We've got an 11 game Thursday all lined up for you. Three of the games start this afternoon - providing a nice cubicle distraction - and the remainder fall under the main slate tonight. FanDuel has three offerings - All Day (11), Early Only (3), and Main (8). On the bump tonight, it's Madison Bumgarner and then a fairly steep dropoff to everyone else. Let's get to it.

As far as any insights Vegas can provide us, I usually like to target games with an over/under of nine runs or more. The games that meet that criteria are as follows: Reds at Nationals (9), Rangers at Yankees (9), Twins at White Sox (9), and Royals at Cardinals (9). The hitters with the highest positive park factors today are the left-handed batters of the Rangers and Yankees, the right-handed batters of the Twins and White Sox, and the right-handed batters of the Dodgers and Brewers.

In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball MLB lineup picks for FanDuel on 6/30/16. The DFS lineup picks will range from high-priced to low-priced options and identify options who will out-perform their expectations, including sleepers and value plays on FanDuel.

 

DFS Lineup Stacks to Target for FanDuel

Texas Rangers against Michael Pineda

Normally I like to target a platoon split but, honestly, hitters from both sides of the plate have a great opportunity to do some damage tonight against Pineda. Yankee Stadium is a great hitter's park and the Rangers are loaded with hitters that can provide fans in the outfield seats with a take-home gift. For the season, Pineda has allowed a .355 wOBA and .504 slugging percentage to left-handed batters and a .356 wOBA and .515 slugging percentage to right-handed batters. Lefties at Yankee Stadium have the park factor advantage over the right-handed batters, but keep in mind Pineda has surrendered 1.84 HR/9 to the right side this season.

St. Louis Cardinals left-handed batters versus Chris Young 

This is going to be a fun stack. The Cardinals have a lot of affordable hitters in their lineup and they have a fantastic matchup against Young. Over the past 15 days, Young has surrendered a hard hit rate of 56 percent! That is by far the highest total of today's slate. What could be even more incredible, depending on what you value most, is that he's allowed a .529 wOBA and .867 slugging percentage to left-handed batters, paired with a 6 HR/9. None of the aforementioned numbers are typos. I had to check again this morning just to make sure.

Also Consider: Cleveland Indians left-handed batters versus RA Dickey

 

DFS Starting Pitchers to Consider for FanDuel

If the term slim  pickins' were in the dictionary, today's pitching options would be pictured next to it.

Kenta Maeda (SP, LAD) - $9,500

The first tournament guy I'll take my chances with is Maeda. He had a shaky start his last time out there but showed great consistency in his previous five starts - exceeding his price implied value in each of them. Over the past 15 days, he boasts an impressive hard hit rate of just 28% and he's done a great job of keeping the ball in the yard this year, as marked by his 0.84 HR/9. For the season, Maeda owns a 1.13 WHIP and impressive 8.8 K/9. His strikeout upside gets a boost tonight thanks to the matchup, as the Brewers have struck out in nearly 27% of their at-bats against right-handed pitching.

Also Consider: Madison Bumgarner (SP, SFG) - $12,000

 

DFS Infielders to Consider for FanDuel

Catcher (C)

Dioner Navarro (C, CWS) - $2,700

Navarro is listed at a very affordable, somewhat bargain-ish price today and has strong splits - especially in the power department - while facing a subpar pitcher in Tommy Milone. Navarro owns a .258 ISO split and for the season, Millone has allowed a .489 slugging percentage to right-handed batters with a 1.27 HR/9.

 

First Base (1B)

Brandon Moss (1B, STL) - $3,900

Moss will be a staple in my Cardinals stacks and he'll also earn a spot in a few of my non-stack tournament lineups. He has very strong splits this season against righties - .370 wOBA and a .285 ISO - while also getting a chance to face Chris Young, who is absolutely abysmal against left-handed batters.

 

Second Base (2B)

Jason Kipnis (2B, CLE) - $3,700

Kipnis has been hot of late, at times scorching, as he's exceeded value easily six of his last eight starts. Tonight, to pair with his solid splits, he has the opportune matchup of facing RA Dickey. Dickey, for the season, has allowed a .520 slugging percentage to lefties and 2.31 HR/9.

 

Shortstop (SS)

Javier Baez (SS, CHC) - $2,900

Baez has been crushing left-handed pitching recently and getting a high upside player like himself for under 3K is an amazing steal. Baez owns a .431 wOBA and .212 ISO platoon split this season and opposing starter Steven Matz has been struggling to miss bats lately.

 

Third Base (3B)

Jose Ramirez (3B, CLE) - $3,000

Refer to the stats I laid out there under my Kipnis suggestion if you need any further convincing as to why Ramirez is a strong play and a great value tonight. What makes the opportunity to play Ramirez even more enticing is his threat to steal bases. If he gets on tonight, he should have plenty of opportunities against the slow knuckle-ball Dickey tosses out there.

 

DFS Outfielders to Consider for FanDuel

Nomar Mazara (OF, TEX) - $2,900

Mazara for under 3k is another absolute steal of this Thursday slate. He had been slumping a little, which brought his price down considerably, but he's back on the right track after exceeding price implied value in each of his last three games. He hits in an excellent position in the order and should see ample RBI opportunities tonight against Pineda. For the season, Mazara owns a .367 wOBA and .503 slugging percentage split.

 

Seth Smith (OF, SEA) - $3,000

Smith has an impressive .356 wOBA split but the thing that attracts me the most are the huge differences in his platoon splits. He generates nearly all of his power against pitchers from the right side. He matches up well with Tillman, who has allowed a .456 slugging percentage and 1.37 HR/9 to left-handed batters this season.

 

Jayson Werth (OF, WAS) - $4,000

I figure since we saved so much on the other two outfielders we could spend up here on a big opportunity. Werth has massive power splits - .317 ISO, .650 slugging percentage - and faces Brandon Finnegan, who allows a fair number of home runs to right-handed batters.

 

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