We’ve come to the end of the fantasy season and I hope it was a good one for you. For this final FanDuel Friday, we have a 15-game slate. Baseball’s an extremely fluky sport, to begin with, but come late-September it’s just a mess. I’m going to focus on the teams that still have something to play for since, in theory, they’re putting forth full effort. Unfortunately for us, that means one of my top pitching recommendations is Mike Fiers ($8,300). Currently, the Athletics are in the lead for the first Wild Card spot, with the Rays a half-game behind them and the Indians a game and a half behind the Rays. After three regression-filled starts in which Fiers gave up 16 earned runs in 7.2 innings pitched, he had a get-right start against the Rangers, going eight-scoreless innings pitched. Today, Mike Fiers gets a matchup against the Mariners, who have gotten worse against right-handed pitching as the season wore on. Since September 1st, the Mariners have put up a 73 wRC+and struck out 28.9% of the time against righties. Let’s take a look at the rest of today’s FanDuel slate.
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Tyler Glasnow, SP: $8,800 – In Glasnow’s last start he threw three clean innings, striking out seven. He threw 52 pitches in that outing, so we’re realistically looking at 65-70 pitches, max today. Even with that pitch limit, he could pay off his price, since he faces the Blue Jays that have struck out at a 28.2% rate against righties in September.
Zach Davies, SP: $5,700 – Want to get wild? Davies heads to Coors to face the Rockies. The Rockies have been poor against righties all year, especially when they were on the road. However, even in Coors, they’ve struggled against right-handed pitching, putting up a 73 wRC+ in September.
Instead of the traditional position-by-position writeup, I’m going to focus on my three favorite stacks.
Brewers at Rockies – The Brewers have struggled of late against right-handed pitching, putting up an 80 wRC+ while striking out at a 28.9% clip. So why would I recommend the Brewers? This is all about picking on Antonio Senzatela, who has given up four or more runs in eight of his last nine starts. Senzatela has struggled more against lefties than righties, so I’d stack Trent Grisham ($3,200), Yasmani Grandal ($3,800), Mike Moustakas ($4,000), and Eric Thames ($3,600). This stack is a little expensive, but being in Coors, the Brewers will carry one of the highest implied run totals on the slate.
Athletics at Mariners – The Athletics are scorching hot, especially against left-handed pitching, which is bad news for Justus Sheffield. Sheffield has had back-to-back rough starts against the Orioles and White Sox in which he gave up nine earned runs in 8.2 innings pitched. The Athletics have put up a 117 wRC+ against southpaws in September. I’m going to get a little bit different with the Athletics and go with a wrap-around stack of Marcus Semien ($4,100), Matt Chapman ($3,600), Ramon Laureano ($3,300), and Sean Murphy ($2,900).
Rays at Blue Jays – The Rays have put up a 104 wRC+ against righties in September, which ranks seventh for the month. The Blue Jays will roll out T.J. Zeuch, who has been pretty average in four appearances this year. Zeuch has allowed at least two runs in every appearance and has struggled with walks, allowing a 10.4% walk rate. For this matchup, I’ll look to stay at the top of the lineup and stack Joey Wendle ($2,800), Tommy Pham ($3,800), Austin Meadows ($4,100), and Avisail Garcia ($3,100).
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
There’s a chance of rain in the Twins/Royals game, but it shouldn’t threaten anything. The Giants/Dodgers game in San Francisco will be down in the 50s, so bump down bats in that game.
Doing Lines In Vegas
As of this writing, there are three lines that haven’t come out, including the Brewers/Rockies. The Yankees with James Paxton on the mound are the biggest favorites, -275, against the Rangers, followed by the Twins (-230), Red Sox (-220), Astros (-205), and Athletics (-200). As for double-digit totals, Yankees/Rangers and Red Sox/Orioles lead the way at 11 runs, followed closely by Twins/Royals at 10. Good luck today and enjoy the off-season. Thank you for reading!
