FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Thursday 8/12/21

Thursday's four-game main slate is actually pretty loaded at pitcher, with seven of the eight starters owning both a sub-4.00 SIERA and strikeout rate of more than 25%. That leaves us with little in the way of obvious stacks, so you might need to take some shots in the dark if you want to differentiate in tournaments.

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

Pitchers

Yu Darvish ($9,200): Darvish is coming off a stellar 55-point, 12-strikeout outing against Arizona, yet his salary remains quite appealing at under $10,000. He faces the D-backs again tonight, and while that familiarity isn't necessarily a plus, this is one of the weaker lineups in the league. Arizona's active roster owns a mere 80 wRC+ versus right-handed pitching. Darvish also carries the best overall numbers of the slate with a 3.32 SIERA, 30.0% strikeout rate, and 5.6% walk rate.

Lance Lynn ($10,300): Lynn is up against a dangerous Yankees offense, but it's also one that can provide loads of punchouts. New York carries a 24.3% strikeout rate versus righties, and if you look at their projected lineup, DJ LeMahieu is really the only low-strikeout hitter of the entire group. Lynn enters the night with a solid 3.72 SIERA, 27.9% strikeout rate, and 7.5% walk rate, and he's regularly allowed to reach 100 pitches, making him a good bet to go at least six innings.

Logan Webb ($7,600): Webb's 25.2% strikeout rate is one of the lower marks on the board, but he's shown he can pop on occasion, including a nine-strikeout performance his last time out against Milwaukee. Not only is this a crazy low salary for him, but his matchup is perhaps the night's best overall versus the road-tripping Rockies (slate-low 3.22 implied total). Colorado's got a bottom-of-the-barrel 77 wRC+ against righties and an even worse 68 wRC+ in away games.

Others to Consider: German Marquez ($9,000), Jose Berrios ($8,500)

Stacks

San Diego Padres: The Padres are the most obvious offense to stack tonight, as they face the weakest of the eight pitchers in Taylor Widener. On the slate, Widener ranks last in SIERA (4.52) and strikeout rate (23.9%), and his 10.0% walk rate is second-worst behind only Shohei Ohtani. But to top it all off, Widener is getting obliterated by the long ball, allowing 2.15 home runs per nine innings, which is something he also struggled with in 2020.

Manny Machado ($3,900), Jake Cronenworth ($3,700), and Tommy Pham ($3,000) are top power options, and you'll obviously also want Fernando Tatis Jr. ($4,100) on the off chance he returns from the injured list. Adam Frazier ($2,800) lacks pop but is entrenched in the two-hole, making him a great value at his salary.

Considering the limited stacking options tonight, all the top Padres will have high roster percentages, so stacking the bottom of the order might be a way to avoid being too chalky.

Chicago White Sox: Along with the Padres, the White Sox are the only other team with an implied total exceeding five runs, so they figure to be the other most popular stack. Left-hander Andrew Heaney has rather strong peripherals, which includes a 28.3% strikeout rate, but home-run issues continue to plague him, as he's coughing up 1.82 per nine innings off a 43.5% fly-ball rate.

The White Sox could have an entire lineup of righties and switch-hitters, so you should feel pretty comfortable stacking most of them. Get up to Eloy Jimenez ($4,100), Jose Abreu ($3,700), and Tim Anderson ($3,700) if you can, but you can also save plenty of cap space through Andrew Vaughn ($3,000), Yoan Moncada ($2,900), Luis Robert ($2,900), and Adam Engel ($2,600).

Note that due to his ability to generate whiffs, Heaney will still occasionally post his share of shutdown performances, making this a slightly riskier spot compared to the Padres. But the chance of Heaney giving up at least one home run is high, so you can also attack him through one-offs if you don't want to go with the full stack.

Toronto Blue Jays: Once we get past those two teams, we're basically left with less-than-ideal matchups against quality pitchers. As such, it's hard to get too enthused with anyone else, but the Blue Jays can blow up on any given night, even if it's against the likes of Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani's really clamped down on the free passes lately, but he still carries a 10.2% walk rate on the season, and we saw him get wrecked by the Yankees at the end of June, which was just five starts ago. In that implosion, Ohtani allowed seven earned runs in two-thirds of an inning with four walks and just one strikeout.

Are we likely to see that again? Probably not. But if you're going to stand with an offense in a tough matchup, it might as well be one that owns a 119 wRC+ versus right-handed pitching.

If you're rostering someone like Webb, you can go ahead and splurge for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,600), George Springer ($4,200), Marcus Semien ($3,900), and Bo Bichette ($4,000), though it's possible Bichette sits again due to a minor shin injury. Teoscar Hernandez ($3,500) remains easier to fit in, and only Springer and Guerrero are averaging more barrels per plate appearance on the team than Hernandez is.

Lourdes Gurriel ($2,700), Corey Dickerson ($2,400), and Randal Grichuk ($2,300) also give us some value choices depending on who cracks the lineup.

Others to Consider: San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees