FanDuel MLB: Thursday Picks

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Published on August 12, 2021

Thursday night brings us an incredibly small four-game slate. Only one game is on the early side (Yankees vs. White Sox for the "Field of Dreams" game in an Iowa cornfield) while the other three are later. Rockies vs. Giants might have been interesting but it's in San Francisco rather than Colorado. Let's see what we can find here.

Pitching

Lance Lynn, CHW vs. NYY ($10,300): Here's my cash game recommendation, and the only reason it might be against the grain is because it's against the Yankees. However, New York really hasn't been that good this season with a .296 wOBA on the road against right-handed pitching, the ninth-worst mark in baseball. Sticking with that split they also strike out 24.7 percent of the time, which is league average (15th out of 30 teams). I'll trust Lynn, who has 43 or mare FanDuel fantasy points in four of his last six games.

Logan Webb, SF vs. COL ($7,600): Here's my my favorite pitcher to use for GPPs tonight. Webb is a -170 favorite in a game with an over/under of only 7.5 runs. This is a situation where I don't think the salary cap hit has caught up to this pitcher, and he allows for more flexibility on the rest of your lineup. Webb has at least 31 fantasy points in each of his last three contests and the Rockies are a great matchup for him. Colorado is dead last with a .262 wOBA on the road against right-handed pitching, and their 26.4 percent strikeout rate is the fourth worst in baseball.

Top Targets

Eloy Jimenez, CHW vs. NYY ($4,100): There's a ton of upside with Jimenez, who has games of 53.9 and 50.9 fantasy points in two of his last four games. Those are numbers that'll easily put you in the money for cash games. Jimenez will face off against Andrew Heaney, who has given up a .331 wOBA to right-handed hitters over his career.

Jake Cronenworth, SD at ARI ($3,700): Cronenworth is in the middle of a breakout season with a .275 batting average to go along with 16 home runs. He's a great player to use in DFS since he qualifies at shortstop and he's been very consistent this season, averaging 10.7 fantasy points per game. He's also been hot of late with 12.7 or more fantasy points in six of his last 11 games.

Value Bats

Alex Dickerson, SF vs. COL ($2,300): This is a nice punt play given the fact there's upside to having Dickerson in your lineup. He's scored 18.7, 34.9 and 38.2 fantasy points in three of his last seven starts. German Marquez has been very good this season but in a four-game slate with a lot of talented pitchers, value options are limited.

Austin Nola, SD at ARI ($2,500): It's a contrarian play (some might call it crafty) to use a catcher in your 1B/C spot in the lineup. Nola is hitting .293 this season and has a good matchup against the Diamondback's Taylor Widener. Widener isn't considered a top prospect and has allowed 11 home runs in only 46 innings this season.

Stacks To Consider

San Diego Padres at Widener: Cronenworth, Nola, Manny Machado ($3,900), Adam Frazier ($2,800)

Would it shock you to learn that Adam Frazier is averaging 9.62 fantasy points on FanDuel this season? The case has been made against Widener, and Vegas has the Padres as one of the top scoring teams tonight. Machado could have easily been in the "Top Targets" section. so use him if you can fit him into your budget.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Kevin Payne plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: Fanduel: kevinccp, Draft Kings: kevinccp, Yahoo: kevinccp.