FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Thursday 6/3/21

Thursday brings us an eight-game main slate, and we have a two-horse race for top honors at pitcher. It's also an unusual evening for our bats, as some lesser offenses find themselves in the best matchups.

Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!

Let's check out the top options on tonight's main slate.

Pitchers

Lance Lynn ($11,000): Despite trailing our next entry in strikeout rate, Lynn gets a slight edge due to both his tantalizing matchup against the Tigers and his consistent workload. Detroit continues to be one of our favorite offenses to attack, as their active roster comes in with a 27.1% strikeout rate and 89 wRC+ versus right-handed pitching. That should give Lynn's 26.9% strikeout rate a nice boost, and on top of that, he's the rare 2021 hurler with a long leash, cracking 100 pitches in four of nine starts with a season-high of 111 (twice). While Lynn isn't often the type of guy to post a slate-breaking score, he does have a 70-point outburst on the ledger, so don't rule out his ceiling in the right spots.

Yu Darvish ($11,500): There's no denying that in terms of overall pitching talent, Darvish easily stands alone at the top, owning a 3.31 SIERA, 30.0% strikeout rate, and 6.1% walk rate this season. He also has a solid matchup against the Mets, who are credited with a measly 3.07 implied total. While Darvish could absolutely excel here, the issue is that the Mets aren't a swing-and-miss team (22.7% strikeout rate versus righties), and the Padres are usually content to pull Darvish once he surpasses 90 pitches -- he's hit 100 just once all season. Those minor quibbles are enough for me to put Darvish behind Lynn, but he should still very much be a fixture in your tourney lineups.

Griffin Canning ($8,400): Although Canning has endured an up-and-down campaign, he's maintained a respectable 4.14 SIERA and 25.9% strikeout rate through it all. On paper, this is a fantastic spot for him because he faces a lackluster Mariners offense that's produced a 25.4% strikeout rate and 87 wRC+ against right-handers. However, Seattle figures to start quite a few lefties, and Canning has far worse peripheral numbers in that split this season. Most notably, he has a sizable gap in strikeout rate versus lefties (16.7%) compared to righties (32.4%). Between that and his high walk rate (10.3%), there's enough to give us some pause, but this is still a weak opponent overall, and Canning's best performance came against Seattle earlier this season (49 FanDuel points).

Others to Consider: Tyler Anderson ($7,200)

Stacks

Milwaukee Brewers: It says something when the Brewers have the slate's highest implied total (5.03), but it may be justified against Jon Duplantier.

Nothing has gone particularly well for Duplantier this season, as he's been rocked for a 7.71 ERA across one MLB start and two in Triple-A. He's struggled with a below-average strikeout rate and walk rate and hasn't demonstrated a particular knack for getting grounders, leaving the Brewers with little to fear across the board. And it's not like Duplantier has an imposing historical track record, either. In 2019, he posted a 4.90 SIERA, 20.9% strikeout rate, and 11.0% walk rate over 36.2 innings, much of which came in relief.

Of course, this being the Brewers, it's hard to get super excited about any individual batter, as even Christian Yelich ($3,900) has been a shell of his former self so far this season. But the good news is that beyond him, you can roster anyone else in this lineup at $3,000 and below, making this an easy stack pairing with Lynn or Darvish.

Avisail Garcia ($3,000) has arguably been their best all-around hitter, and in terms of barrels, Willy Adames ($2,400) and Omar Narvaez ($2,200) stand out, but otherwise, I'd generally just stick with whoever bats in the top half of the order.

Kansas City Royals: The Royals are another team that doesn't often get much love in this space, but they should roll out an army of right-handed sticks versus southpaw J.A. Happ tonight. Against batters with the platoon advantage, Happ has stumbled to a 5.34 xFIP, 18.0% strikeout rate, and 8.4% walk rate, and he's also allowing a whopping 48.3% fly-ball rate, making him a prime target for dingers. This is also Happ's second straight start against the Royals, and that familiarity should firmly benefit the opposing offense.

Carlos Santana ($3,500), Salvador Perez ($2,900), and Hunter Dozier ($2,200) are ideal targets to knock out some dingers, and despite his struggles, Jorge Soler ($2,100) is still making hard contact, making him an additional option if he's back in the lineup. Whit Merrifield ($3,200) brings speed upside out of the leadoff spot (16 stolen bases), while Edward Olivares is at minimum salary if he draws another start.

Minnesota Twins: Finally, a more traditional stack. The Twins haven't exactly been capitalizing on their plus matchups this week, but this is still a potent lineup, so we shouldn't let that deter us from trying again against Kris Bubic.

The young lefty held his own his last time out against Minnesota, but his 1.52 ERA continues to scream regression. Between a .228 BABIP, 88.6% strand rate, and 3.6% homer-to-fly-ball rate, Bubic might want to buy some scratch tickets to further cash in on all that good fortune. None of those marks are sustainable, and a 4.90 SIERA, 19.0% strikeout rate, and 12.1% walk rate don't inspire confidence, either.

Nelson Cruz ($3,500) is the headliner against the lefty as always, and after him, we can load up on guys like Josh Donaldson ($3,200), Jorge Polanco ($2,900), Kyle Garlick ($2,600), and Miguel Sano ($2,600). Alex Kirilloff ($2,900) is at a disadvantage as a lefty, but he ranks as one of the team's best in barrel rate, xwOBA, and xSLG, so be sure he makes his way into some of your stacks.

Others to Consider: Los Angeles Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants