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Mike Schwarzenbach highlights the top FanDuel MLB DFS lineup picks for 6/2/21, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters.
Welcome, Rotoballers, to another fun Wednesday slate. We've got eight games on tap tonight including a Coors Field game as well as Coors East, Sahlen Field; the temporary home of the Toronto Blue Jays. The weather looks like it won't be a concern tonight so let's jump right into another set of FanDuel picks.
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 6/2/2021.
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:
Walker Buehler - LAD vs STL ($9,700)
Before we get into Buehler, we need to address the $10,000 elephant in the room, Alek Manoah. The Toronto rookie was electric in his first start, mowing down Yankees much to the delight of his mother, who became a social media star. That's all nice and Manoah remains an intriguing prospect for redraft leagues. This is DAILY fantasy sports, however, and there is no way Manoah should be priced above a proven ace in Buehler.
He hasn't gotten the hype, but Buehler has been as consistent as they come this season. He's completed six innings in all of his starts and has only given up more than two runs twice. In fact, even in his worst start this season (five ER in six innings) he still racked up 10 strikeouts. His walk rate is under five percent and the Cardinals lineup ranks 21st in OPS versus right-handed pitching. Honestly, there's not too much to get into with Buehler here. He'll be chalky, but there's such a thing as "good chalk" in DFS. In cash games, I'll take the safest pitcher on the board for only the second-highest salary.
GPP Play
Jordan Montgomery, NYY vs TBR ($7,500)
The Rays are one of the hottest teams in baseball. They put up a 22-6 record in May to shoot to the top of a loaded AL East. So why are we going with Montgomery? The same reason journeymen relievers in their mid-to-late 30's can still get bullpen work; he throws with his left hand.
The Rays have been a gold mine this season for DFS players attacking them with LHP. Tampa has the second-worst strikeout rate against southpaws at a staggering 30.7 percent as a group. Their other numbers against lefties rank in the bottom-10 in baseball as well like their OPS (24th), wRC+ (21st), and wOBA (24th). However you slice it, Tampa Bay struggles against lefties. Montgomery, on the other hand, has been sneaky-good this season despite a less-than-flattering 4.22 ERA. His 3.69 FIP and 3.76 SIERA imply he's been a little unlucky, but he's getting 65 percent of his outs as either K's or ground-balls which is how you succeed pitching in Yankee Stadium. He's faced the Rays twice already and put up seven and nine strikeouts, respectively. Fire up Monty in this spot.
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Matt Olson - 1B, OAK vs SEA ($3,400)
Olson is scalding the ball this season, homered again last night, and is priced $100 cheaper than yesterday? Sign me up. Matty O' hit his 14th homer of the season on Tuesday and has seemingly been locked-in all season based on his batted-ball data. Olson is barrelling up the ball 14.1 percent of the time and has a 50 percent hard-hit rate. His 92.7 MPH average-exit velocity is in the top-sixth percentile of all hitters. What's most impressive is he's doing all of this with a strikeout rate under 20 percent. He'll have the platoon advantage over Chris Flexen tonight and has as good a chance of homering as anyone on the slate.
Jed Lowrie - 2B, OAK vs SEA ($2,600)
Like his teammate above, Lowrie has a strong matchup against Flexen who I'm not a believer in despite seven shutout innings in his last outing. The start before that he gave up eight runs, so this is a pitcher we can stack against. Oakland's lefties are all in-play versus Flexen which includes the switch-hitting Lowrie. The 37-year-old has a hit in seven of his last nine games and has batted third or fifth in all of them. At his price, he's worth taking a shot on in the middle of a lineup implied for 4.5 runs tonight.
Gio Urshela - 3B, NYY vs TBR ($2,300)
Speaking of hitters in offenses with high implied run totals, Gio Urshela bats cleanup for the Yankees and is priced like he's a utility outfielder who hits eighth. Shane McLanahan is a talented, young pitcher, but he's not someone I'm avoiding quite yet. Urshela will have the platoon advantage batting from the right side and the game is being played in Yankee Stadium, always a venue that can gift a cheap homer. The Yankee offense has been bad lately but this price is too good to ignore.
Jorge Polanco - SS/2B, MIN @ BAL ($2,800)
It's Matt Harvey Day! That means stack those Twins for a matchup in the friendly confines of Camden Yards. Polanco is sporting a career-best 9.1 percent barrel rate this season and has an xWOBA of .344. He's hitting the ball as good as he has in his career which bodes well against Harvey in this tiny ballpark. If Polanco doesn't hit a homer himself, expect him to be on base for one of his teammates when they go yard.
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Alex Kirilloff - OF, MIN @ BAL ($3,000)
The Twins' top-prospect got off to a rough start in the Majors, but he's finding his form as he batted a respectable .283 in the month of May. He's got a 55 percent hard-hit rate and a whopping 17.5 percent barrel rate. Harvey is a fly-ball pitcher (35.7% FB% this season) so Kirilloff has a good chance of homering tonight. He's the key piece of a Twins stack batting in the middle of this lineup.
Starling Marte - OF, MIA @ TOR ($3,400)
Marte is fresh off the IL and has been a big boost to the Marlins lineup. He's played in three games and has four hits, including three doubles. Last night he stole a base further proving he's back to the player he was before the injury. Sahlen Field was a hitter's paradise last year when the Blue Jays used the Buffalo, NY ballpark as their COVID-home. Manoah is a tough matchup, but if the rookie regresses in his second start then the Marlins bats could be a sneaky stack in tournaments. If they are, expect Marte to lead the charge.
Trey Mancini - OF, BAL vs MIN ($3,600)
Can we hand out the Comeback Player of the Year Award in June? Mancini basically has that honor on lockdown based on his first two months this season after missing 2020 with colon cancer. The 29-year-old has been remarkable this season slashing .284/.360/.518 with 11 homers and 44 RBI in 53 games played. He's facing Randy Dobnak who is averaging less than seven K/9 this season and gets hit hard by RHB despite being right-handed. A game-stack between Twins and Orioles is very much in play to counter the Coors chalk.
Good luck with your entries!
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