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Mark Strausberg highlights the top FanDuel MLB DFS lineup picks for 5/25/21, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters.
Welcome RotoBallers to another set of Tuesday FanDuel lineup picks! It is another heavy slate of games on the main slate tonight. There is just two early evening game in the 6 o'clock ET hour and then everyone else is playing in the main slate. If you have questions about that early game, feel free to hit me up on Twitter with questions (@MarkStrausberg).
With so many games though in the main slate, the focus will be on the main slate. Read below to find out what player I will be suggesting for your lineups, as I provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for the FanDuel main slate on 5/25/2021.
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. With that out of the way, here are my picks for tonight.
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FanDuel DFS Pitchers
Cash Game/GPP Anchor Play:
Cole Irvin - OAK vs SEA ($7,200)
With a salary of under $7500, I expect Irvin to be a pretty popular option on Tuesday night. However, this is a big slate, which will naturally disperse some of the ownership. Furthermore, his ownership rate might be a little deflated after his last outing. It was absolutely his worst outing of the year. He gave up five runs, gave up twice that number of hits and walks, and struck out just one batter. And he still went five innings. If your worst outing is a 9.00 ERA and 2.00 WHIP, that's not too shabby. Despite those combustible ratios, Irvin still has a 3.59 ERA and 1.17 WHIP this year.
He's been a little on the lucky side to be honest and we could have seen his last outing coming. Houston is second in the league in runs, tops in batting average, and as they have been for a few years now, the Astros are a tough match-up. But few things are better for what ails than you than a visit from the toothless Tigers. The Tigers are bottom five in nearly every hitting category. If you want to get technical, we can say the exception is strikeouts, where they are not actually bottom five as they have whiffed the third most times! You get the point. Add in the likely win, Irvin is an easy play.
GPP Play
Chi Chi Gonzalez, COL vs NYM ($5,500)
I was originally going to have Jacob deGrom in this space, as a pitcher making his first start off the DL and costing $12K should be enough to limit his exposure. However, I suspect deGrom will be a very popular pick, thereby making him a poor GPP choice with so many other great options on Tuesday night. But then I started looking at the other side of the game. Do you realize how bad the Mets have been offensively this season?
The Mets are tied with Pittsburgh for the fewest HRs. Some of that is because they have played less games than most clubs. Yet they are 11 dingers behind the next closest team. They have the fewest runs by far in the league as they are 16 runs behind Pittsburgh. But let's not blame simply the number of games as the reason, as they're not even averaging 3.5 runs a game. We can ignore the cumulative categories if you wish and you still find the Mets near the bottom in every percentage category as well. And it's not like the Mets stadium is like hitting in Colorado either.
And that brings us to Rockies pitcher Gonzalez, who has been better than you might think. He recently shut down the Padres, giving up just two earned runs in six innings and striking out six. Before that, he had his best outing of the year. He blanked the Reds for seven frames in Colorado. He has only six walks in his last 31 2/3 IP.
Gonzalez is not going to suddenly pitch a no-hitter or even strike out a dozen batters. But he's been pitching well lately. He should give us a tidy profit and leave us plenty of salary to spend on the bats on a night where offense should be more limited.
Editors Note: Gonzalez has been bumped and Kyle Freeland will now be starting for the Rockies. NYM are still a nice match-up!
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Matt Olson - 1B, OAK vs SEA ($3,600)
We start with the left-handed Olson, who has a dozen dingers and is facing off against the right-handed Gilbert and his 9.45 ERA. Olson is not cheap, but he doesn't break the bank. Sometimes lineup decisions are just that easy.
Nick Solak - 2B/OF, TEX at LAA ($2,700)
I'll be honest with you, I'm getting as weary of recommending Solak as you likely are about me recommending him. But the fact remains that Solak is having a solid 2021 campaign (.258 with eight HRs and two SBs). Furthermore, today is a decent day to play him since he has a dozen ABs vs. Andrew Heaney so far this year and is hitting a robust .417 against him this year.
Rafael Devers - 3B, BOS vs ATL ($3,800)
I can't help but spend up at 3B, where Devers continues to be one of the hottest players in baseball with 13 HRs, including two already this week. He'll be squaring off against Charlie Morton, who can't pitch worth his salt right now. (Morton. Salt. Get it? Oh, my talents are wasted on you....). But this is just not a fair match-up. Or is it? In 23 ABs, Devers is hitting .263 against Morton, which is below his season average. However, I remind you that Devers has a .943 OPS this season and expect the tide to move towards Devers.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa- SS/3B, TEX @ LAA ($2,400)
I love IKF as a salary saving option. He has double-digit swipes already, but he's not some just speed no pop kind of player. In his last 15 games he is slugging .439. The right-handed IKF is going against the left-handed Heaney. The aforementioned Heaney has a 5.31 ERA and has allowed ten runs over his last 8.33 innings.
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Jurickson Profar - OF, SDP vs MIL ($2,300)
An even cheaper option is Profar, who seems to be coming out of his slump. In his last seven games, he is hitting .296. You don't get a player with multiple 20 HR seasons for $2300 too often. Grab Profar now while he is still cheap.
Austin Meadows - OF, TBR vs KRC ($3,900)
Saving money on Profar allows us to spend up elsewhere in the OF. I'll take Austin Meadows against Brad Keller and his 6.62 ERA. Meadows last failed to get on base over ten days ago. And he's been absolutely crushing the ball the last week:
Austin Meadows - Tampa Bay Rays (9) pic.twitter.com/tVxHpkWmln
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) May 18, 2021
Juan Soto - OF, WSH vs CIN ($4,000)
I saved the best for last as Soto is the real jewel of my lineup however taking on Tyler Mahle and his highly combustible ERA of 4.31 Soto only has three at-bats against Mahle this year, but in those three at-bats he's hitting .667 with a round-tripper. I don't need to convince you Soto is a good play today, do I?
Good luck with your entries!
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