FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 10/14/22
With yesterday's Guardians-Yankees game getting pushed back to today, we're now getting a more meaty three-game slate that begins at 1:07 pm ET. Thankfully, the weather shouldn't be an issue, so all six teams will be in play as normal.
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!
Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.
Pitchers
Aaron Nola ($10,800): Nola blanked the Cardinals across 6 2/3 innings in the wild-card round (48 FanDuel points) and was excellent during the regular season, posting a 2.80 SIERA, 29.1% strikeout rate, and 3.6% walk rate over 32 starts. He's consistently pitched deep into games all year and finished second in innings pitched behind only Sandy Alcantara.
Like always, the Braves present a risk-reward matchup. Against righties, Atlanta's active roster owns a .194 ISO while also striking out 25.2% of the time. Nola hasn't allowed many home runs this year, though, and right-handed batters have a modest 32.1% fly-ball rate against him. That sets him up well against a predominantly righty lineup today.
Blake Snell ($9,300): Speaking of risk versus reward, that's pretty much Snell in a nutshell. The southpaw produced a 3.20 SIERA, 32.0% strikeout rate, and 9.5% walk rate this season, and it's simply a matter of whether he can limit the walks in any given start.
That wasn't the case in the last round, as Snell faceplanted against the Mets by issuing a whopping six free passes over 3 1/3 innings.
While that doesn't inspire confidence today against a ruthless Dodgers lineup, the left-hander can overcome any opponent when he's dialed in. Just four starts ago, he eviscerated a potent St. Louis offense for 13 strikeouts and 70 FanDuel points.
We don't know which version of Snell will show up on Friday, but the upside is well worth the investment at this mid-range salary.
Stacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
The bad side of Snell is exactly why the Dodgers are also a top-notch stack tonight. If the left-hander is handing out walks like candy on Halloween, then there's a good chance that L.A.'s bats will feast.
Predictably, it's the righty sticks we want here. Snell is tough on both sides of the plate, but he's giving up a 45.0% fly-ball rate and 34.5% hard-hit rate to hitters with the platoon advantage.
Make room for Mookie Betts ($4,100) and Trea Turner ($4,200), of course, and guys like Will Smith ($3,100), Justin Turner ($2,800), Chris Taylor ($2,600), and Trayce Thompson ($2,400) can help get you there.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Braves announced Spencer Strider as their starter this morning, and while Strider had an amazing 2022 campaign, he also hasn't pitched since September 18th. He's expected to go only two to three innings, so this will essentially boil down to a bullpen game for Atlanta.
Although that makes it difficult to analyze specific matchups for Philly bats, facing a slew of relievers is likely a better fate than the alternative today. It's also entirely possible that Strider flops after such a long layoff.
Outside of Bryce Harper ($4,200) and Kyle Schwarber ($3,700), this Phillies offense is filled with mid-to-low salaries. Harper, Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto ($3,300), and Rhys Hoskins ($3,000) are the priority bats.
