Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-salary studs. These guys take up by far the biggest chunk of your cap space, but they also offer the highest ceiling. And in the case of pitchers, the high-salary options typically come with the highest floors, too.
For hitters, we're looking for guys with big numbers, strong matchups, and with players around them that are likely to produce, as well, increasing our chances for runs and RBI. For pitchers, we want big strikeout numbers, while the ability to go deep in a game and pick up a win is also valuable.
With your high-salary picks playing such a big role in your lineup, you need to be right on these guys, so let's take a look at a few top-end options you can count on to anchor your lineup today.
Aaron Nola, SP, Philadelphia Phillies ($10,300)
All of your pitching decisions can be made pretty quickly, easily and efficiently. Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies needs to occupy your starting pitching slot tonight.
Nola has been great this year -- despite a lack of wins -- his opponent, the Chicago Cubs, is an offense we can attack. The Cubs are one of the league's worst offenses in the last two weeks, sporting a .280 wOBA (fifth-worst) and 29.1% strikeout rate in that span.
Even in a worse matchup, Nola would make a lot of sense. This season, the veteran right-hander has posted a 2.78 FIP in 30 starts (192 1/3 innings), adding in a delightful 24.9% K-BB% rate on the season.
Per our model, Nola is the SP1 tonight. We have him going for 39.1 FanDuel points, 3.1 more than anyone else.
Shohei Ohtani, OF, Los Angeles Angels ($4,100)
Adrian Martinez has been thrust into the starting rotation for the Oakland Athletics, and he's really had a rough go of it, allowing 2.22 HR/9 this year. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?
Not really.
Both lefties (.505 slugging percentage) and righties (.520 slugging percentage) have been absolutely hammering him, and I give a slight nod to lefties. The reason being is that the batted-ball profile is even better for lefties, who have posted a 35.9% hard-hit rate and 46.6% fly-ball rate.
There really isn't anything that Shohei Ohtani can't do. He's slammed this way to a .532 slugging percentage on the year, and he offers multi-homer upside in this spot.
We project Ohtani as the third-best hitter on the day, forecasting him to score 16.7 FanDuel points.
Dansby Swanson, SS, Atlanta Braves ($3,600)
This is starting to feel a little mean, as we keep picking on Washington Nationals hurlers. But with a spicy 4.93 implied team total, the Atlanta Braves are once again a top stacking option.
And that means we have to consider Dansby Swanson, who is our second-ranked hitter,.
Swanson has put up some serious numbers this season -- a 114 wRC+, 22 long balls, and a robust 40.6% fly-ball rate. He normally hits in a premium lineup spot (typically second), and he can feast versus Josiah Gray.
In 142 2/3 innings this season, Gray has struck out 24.2% of batters. But he's also allowed a 10.2% walk rate and way too many fly-balls (49.2%). It shouldn't come as a major surprise that the rookie has been tagged for 2.33 HR/9.
All of this makes me want to get heavy exposure to Swanson on Wednesday.
Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.