FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 8/28/21

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 projections and 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 have a three-man top tier -- Lance Lynn ($10,400 on FanDuel), Adam Wainwright ($9,900) and Framber Valdez ($10,200). Our model projects each of them for at least 34.7 FanDuel points, and we have no other pitchers pegged for more than 28. You can make strong cases for all three.

Lynn is tops for me, and our projections have him with a slate-best 36.9 FanDuel points in a dope matchup with the Chicago Cubs, who carry the slate's lowest implied total (3.26). Over the last 30 days, the Cubbies have the highest strikeout rate (29.9%) with the ninth-worst wOBA (.303). One of the big things working in Lynn's favor for DFS is how long his leash is. He's thrown at least 100 pitches five times in his last nine outings. He punched out eight over six innings of one-run ball against the Cubs in early August.

Wainwright has been immense this season, pitching to a 3.94 SIERA and 22.9% strikeout rate. He's posted FanDuel outputs of 58 and 61 in two of his past three starts, showing an elite ceiling, and both of those games came against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Guess who he faces today? Yep, the Pirates. Pittsburgh's 3.72 implied total is a number we can attack, and their .278 wOBA over the last month is the second-lowest clip. Waino has tossed at least 96 pitches in three of his last four appearances.

Valdez is an excellent play, as well. The matchup is 100% there as he battles the Texas Rangers, an offense that sports the fourth-worst wOBA (.283) across the past 30 days. Valdez has just as good of a workload as the other two studs, going at least 98 pitches in four straight starts, but with a 22.1% strikeout rate for the season, his upside is lacking a bit. That makes him a clear number-three option for me, but we project him for just 2.2 fewer FanDuel points than Lynn.

I won't deviate from those three much -- if at all. There isn't much of a reason to given how solid they are and how sketchy the rest of the pitching slate is. If I was forced to take a stab at someone else, it would be Huascar Ynoa ($8,600).

There is some workload concerns with Ynoa as this will be just his third start off the injured list. He also has a tough matchup against the San Francisco Giants, a good offense that doesn't whiff much. But Ynoa might be good enough to thrive anyway. He punched out nine New York Yankees in six frames last time out and brings a 28.4% strikeout rate and 13.2% swinging-strike rate into this one. The Giants' 4.13 implied total isn't too bad. I probably won't go here, but I wanted to give you another pick outside of the slate's big three.

Stacks to Target

Tampa Bay Rays

Early in the year, John Means was pitching like a stud and would've been someone we'd use against a high-strikeout Tampa Bay Rays lineup. But Means has been pretty dang awful of late, and now we're stacking against him. In the second half, Means has struggled to a 5.25 xFIP and 18.3% strikeout rate, and he's surrendered six jacks over his last three starts. At home this season, hitters have a .367 wOBA against him, and this one's at Camden Yards. Tampa's 5.17 implied total is the slate's highest.

Studs Wander Franco ($4,000), Nelson Cruz ($3,900) and Randy Arozarena ($3,400) will all hit from the right side versus Means. Yandy Diaz ($2,900), Manuel Margot ($2,500) and Mike Zunino ($3,100) will have the platoon advantage and are easy to get to. Zunino has mauled southpaws this year to the tune of a .524 wOBA and 61.7% fly-ball rate, popping 13 homers in only 101 plate appearances in the split. Mike Brosseau ($2,000) gets most of his playing time against left-handers and frees up a lot of coin.

Lefties Brandon Lowe ($3,700) and Austin Meadows ($3,000) are worth considering. Both are better versus righties, but they may fly under the radar a tad, especially Lowe at his lofty salary.

Houston Astros

Against left-handers this season, the Houston Astros have the fourth-highest wOBA (.335) and the lowest strikeout rate (18.5%). They're a nightmare matchup for southpaws, and they hold a 5.31 implied total for their date with Kolby Allard. Allard is striking out just 18.8% of right-handed hitters and is allowing a 42.2% fly-ball rate in the split.

The issue with Houston is that they have a bunch of high-salary guys, including three who are at least $4,100 -- Yordan Alvarez ($4,300), Jose Altuve ($4,200) and Carlos Correa ($4,100). They're all superb plays, even Yordan against a lefty, but I'll focus on Alex Bregman ($3,700) and Yuli Gurriel ($3,600). They are a little easier to get to, and they'll be core plays for me. Bregman has a .404 wOBA with the platoon advantage this season while Gurriel owns a .403 wOBA in the split.

Lefties Kyle Tucker ($3,400) and Michael Brantley ($3,100) are easy to get behind at their salaries. Our projections really like Tucker, ranking him as the sixth-best bat on the slate.

Martin Maldonado ($2,400), Jake Meyers ($2,900) and Aledmys Diaz ($2,500) are value righties who offer cap relief if they get into the lineup.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are in a money spot as they go up against lefty Charlie Barnes. In a small sample of 23 1/3 MLB innings, Barnes has put up a meager 10.4% strikeout rate en route to a 6.09 SIERA. He had just a 19.5% strikeout rate in 63 2/3 Triple-A innings this season, and he should be in a world of hurt versus a Milwaukee offense that has the second-highest implied total (5.45).

Milwaukee has only two hitters salaried above $3,500, and they're both left-handers in Christian Yelich ($3,900) and Kolten Wong ($3,800). While they're fine options, I'll be loading up on righties Avisail Garcia ($3,500), Willy Adames ($3,100), Lorenzo Cain ($2,900) and Luis Urias ($2,600).

Garcia has rocked lefties this season for a .431 wOBA and 42.6% hard-hit rate. Urias is eligible at three positions and has recorded a .361 wOBA in the second half. Cain hit fifth versus a left-handed pitcher yesterday, and Adames -- who is iffy with an injury -- is the third-best point-per-dollar play on the slate, according to our numbers.