FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 6/26/23

Monday's six-game slate comes with an obvious chalk pitcher and obvious chalk stack. Navigating around them is mostly impossible, but there are still other spots for upside.

Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Pitching Breakdown

There's a pretty easy place to start here.

That's Spencer Strider ($11,300), who has been an undeniable figure in daily fantasy all season thanks to his gigantic 39.0% strikeout rate. Unfortunately, in some recent starts, Strider's historical issues with an elevated flyball rate (48.9% this season) and hard-hit rate allowed (39.0%) have got the best of him, but his matchup today helps considerably.

He'll draw a Twins lineup with a league-high 27.1% strikeout rate against righties. Considering he did bounce back in his last effort against the Phillies, there's a tangible floor of punchies that makes Strider the top guy on the slate by a mile.

Behind him, Luis Castillo ($10,600) has a floor that comes from his opponent. Washington has just an 86 wRC+ and .127 isolated power (ISO) against righties, but they don't strike out much (18.5% rate). Castillo's 15.2% swinging-strike rate might bring some whiffs out of them, but the Nats have only ceded double-digit punchouts to a starter once this year.

Strider's presence in an elite matchup does hamper the alternatives quite a bit. Sonny Gray, entering with seven straight starts under 30 FanDuel points, has to deal with the potent sticks on the Braves' side of that one, and Chicago's Dylan Cease -- though turning the corner himself -- also has a brute with Angels on the road.

They're also above $9,000. Opposing Cease, you could justify Reid Detmers ($8,500) at home against Cease's White Sox. Detmers' 28.2% strikeout rate is massive for someone in this tier, and the Pale Hose are a pretty bland matchup for southpaws, holding a 23.2% strikeout rate (12th-highest) and .717 OPS (12th-lowest) in the split.

Finally, Justin Verlander ($8,100) has been in poor form this year, but his velocity is back within shouting distance of his 2022 mark, so it could turn at any moment. His 44.9% hard-hit rate allowed is definitely concerning, and the K juice hasn't been there (20.1% strikeout rate), but today's matchup could change his fortunes.

Milwaukee has a bottom-five mark against righties in wRC+ (87) and strikeout rate (24.1%), so this could be a get-right spot all week for the Mets' right-hand-dominant rotation. There's dodgy weather to note here, though.

Hitting Breakdown

In cash games, there are two standout spots today well above the rest.

The Texas Rangers -- solely due to weather issues -- sit at the top of today's list with a 5.28 implied team total. They'll draw Matt Boyd and the Detroit Tigers on the road. Behind a 4.22 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), Boyd hasn't been awful, but he's still ceding way too many flyballs (43.0% rate) and homers (1.28 HR/9) when drawing Texas in their building.

Righties have a wOBA that is 101 percentage points higher than lefties against Boyd, so it's a day to bump up Adolis Garcia ($3,900), Marcus Semien ($3,800), and Josh Jung ($3,400) relative to their teammates. Jonah Heim ($3,200) will also work as a switch hitter.

If not for weather issues, I'd put the Baltimore Orioles at the top spot, though. Brandon Williamson is running out of positive points for the Cincinnati Reds, amassing a 5.17 SIERA, 17.0% strikeout rate, and 1.96 HR/9 to this stage. Cincinnati's bullpen is also wearing their recent shootouts with a 5.19 xFIP this month.

Williamson has actually allowed more hard contact to lefties (47.6% rate), but all nine Orioles could be righties tonight, and he's not great there, either. It's easy to like Anthony Santander ($3,200), Austin Hays ($3,000), and Aaron Hicks ($2,400) with ISOs north of .200 in the split and salaries that fit Strider well.

In tournaments, the Reds might actually be sneakier with higher salaries and a 4.69 implied team total as the 'dog. They'll get to attack low-whiff lefty Cole Irvin, who is a sinkerballer with just a 30.3% rate of grounders. Yikes. Baltimore's bullpen has also faded to a 4.24 xFIP in June (11th-worst in MLB).

If you can squeeze him in, Elly De La Cruz ($4,700) is always capable of something magical, but Matt McLain ($3,600), Jonathan India ($3,400), Spencer Steer ($3,200), and Kevin Newman ($2,700) are more likely options with one of the aces in mind.

The disappointing Seattle Mariners' offense could gain momentum tonight against Trevor Williams (4.81 SIERA) and a Washington bullpen that's struggled all season. Their 4.71 implied team total is pretty sizable given the reality of their home ballpark. Underperforming names like Jarred Kelenic ($3,000), Teoscar Hernandez ($3,000), and Ty France ($2,900) fit ideally with Strider.

Lastly, if you want to get super different around the Braves' ace and another high-salaried stack, Detroit could be a razor-sharp tournament target. With an implied team total inching toward four runs, Andrew Heaney is still struggling with gopher balls (1.49 HR/9).

Detroit has individual sticks like Javier Baez ($2,700), Spencer Torkelson ($2,600), Zack Short ($2,400), and Andy Ibanez ($2,100) who all have ISOs north of .160.