FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 7/4/21

The beauty of daily fantasy baseball is that the top targets are different each and every day. Whether it's the right-handed catcher who destroys left-handed pitching or the mid-range hurler facing a depleted lineup, you're not going to find yourself using the same assets time after time.

While this breaks up the monotony, it can make it hard to decide which players are primed to succeed on a given day. We can help bridge that gap.

In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy-looking team to put up some big point totals.

If you need help getting started on that trek, here are some of the top options on the board today. We'll be focusing exclusively on the main slate.

Pitching Breakdown

We were hurting for ace-level arms yesterday. That's not the case today.

We have a foursome of high-upside pitchers from which to choose -- Lucas Giolito ($9,600 on FanDuel), Charlie Morton ($9,000), Freddy Peralta ($9,900) and Robbie Ray ($10,800). All four are plenty viable, but once you factor in salaries and matchups, Giolito, Morton and Peralta land in their own tier, with Ray -- who is still a good play and profiles as someone who may go under-rostered in tourneys -- a notch below.

Of the bunch, Morton is my top play. He has a sweet matchup with the Miami Marlins, who rank 25th in wOBA (.299) over the last 30 days with the sixth-highest strikeout rate (24.9%) in that time. Morton -- who finished the month of June allowing a meager .223 wOBA with a 27.3% strikeout rate -- has posted at least 30 FanDuel points in seven of his last eight starts, with games of 64, 54 and 55 FanDuel points in that span. He checks all the boxes for me.

But Giolito and Peralta check plenty of boxes, too.

Peralta gets a dreamy date with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that ranks 28th in wOBA (.285) over the last 30 days but does have the second-lowest strikeout rate (20.4%) in that split. Peralta owns a 36.2% strikeout rate and 14.4% swinging-strike rate. He's scored at least 37 FanDuel points in five of his past six outings, with a low of 27 during that stretch along with three games of 49-plus.

Giolito also has a dope matchup, getting the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers have been picked on a lot in DFS this season, and while their offense has been markedly better of late, they still present Giolito with a chance to produce a ceiling game, carrying the eighth-highest strikeout rate (24.7%) over the last 30 days. Giolito has a 29.4% strikeout rate and 15.2% swinging-strike rate, and he's tossed at least 97 pitches in six straight starts, with a high of 111 in that time.

I will have a ton of Giolito, Peralta, and Morton in my lineups today, and if I deviate at all from those three, it'll be to sprinkle in some Ray, who could hit for a big game against a whiff-happy Tampa Bay Rays offense. I have no interest in any other pitchers.

Stacks to Target

Toronto Blue Jays

Man, the Toronto Blue Jays are really fun, and they're swinging it well of late, putting up a .350 wOBA over the last 30 days. As if their lineup wasn't good enough, the addition of George Springer ($3,700) gives the Jays another potent stick, and their righty-heavy lineup can feast today versus southpaw Ryan Yarbrough.

Yarbrough isn't a bad pitcher, but he's also not that good, pitching to a 4.19 SIERA and 19.3% strikeout rate. Righties are striking out just 17.2% of the time against him in 2021, and Toronto's 5.49 implied total is a slate-high clip.

The Jays' lineup should be extremely right-handed. Marcus Semien ($4,200), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,600), Bo Bichette ($3,900), Teoscar Hernandez ($3,400), Springer, Randal Grichuk ($3,000) and Lourdes Gurriel ($3,100) are all righties and are projected to hit 1-7. Grichuk is one of the top point-per-dollar plays on the slate as he's generated a .370 wOBA against lefties this season.

The only knocks on Toronto today are that they'll likely be chalky, and their salaries don't fit all that well alongside a top-shelf arm.

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are in a money spot versus Brad Keller, and with just two guys at or above $3,500, the Twins pair nicely with one of the slate's aces.

Keller comes into this one with a 5.04 SIERA, 17.2% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate. We can target lefties and righties, but the right-handed Keller is working some reverse-splits this season as right-handed hitters have struck out just 13.0% of the time against him while racking up a .402 wOBA. Lefties have a .381 wOBA versus Keller, so, yeah, stack away.

While Nelson Cruz ($4,200) and Josh Donaldson ($3,500), the latter of whom is iffy due to injury, are great options, I am super into Minnesota's mid-range sticks -- specifically Max Kepler ($3,300), Jorge Polanco ($3,100), Alex Kirilloff ($3,000), Luis Arraez ($3,000) and Trevor Larnach ($2,800).

Of that group, I want to highlight lefties Kirilloff and Larnach. Kirilloff boasts a 40.4% hard-hit rate with the platoon advantage this season while Larnach -- who has been slotted third or fourth in each of his past 11 starts -- has tagged right-handers for a .380 wOBA and 46.4% hard-hit rate in his rookie campaign. They are core plays for me.

Chicago White Sox

Matt Manning is one of the top pitching prospects in the game, and his time will come. But so far in his brief MLB career, he's been overmatched, struggling to a 5.73 SIERA and 9.1% strikeout rate in only 14 1/3 innings. He conceded nine runs to the Cleveland Indians in his last start and should have a tough time today with the Chicago White Sox. And once Manning departs, the Pale Hose will see a Tigers bullpen that sits seventh-worst in reliever SIERA (4.15).

The White Sox -- who own a 4.81 implied total -- have no bats above $3,600, and they're banged up right now, so they could offer some extreme value depending on the status of guys like Yasmani Grandal ($3,300) and Yoan Moncada ($2,800).

Jose Abreu ($3,600) and Tim Anderson ($3,500) can be pillars of Chicago stacks. Brian Goodwin ($3,100), Andrew Vaughn ($2,400) and Adam Eaton ($2,400) are more economical options. Our projections rank Vaughn as the third-best point-per-dollar play on the slate.