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The top daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for FanDuel and DraftKings on September 11th, 2022. Thunder Dan's MLB DFS analysis and sleepers for building optimal DFS rosters.
Today is always a day I approach with great reverence. It's been 21 years since the terrorist attack of 9/11, an event that shaped America in so many ways and I remember it like it was yesterday. I know everyone is excited about their favorite football team or baseball team playing today, but don't forget to take a minute to commemorate this important anniversary and perhaps reflect on how lucky we Americans are to get to have things like professional sports to entertain us.
Now that I got that heavy stuff out of the way, let's focus on baseball and specifically on today's 10-game MLB DFS slate. The contests are significantly smaller today with the NFL taking the main stage, but the grinders like you and me are still going to try to win some money and earn some DK crowns. It looks like some rain in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and even Milwaukee, so I will try to avoid those games for my plays and you should keep tabs on those when it comes to making your final roster decisions. Note that FanDuel DID include the Coors Field game on their main slate, while DraftKings did NOT. I won't make any picks from that game anyway, but just an FYI.
As always, this article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Saturday's main slate locks at 1:05 EST on 9/11/2022. The lineup picks will range from some elite high-priced players to mid-priced options and value plays. I'll give you a few of my top pitching options and then some infielders, outfielders, and teams to stack! You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports here. It's also essential to monitor injury news and today's MLB starting lineups. Now that we got all of that out of the way, it's onto the picks!
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DraftKings, FanDuel Pitchers - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Shane Bieber @ MIN ($10,300 DK, $11,200 FD)
If you want to use weather as a tiebreaker, then it's Bieber over Nola just so you don't have to monitor the rain near Philly. But to be fair, it was probably Bieber anyway based on how damn good he's pitched over the last 8-10 starts. We are finally seeing vintage 2019 Bieber with some big-time strikeout numbers that he's been able to post by pitching deep into games.
He's seeing the Twins for the third time this year and this lineup simply doesn't have too many bats that Bieber has to pitch around, we saw McKenzie cruise through their lineup rather easily yesterday before the bullpen nearly choked away that game late. He's expensive, but I'd make him a priority on DraftKings at least as my SP1, whereas on FanDuel I feel pretty decent about dropping down to this next guy.
Brady Singer vs. DET ($8,700 DK, $9,200 FD)
Singer has slumped a bit lately, but he was on a stretch there for a while where he was looking like a legit ace in the making. He's got good stuff, he just hasn't been very consistent this year as far as walks and his sinker is very hittable against left-handed hitters. I think if he can re-tool his pitch mix a bit in the offseason, we are looking at a breakout candidate for 2023, but that's not our concern today, is it?
Right now, he's still a pretty good pitcher as evidenced by his 2022 stats, facing one of the worst lineups in baseball (especially against RHP). I try not to always target the same teams with pitchers (that's lazy) unless the recent trends match up with the season-long trends. And with Detroit, we can feel pretty good about attacking them as they continue to be well below-average lately.
Also consider - Aaron Nola (weather?), Brandon Woodruff (weather?), Luis Garcia
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Jose Altuve - 1B, HOU vs. Tucker Davidson ($6,000 DK, $4,300 FD)
The diminutive Houston slugger has been a point-scoring machine over the last month and has some of the best platoon splits on the board today as he's posted a .448 wOBA and .355 ISO against lefties. Tucker Davidson has been pretty terrible this year, with a 15% walk rate compared to only a 12% K rate as well as a 6.79 xFIP. Houston has to be one of the first teams we consider today, and I think they bounce back from a tough match-up with Ohtani last night with a solid performance here.
Eduardo Escobar - 3B, NYM vs. Jesus Luzardo ($3,800 DK, $3,000 FD)
"Eddy E" is quietly having himself a month of September! He has four homers already this month and has been incredibly productive from a DFS perspective, go check his game log if you don't believe me! I usually want to deploy him against lefties and he gets one on the bump today in Luzardo.
Jesus is having a nice season of his own, but his primary pitches are the sinker and curveball and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Escobar absolutely crushes these pitches from lefties. This is a super sneaky one-off play where I am hunting a home run, don't go stacking up Mets as I think Luzardo is likely to pitch pretty well overall today.
Michael Chavis - 1B/2B/3B, PIT vs. Jose Quintana ($2,000 DK, $2,400 FD)
Let's go for a bargain play here, shall we? I almost never recommend a Pirate because I fear I will jinx them (as a Pirates fan) and also because they stink more often than they're good. But this is a good spot for Chavis, who despite overall lackluster numbers, has some pretty solid stats against LHP this season and a decent bit of power.
Former Pirate Jose Quintana has pitched pretty well for St. Louis, but he's still not much more than a middle-of-the-rotation arm at best and he's definitely very hittable at this stage of his career.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Corey Dickerson - OF, STL vs. Mitch Keller ($2,800 DK, $2,500 FD)
Dickerson is dirt cheap and could find himself hitting up near the top of the order (he hit second last night) again with former leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar finally turning back into a pumpkin lately. C-Dick has been a great punt play lately, as he has hits in seven of his last eight games and double-digit DK points in three of his last five.
He's raised his average to .294 on the season and has always been a solid contact hitter. He fits this Cardinals team really well in that he is past the stage of his career where he swings for the fences and can be more of a doubles-hitter with a nice on-base percentage.
Teoscar Hernandez - OF, TOR vs. Martin Perez ($5,200 DK, $3,600 FD)
Keep an eye on Hernandez's status, he missed yesterday's game and had his leave of absence extended a day but is supposed to return today. If he isn't in the lineup, make a quick pivot over to George Springer in his stead. I like Hernandez a bit better, however, based on his elite .398 wOBA and .352 ISO against lefties this season.
If you dig in a bit further, you'll see he also has some really good batted ball data against Perez's main pitches - the sinker, changeup, and cutter. The Jays' bats are hot, and while Perez has been solid all season, he's certainly not a pitcher we have to avoid entirely with opposing hitters in DFS.
Mike Trout - OF, LAA vs. Luis Garcia ($5,800 DK, $4,400 FD)
Trout homered AGAIN last night and I was baffled that he was only 10% owned on FanDuel and 7-8% owned in my DraftKings contests. What is happening here, people? The best hitter in baseball (yeah, you heard me Soto, Harper, and others) is locked in right now and it really doesn't matter who is pitching for the opposition. If I can dig up enough value like yesterday, I think I'll smash Trout into some GPP builds and hope the field continues to sleep on this incredible power explosion.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
Here are my top stacks for tonight (in the order in which I like them)
- St. Louis Cardinals (4.8 implied run total) vs. Mitch Keller (4.49 xFIP)
- Houston Astros (5.3 implied run total) vs. Tucker Davidson (6.79 xFIP)
- Kansas City Royals (4.2 implied run total) vs. Tyler Alexander (5.55 xFIP)
I hope I gave you a head start on your research today and I wish you the best of luck! If you ever have questions about DFS or fantasy baseball, my DMs are always open and I appreciate you taking the time to read my picks today.
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