TJ's Top Tournament Takes for MLB DFS on FanDuel - September 28th
TJ Zwarych is one of the top up-and-coming Daily Fantasy Sports players in the world, and recently qualified for FanDuel’s World Fantasy Baseball Championship Live Final in Chicago. Not only is he a long-time RotoGrinders member with multiple 6-figure DFS wins, but he is also the Editor-In-Chief of TV & Film media outlet the Agents of Fandom and host of their podcast. A few times per week, TJ will give his top tournament takes for FanDuel to help you take down tournaments.
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September 28th
Top Tournament Pitchers on FanDuel
Even though we have a huge slate and Aaron Nola chalk night, I’m having a really tough time getting off Nola in this matchup. He’s facing a Cubs team with a 24.7% strikeout rate in their projected lineup, and in addition, the game is playing in Wrigley Field with the wind blowing in. Nola has a 28.7% strikeout rate this season, pairing with his 3.34 xFIP making him both the safest and highest upside pitcher on the slate. Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and Brandon Woodruff all share the ceiling that Nola has, however, their tough matchups drop them well below Nola for me. If playing lots of lineups, I’d absolutely include all of these pitchers in my pool alongside Taijuan Walker, however in single-entry stuff tonight, I’ll be all in on Aaron Nola. If multi-entering, I’d be looking at about 50% Nola with the rest of the previously mentioned options being spread out among the rest of my lineups.
We’re eating the Aaron Nola chalk and we’re going to find a way to differentiate with our bats.
Top Tournament Stacks on FanDuel
On such a large slate, we don’t have to worry too much about which players are being rostered the most. The Angels, Red Sox and Giants are the three teams I view as being overplayed on this slate, however, outside of Ohtani, Trout and Devers, I’m not sure there are really going to be any players who are too chalky. The two Angels and Red Sox third basemen are without the three top individual options on the slate. Having said that, we have a plethora of great tournament pivots on other teams we can look to as well.
Atlanta Braves – The Braves project to be my top offense on the slate, however they’re still coming in less rostered than the Angels, Red Sox and maybe even the Giants. I haven’t been able to get Ronald Acuna right this season, playing him two nights ago and fading him last night, however he’s finally back to himself and comes in as one of the slate’s top options right behind the Angels outfielders and Devers. While Josiah Gray does have strikeout ability, he’s giving up home runs at one of the highest rates in all of baseball. His .332 ISO to lefties and inability to keep the ball on the ground against both sides of the plate shouldn’t bode well against the Braves, as any ball put in play is going to have a shot of going out of the park. The Braves are my top stack on the board tonight, with Michael Harris and Matt Olson being my favorite one-offs.
Baltimore Orioles – With the fences pushed back in Camden Yards this year, I love targeting Baltimore anytime they have a strong matchup while on the road. Tonight, they head to Fenway against soft tossing Rich Hill, and I love their chances to send a few balls over the Green Monster tonight. Hill has been especially weak against right-handed bats this year, with Anthony Santander highlighting a strong group of Baltimore bats. If they’re in the lineup, I’m comfortable including lefties Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson in my stacks, with my love for this lineup extending top to bottom. Ryan Mountcastle works as one of the top salary saving options on the slate, and you can mix and match this team with one-offs, mini stacks or an inexpensive full stack.
NYY Yankees – After a few strong starts to the year, a lot of us expected some big things from Mitch White in DFS. We were wrong. Especially since joining the Blue Jays, White has struggled immensely only reaching 6 innings in a single start. While Aaron Judge has been stuck on 60 home runs for awhile, Mitch White 42% hard-hit rate and 39% fly-ball rate my be exactly what Judge needs to close the case on his home run chase. Anthony Rizzo is one of the top first base options on the slate, and he makes for one of my favorite tournament one-offs. Judge, Rizzo and Stanton make for a great mini-stack, with players like Torres, Donaldson and Cabrera making for great options to complete the stack. The Yankees may go overlooked tonight, which could be key as they provide slate winning upside.