MLB

FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Thursday 9/24/20

Corbin Burnes has been on fire lately and should keep things going against the Cardinals. Which other players should you consider on Thursday's slate?

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!

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On that note, let's highlight some of the top options for today's FanDuel main slate. Below are tonight's projected starters with their 2020 stats. Opposing team strikeout rate and wRC+ date now show this year's splits against a given pitcher's handedness using up-to-date active rosters, per FanGraphs.

Pitcher Salary L/R Opp. SIERA K% BB% Opp. K% Opp. wRC+
Corbin Burnes $10,600 R @STL 3.08 37.6% 10.0% 23.7% 94
Walker Buehler $10,400 R OAK 3.98 26.9% 7.5% 23.0% 104
Ian Anderson $9,900 R MIA 3.93 31.5% 12.6% 24.4% 94
Lance Lynn $9,500 R HOU 3.98 26.8% 7.3% 20.0% 99
Pablo Lopez $8,500 R @ATL 3.92 24.1% 7.3% 22.8% 133
Kwang Hyun Kim $8,200 L MIL 4.98 15.8% 7.5% 25.9% 114
Kris Bubic $8,100 L DET 4.64 22.2% 9.6% 24.6% 137
Martin Perez $7,900 L BAL 5.40 18.3% 11.2% 23.5% 88
Mike Fiers $7,600 R @LOS 5.38 14.5% 6.4% 20.0% 127
Cristian Javier $7,400 R @TEX 4.48 25.3% 8.9% 24.8% 66
Alex Cobb $6,300 R @BOS 4.67 17.0% 8.0% 24.4% 104
Michael Fulmer $5,600 R @KAN 5.48 16.4% 9.8% 24.7% 91


Let's check out the top spots on tonight's main slate.

Pitchers

Corbin Burnes ($10,600) has put it all together in 2020, and his 37.6% strikeout rate sits behind just Shane Bieber, Tyler Glasnow, and Jacob deGrom among qualified starters. While a double-digit walk rate would normally be a concern, Burnes has been on an incredible tear lately, posting a 42.0% strikeout rate and 5.4% walk rate over his last five outings. His FanDuel scores in that timeframe? 55, 41, 64, 49, and 58 points. He's a no-brainer against St. Louis.

Walker Buehler ($10,400) is returning from a blister issue, and after throwing a 90-pitch simulated game over the weekend, he ought to be around his normal workload. The blister has been a nagging issue since late August, though, so it's hard to feel 100% confident in Buehler following another stint on the injured list. At roughly the same salary as Burnes, I'm not super jazzed about Buehler in a tougher matchup against Oakland, but he should see a lower roster percentage in tournaments.

Ian Anderson ($9,900) and his 31.5% strikeout rate will play in GPPs, but rain is threatening to derail this game. The high walk rate makes Anderson a boom-or-bust choice against Miami, but he's helped by a fantastic 59.3% ground-ball rate and a robust workload (99 pitches in each of the last two starts).

I won't go out of my way to roster Lance Lynn ($9,500) against Houston, but I'm also not against having some exposure if he fits into certain lineups. It's rare to find someone with as much leash as Lynn in 2020, as he's exceeded 100 pitches in all 12 starts. He flopped the last time he faced the Astros but has otherwise produced excellent numbers against a slew of tough AL and NL West opponents.

Cristian Javier ($7,400) is a clear value in a stellar spot against Texas. Javier's pitch count is a potential worry after getting pulled at 77 pitches last time, but he was up in the 90s earlier this month. He hasn't shown an amazing ceiling, but the Rangers are the perfect opponent to achieve a season-high score against.

Hitters

Kansas City Royals

It's rare to see the Kansas City Royals sporting an implied total over five runs (5.28), but that shows how poorly Michael Fulmer's 2020 campaign has gone. Fulmer ranks last in both SIERA and strikeout-minus-walk rate on the slate, and he's giving up far and away the most home runs per 9.0 innings (2.49).

Fulmer hasn't gone past the three innings in any start this season, but that just means more at-bats for the Royals against a Tigers middling bullpen.

Salvador Perez ($3,600) and Jorge Soler ($3,000) are top power bats, and Franchy Cordero ($2,000) is an excellent punt if he's in the lineup again. Cordero has always flashed a high barrel rate whenever he's gotten playing opportunities.

Boston Red Sox

Don't look now, but the Boston Red Sox have actually won three games in a row! Perhaps they can get to four in a plus spot against Alex Cobb.

Although Cobb has a solid 52.7% ground-ball rate that's usually a deterrent to stacking, no one is giving up a higher barrel rate than Cobb on the slate (10.1%), and his 17.0% strikeout rate is among the worst on the board. And similar to the Tigers, Baltimore's bullpen isn't anything special, either.

Alex Verdugo ($3,000) and Rafael Devers ($3,900) will both have the platoon advantage high in the order. Verdugo is inexpensive out of the leadoff spot, while Devers is once again showing strong power numbers against righties (.309 ISO).

Bobby Dalbec ($3,400) has displayed immense power since getting called up, slugging 7 bombs in just 75 plate appearances (.353 ISO). Sure, that would be unsustainable over a longer season, but he showed promising pop in the minors and is making loads of hard contact. However, given his 45.3% strikeout rate, he's very much an all-or-nothing play.

Los Angeles Dodgers

It usually doesn't take much to talk ourselves into the Los Angeles Dodgers, so they're a shoo-in when facing the likes of Mike Fiers.

Fiers' 14.5% strikeout rate is the lowest of tonight's starters, and letting a team like the Dodgers make contact probably isn't going to end well too often. While we shouldn't read too much into any reverse splits over this short season, Fiers actually has a pitiful 8.8% strikeout rate against righties this year.

It's the Dodgers, so you know the drill -- mix and match just about anyone you like. You can make a pretty appealing lower-order stack on the cheap between guys like Will Smith ($3,100), Chris Taylor ($3,000), Joc Pederson ($2,600), and A.J. Pollock ($3,300).