RADIO
Mark Strausberg highlights the top FanDuel MLB DFS lineup picks for 5/20/21, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters.
Greetings RotoBallers! Another no-hitter last night! It's getting to the point where I feel like should predict it to happen and I got about a 50/50 shot of it happening!
Could Trevor Bauer pitch a no-hitter tonight? Sure. But so could some other pitcher during the earlier slate. Check out some of our other articles for coverage on the earlier slate, as I will be covering only the main slate of tonight's games.
Read below to find, as I provide you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for the FanDuel main slate on 5/20/2021. Be sure to also check out all the MLB player news, including late scratches, and the projected and confirmed daily MLB lineups for each DFS slate. You can also check out today's DraftKings MLB DFS lineup picks, and read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports too.
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FanDuel DFS Pitchers
Cash Game/GPP Anchor Play:
Trevor Bauer, LAD vs ARI ($11,300)
This was an easy call. I feel kind of silly giving you the support for Bauer. But I know some of you are lazy. Bauer has a 2.20 ERA, 77 Ks, and a downright ridiculous 0.75 WHIP. He also should get the W tonight. The D-backs have an OPS below .700 and have struck out 392 times, which is worse than league average. Bauer might be slightly overpriced, but if you can find some cheap bats for your lineup, he's the obvious and easy play.
GPP Potential Alternate Play
Sandy Alcantara, MIA at PHI ($9,300)
Alcantara was off to a monster year. But then his last outing happened and it was one he would rather forget. He couldn't even get out of the second inning and gave up eight runs. That outing easily pushed his ERA above the 4.00 range, along with the rest of his numbers that don't look so good. But as I said, Alcantara was cruising along previous to that.
A deeper dive shows Alcantara with a 24% strikeout rate, a stupendous 2.8% barrel rate, and a solid 48.2% groundball rate. That should play well in tonight's tilt against Philadelphia. Against right-handers, they are striking out 26% of the time and hitting just .236. J.T. Realmuto may miss another game, and Didi Gregorius is on the IL. I hope most only see Alcantara's top-line numbers and keep moving, because he's a great bet to anchor your GPP teams tonight!
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Max Muncy - 1B/2B, LAD vs ARZ ($3,900)
Even if I go with Bauer tonight, I'm definitely spending up for Muncy tonight. Despite not adding to his eight HRs, he still had another great night last night going 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored, and even stole his first base of the season! The last time Muncy failed to score any fantasy points was nearly two weeks ago. Muncy also brings the LvR advantage against Merrill Kelly tonight. But with a 5.24 ERA, it's not like Kelly has been strong against either righties or lefties!
The above is a nice way to say I see Kelly getting knocked around a bit by the Dodgers tonight. And Muncy should be one of the players leading the charge.
Ozzie Albies - 2B ATL vs PIT ($3,000)
I could have played Muncy at 2B, but I'm going with Ozzie Albies. I'd say Albies should feast tonight, but that means he'd be "eating Crowe", as in Pirates' right-hander Will Crowe and his 4.35 ERA. Dad jokes aside, Albies has been kind of quiet lately, failing to get on-base his last three games. Albies is still suffering from some bad luck as his BABIP is only .236. Positive regression is coming, that's just statistics. But my gut is also telling me a big night is coming for Albies. At only 3K, I'll take the gamble its tonight.
Will Craig - 3B, PIT at ATL ($2,400)
With Colin Moran out, its opening up some playing time for some other guys, fortunately, some we can get relatively cheap. Craig was recently called up from Indianapolis where he showed 20+ homer power. In just 26 ABs at AAA, he already had three homers. Craig does not bring the floor we might want in a cash entry, but he definitely brings the ceiling that we want in a GPP.
Xander Bogaerts - SS, BOS at TOR ($3,500)
I highlighted Bogaerts in this space last week, he was $100 less, and I still like him. You know he's good. I wouldn't be surprised if he does something like this tonight, but in Toronto of course....
Over the Monster. ?
Xander Bogaerts got all of this one. pic.twitter.com/HJPrnhHfTy
— MLB (@MLB) May 15, 2021
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Corey Dickerson - OF, MIA at PHI ($2,300)
Need a cheap bat? Dickerson might be my favorite value play of the day. Much of that is because I don't believe in Vincent Velasquez. Velasquez has a 3.68 ERA but xERA and FIP ratios nearly a point and two points higher respectively. Dickerson, currently hitting .288 should get at least a base hit tonight, maybe more. He's too cheap not to find out.
Bryan Reynolds - OF, PIT at ATL ($3,100)
Although this might be a better value as the upside on Reynolds is far higher than Dickerson. Reynolds is hitting an even higher .290, but also brings some power to the table. In 2019, Reynolds slugged over .500, but is only slugging .455 right now, so we know there is some room for his power to improve. Drew Smyly has been better of late, but in six ABs against Smily, Reynolds has taken him long and is batting .333 against him. Expect Reynolds to be less owned than he should, making him a high leverage play.
Kike Hernandez - OF, BOS at TOR ($2,700)
Hernandez is not going to have quite the performance he had yesterday when he went for 3-for-5 with a dinger, a double and 2 runs scored. But we can expect to get him a hit or two, and one of them might look like this...
Kike Hernandez with the Red Sox third home run today. #DirtyWater pic.twitter.com/Ebfc1VDTM4
— Justin Groc (@jgroc) May 20, 2021
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