MLB

FanDuel Pitching Primer: Tuesday 9/8/20

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Sep 8th, 2020
A monster slate requires some prudence at the pitching position tonight. Who do we like?

In daily fantasy baseball, success starts with nailing the starting pitcher spot in your lineup.

When compared to hitters, pitching performance tends to be much more predictable and stable throughout the course of the season. You know what you're getting from a top-level ace when you roster him: probably a dominant effort with only one or two implosions per season. In contrast, even the game's best hitters have days at the plate when they go 0-for-4.

As a result, lineup construction should begin with the starting pitcher. Which pitchers should you consider on today's main slate?

High-Salaried Option

Andrew Heaney, Los Angeles Angels

At Texas Rangers

FanDuel Salary: $9,200

There are four big-time arms at the top of Tuesday's main slate, and one we simply cannot ignore, despite being cheaper than many of the rest, is Andrew Heaney of the Los Angeles Angels.

First, let's look at this matchup, which couldn't be juicier. Heaney faces a Texas Rangers offense that has stunk to high heaven both at home and on the road this year -- against lefties overall, they sport a .273 wOBA, .135 ISO, and a whopping 26.4% strikeout rate.

Heaney is $1,200 cheaper than Walker Buehler, who also has been outstanding as of late, but to save some coin over him or a guy like Mike Clevinger ($9,600), consider the lefty.

Mid-Salaried Play

Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox

At Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Price: $8,400

Normally, we write about how dreadful the bottom of the barrel is for DFS slates. Tonight, we are #blessed with a terrible mid-tier -- there are land mines all over the place with a regressing Lance Lynn ($8,800), Tyler Mahle facing a Chicago Cubs offense that's waking up, and Spencer Turnbull and a plethora of control and command issues.

For now, let's take a look at Dylan Cease and the red hot Chicago White Sox. This team has already no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates once this season -- it's not too surprising, they are Rangers-esque in their terrible numbers with a .271 wOBA, .130 ISO, and 25.5% strikeout rate.

He won't cost as much as the aces, but he looks ready to pitch like one tonight.

Low-Salaried Option

Adrian Houser, Milwaukee Brewers

At Detroit Tigers

FanDuel Price: $5,800

This is pretty ugly -- while the mid-tier is bad, the bottom tier is just as grotesque.

If you are looking for a salary-saving dart throw, consider Adrian Houser. The Detroit Tigers have definitely turned things over to the youngsters, as they are missing several key hitters like C.J. Cron, Niko Goodrum, and JaCoby Jones.

Against righties this year, the Tigers clock in with an ugly .309 wOBA paired with a monster 28.2% strikeout rate. It's not pretty in this tier, but if you need to play in this space, peep Houser.


Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.