied runs total of 4.3 in the category.
Value
At this point, you are probably wondering which pitchers Bales Model does like as most of the ones that have been talked about are pitchers to possibly fade.
The highest-rated pitcher for DraftKings on Bales Model is Kenta Maeda from the Minnesota Twins. Pro Trends considers Maeda as a 74% bargain on DK as he is priced lower than ever before this year. Hoping to amend his 4.82 ERA, Maeda will be pitching against the Texas Rangers who are currently on a five-game losing streak. Another reason to roster Maeda is that the Rangers have scored the fifth fewest runs in MLB this season (276).
A pitcher highly rated on Bales Model for today’s slate is JT Brubaker. Brubaker only has one quality start in his last five outings but is due for a bounce back game. This afternoon, he will be pitching against the Cleveland Indians who are hoping to avoid a three-game sweep.
Hitters
Notable Stack
Today’s top points/salary stack comes to you from the Chicago Cubs (-142):
- Ian Happ (S)
- Jason Heyward (L)
- Sergio Alcantara (S)
- Joc Pederson (L)
Projected to have the fourth highest implied runs total on the slate of 5, the Cubs batters will be hoping to get back on track as they have only scored 14 runs in their last seven games. With warmer weather on the horizon, I expect the Cubs bats to heat up soon. On FanDuel, this stack will cost you $9.7k in salary and are projected for a combined 43.2 fantasy points.
Other Hitters
Bales Model projects Marcus Semien from the Toronto Blue Jays as the highest rated batter on DraftKings. Semien has bee on fire to begin his 2021 campaign and is hoping to continue his strong from this afternoon. Through 69 games played, Semien has hit 18 home runs which is the highest HR/AB rate he has ever accomplished.
Another batter highly rated on Bales Model is Michael Brantley from the Houston Astros. Brantley is leading all AL hitters with a .338 batting average through 207 at bats. Today, the Astros have a projected implied runs total of 4.7 as they will be up to bat against Dallas Keuchel.
Specifically, for FanDuel there are a lot of batter highly rated on Bales Model in the Brewers/Rockies game. I recommend looking further into the model to find the best options possible!
Value
Finally, here is a handful of batters to consider while completing your lineups today that are projected for a high fantasy points/salary:
- Jesus Aguilar
- Reese McGuire
- Nate Lowe
- Kevin Newman
- Miguel Rojas
