FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 8/1/20

The beauty of daily fantasy baseball is that the top targets are different each and every day. Whether it's the right-handed catcher who destroys left-handed pitching or the mid-range hurler facing a depleted lineup, you're not going to find yourself using the same assets time after time.

While this breaks up the monotony, it can make it hard to decide which players are primed to succeed on a given day. We can help bridge that gap.

In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy-looking team to put up some big point totals.

If you need help getting started on that trek, here are some of the top options on the board today. We'll be focusing exclusively on the main slate, which begins at 7:05 p.m. EST.

Pitchers to Target

This is a pretty weak pitching slate, and you're going to have to stomach some risk no matter who you use. Tyler Glasnow ($9,800 on FanDuel) isn't without risk, but he stands on his own for me, especially with Jack Flaherty's game getting canceled.

Glasnow was electric in his opening outing, fanning nine of 15 batters faced over four sparkling frames against the Atlanta Braves. He draws a good matchup today at the Baltimore Orioles, and he is projected for 5.5 more FanDuel points than any other hurler, per our models. There are two negatives here -- he'll likely be popular, and he tossed just 72 pitches last time out. But while there are reasons to worry about him, he's easily the most appealing arm available, and if he ends up being able to toss 90ish pitches, no one else can match his upside.

Carlos Carrasco ($9,400) and Zack Greinke ($9,000) make up the tier underneath Glasnow, but they don't offer too much of a price discount. Carrasco gets a difficult opponent in the Minnesota Twins, but he struck out 10 over six innings in a sweet debut outing. Greinke is at the Los Angeles Angels, who could be sans Mike Trout once more. Of the two, I lean toward Greinke and the more friendly matchup.

After those three, it's slim pickings. Julio Urias ($7,800), Tyler Chatwood ($8,000) and Mike Fiers ($7,000) are guys I'll consider. I like Fiers the best of the bunch in a road date with the Seattle Mariners. While Fiers doesn't have much in the way of sexy numbers, the matchup is a solid one, and his salary gives you the chance to load up on Coors.

Stacks to Target

The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres

I'm not going to spend too much time here; you know you should get exposure to Coors when you can. The over/under on this game is 12.5, and we've got lefties Joey Lucchesi and Kyle Freeland pitching. Five of the night's top eight bats, per our model, come from the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies. I don't think I'll make a single lineup that completely fades the bats in this game.

New York Yankees

It feels like this has been the case every day this year, but the New York Yankees are once again a great stacking option. They're at home versus Zack Godley, and the Bronx Bombers sport a 5.60 implied total (as of Saturday morning), the top non-Coors number on the board. Godley was good in his first appearance of 2020, but he finished last season with a 5.27 SIERA and 38.8% hard-hit rate allowed -- with lefties tagging him for a 40.0% hard-hit rate.

Aaron Hicks ($2,800) and Brett Gardner ($2,500) are the only left-handed bats in the Yanks' projected lineup, but we could see Mike Ford ($2,500) get a start. We don't need to limit ourselves to only lefties, though, so feel free to target any of New York's stud right-handed boppers. If you need a cheaper righty, Gary Sanchez ($3,000) offers pop and gets you access to the middle of the Yankees' lineup.

Atlanta Braves

I expect the masses to be on Coors and the Yankees. After that, ownership should be spread out, and the Atlanta Braves could fly under the radar a bit despite their 5.60 implied total. Atlanta is at home against Michael Wacha, a righty who has given up hard-hit rates of 39.5% and 42.7% the last two campaigns.

Freddie Freeman ($3,800) and Ronald Acuna ($3,800) offer big-time upside. While Acuna has struggled so far in 2020 (just one extra-base hit), Freeman has at least 12.7 FanDuel points in four of his last six games with a spike outing of 37.7 FD points. Ozzie Albies ($3,500) will have the platoon advantage, and Matt Adams ($2,500) offers decent homer odds for cheap. Dansby Swanson ($3,200) continues to be modestly priced despite his red-hot start (.461 wOBA and 57.9% hard-hit rate).

Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are another quality stacking play that could go under-owned, and I love the idea of loading up on Coors and coming to Atlanta and/or Tampa Bay for one-off plays or mini two-man stacks. The Rays fit perfectly for that as they have just one bat priced above $2,900.

They are facing southpaw Wade LeBlanc at homer-happy Camden Yards, and Tampa carries a 5.26 implied total. Against right-handed hitters a season ago, LeBlanc recorded a mere 15.4% strikeout rate while allowing a .356 wOBA.

Tampa Bay has plenty of righties who could do damage, including Yandy Diaz ($2,700), Jose Martinez ($2,900) and Hunter Renfroe ($2,900). I will be sprinkling one of these guys -- or some combination of them -- into most of my lineups. Renfroe is a lefty killer who owns a .374 wOBA, 43.4% hard-hit rate and 49.8% fly-ball rate in the split for his career. He's a fantastic play.