FanDuel MLB Lineup Picks, Advice & Sleepers for 8/25

There are ten games this evening with a wide-open pitching field and some juicy stacks against vulnerable pitchers, so I'm going to suggest a few stacks to consider in addition to my typical position-by-position recommendations. With no extremely pricey pitchers on the slate today, everyone will have some extra bucks to build an offense. I will list my top picks regardless of price and then throw a few value picks in at each position in case you have to wedge a low-salary guy into your lineup.

Keep in mind that these picks are based upon FanDuel’s dollar values and they won’t necessarily be the best plays in other formats. Additionally, there's been a lot of weather activity affecting games lately, so check the rain report before committing to a lineup. You definitely don't want a starting pitcher who is at risk of having his start cut short by a rain delay.

Remember, these picks are posted early in the day for your convenience, and without knowledge of the teams’ starting lineups. ALWAYS check starting lineups before finalizing your FanDuel entries. On days like Monday, especially, teams will often give some of their regulars a day off.  

Also, you have got to check out RotoBaller's new BvP (batter vs. pitcher) analysis tool, which shows you all the daily matchup stats for every single hitter in the MLB.

STACK ATTACK

Stacks can score you big points or they can make your night miserable. If you’ve played on FanDuel long enough, you’ve probably endured the game where some rookie pitcher with a 6.00 season ERA tosses a one-hit shutout in Coors Field against the best offense in the league. That’s baseball.

Honestly, I’ve been avoiding the stacks lately and just trying to get the best guy at each position regardless of team, and that’s worked well for me. But I think tonight is a night where you need to target some weak pitchers . It will be a high-scoring night. I don’t have the starting lineups as of this writing, but you’ll need to take a look to get consecutive guys into your lineup. Here are the best stack options:

Blue Jays vs. Clay Buchholz: Especially lefties. I like Reyes, Cabrera and Francisco, but Joey Bats and Encarnacion can be mixed in as well.

Red Sox vs. J.A. Happ: This game could get out of hand. David Ortiz is hot. Pedroia, Cespedes, Bogaerts and Napoli all prefer hitting against lefties.

A’s vs. Scott Feldman: Stephen Vogt and Brandon Moss are underpriced. Mix in Coco Crisp or Josh Donaldson, and you could be rewarded.

Marlins vs. Wade LeBlanc: I love Giancarlo against the wide-eyed lefty. Build a stack around him with Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, etc.

Brewers vs. Eric Stults: The Brewers run a bunch of lefty-mashers out there-- Rickie Weeks, Jonathan Lucroy, Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez, Mark Reynolds, Khris Davis. When lineups come out, find a run of three or four to fit into your lineup.

And now for my position-by-position picks for today's games:

STARTING PITCHER

JEFF SAMARDZIJA, OAK ($8,100): It’s a tough day to pick a pitcher, but I think Shark is the best of the bunch. The Astros are a swing-happy team that strikes out 23% of the time against righties. On a day like this, racking up the strikeouts and earning the “W” is even more important than preventing runs. Every strikeout wipes out a run allowed. The A’s are a decent favorite over the Astros, and Samardzija had a nice 17-point day against Houston just a month ago.

KYLE LOHSE, MIL ($6,600): If you want to save some money, Lohse is the best bet for the lower-priced guys tonight. He faces the Padres, whom everyone knows have an historically bad offense this year. Lohse only strikes out 6.4 guys per nine, so I wouldn’t expect him to put up a big strikeout numbers, but his pitch-to-contact approach should serve him well at Petco. I wouldn’t expect a HUGE game from Lohse, but he won’t kill you either.

CATCHER

TOP OPTION: STEPHEN VOGT, OAK ($3,000): I love it when my “top option” comes in at an affordable price. I expect the A’s to find success against Scott Feldman, and Vogt is a guy who qualifies at catcher and usually bats near the top of the lineup. He’s quietly batting .324 this season in a platoon role, so I have no problem rolling with him in an Oakland stack.

MORE EXPENSIVE OPTIONS: Buster Posey ($3,600), Russell Martin ($3,700), Jonathan Lucroy ($3,400). All these guys are worth a look, particularly Lucroy as part of a Brew Crew stack against Eric Stults.

FIRST BASE

TOP OPTION: DAVID ORTIZ, BOS ($4,500): Papi is on a tear lately. I know he’s facing a lefty (J.A. Happ), but it shouldn't matter. When Papi gets hot, he hits anyone.

MIKE MORSE, SF ($2,500): Morse is another guy to jump on when he’s hot. He’s hit in nine of his last 11 games, and he faces a middling lefty tonight in Tyler Matzek. Considering that lefties have run up a .377 wOBA against Matzek and that Morse has tagged lefties for a .357 wOBA, I think you are getting great value at this price.

ALSO CONSIDER: Justin Morneau ($3,400), Adam Laroche ($3700), Brandon Moss ($3,000)

SECOND BASE

TOP OPTION: ROBINSON CANO, SEA ($3,600): I know that I recommended him last week and the results were bad, but I can’t ignore Cano against a bad righty like Miles Mikolas. Mikolas walks a lot of guys and is homer-prone, so I expect that Cano will put up some numbers against him tonight. Cano left Sunday’s game early because of dizziness, reportedly from a flu-like illness. If he’s good-to-go tonight, he’s the top pick at second base for a not-so-terrible price.

DANIEL DESCALSO, STL ($2,500): Chances are that he won’t get the start for the Cards, but if he does, he could be a sneaky cheap performer against the Pirates. Francisco Liriano has a reverse split, so lefties have been hitting him better than righties. Descalso, a lefty, is 6-for-20 against lefties this season. Two of those hits were doubles. Sure, it’s a small sample, but in a GPP contest, very few people will be choosing him and he could be a source of points at a low price that can push you up the leaderboard.

ALSO CONSIDER: Joe Panik ($2,800), Neil Walker ($3700), Rickie Weeks ($3,000)

THIRD BASE

TOP OPTION: NOLAN ARENADO, COL ($4,000): The price is high, but he has been as hot as any hitter in the majors. One could argue that he’s due for a “Coors hangover” after enjoying a homestand and moving on to San Fran, but I can’t ignore the six multi-hit games he has put up in his last eight starts. He faces Jake Peavy tonight, who has been equally ineffective against righties and lefties this season. That said, I probably will pass on Arenado's price tag and try for someone cheaper, but he’s a solid start until he cools off.

ARAMIS RAMIREZ, MIL ($3,100): If you take my advice on a Brewers stack, Ramirez needs to be in the middle of it. He has done some pretty terrible things to left-handed pitchers this year, with a .449 wOBA and 1.050 OPS against southpaws.

ALSO CONSIDER: Matt Carpenter ($3,700), Kyle Seager ($3,100).

SHORTSTOP

TOP OPTION: JOSE REYES, TOR ($4,000): Another expensive guy, but he gets to face Clay Buchholz tonight, who has looked a little lost out on the mound lately. I would expect the Boston-Toronto game to be a high-scoring affair with a lot of high-scoring players popping out of the box score. Reyes has had a very good August, with at least one hit in 15 of 19 games he’s played. When he hits, he’s always a threat to steal and score some runs. He’s a very solid play today.

ASDRUBAL CABRERA, WAS ($2,800): Here’s a classic value play for you. A.J. Burnett doesn’t like lefty hitters and Cabrera has much better numbers hitting from the left side of the plate. The Nationals are red-hot right now. Cabrera has hit in 14 of his last 17 games, with a homer on Saturday and a double on Sunday. At this price, he’s almost a must-start if you can afford Reyes. It is an otherwise rough day for the shortstop position.

ALSO CONSIDER: Chris Taylor ($3000), Jhonny Peralta ($3100).

OUTFIELD

TOP OPTION: GIANCARLO STANTON, MIA ($5,300): He is the most expensive outfielder for a reason. On any given night, he’s probably the most likely player to hit a home run. Stanton gets the pleasure of facing lefty Wade LeBlanc in his first start of the season. LeBlanc is a bit homer-prone and extremely vulnerable. Since I’m not going very expensive on my pitcher today, you'd better believe I’m getting Stanton’s bat in my lineup.

JON JAY, STL ($3,200): I recommended him last week because he was on fire and he really hasn’t cooled down since then. It is questionable whether he’ll get the start against a lefty (Liriano), so you’ll have to check, but he’s a nice start at a decent price.

RYAN BRAUN ($3,800) / CARLOS GOMEZ($4,300) / KHRIS DAVIS ($3,000), MIL: Here is where your stacks really come into play. I’d suggest perfecting your infield first to see what you have left to spend on outfielders. Then try to get Stanton and a couple of these guys in there. Milwaukee’s gauntlet of lefty-killers has not been as lethal as it was earlier this season, but it is hard to ignore what they’ve done over the course of the year.

CHRISTIAN YELICH ($3,700) / MARCEL OZUNA ($3,400), MIA: Giancarlo has some friends in the outfield who may also greet Mr. LeBlanc quite rudely. LeBlanc, over his career, has actually had LESS success against lefty hitters, so I think that puts Yelich into play. Listen, you can’t stack more than two teams, but there will be some high-scoring games tonight and you need to hone in on these matchups.

ALSO CONSIDER: Corey Dickerson ($4,300), Endy Chavez ($2,400) or refer to my Stack Attack earlier in this article.