After looking at all of the tools available at Fantasy Alarm, the example lineups page should be used to help validate your thoughts, as well as help you consider some options that may not have been on your radar for the slate.  In addition to the example lineups, below you will find a breakdown of possible routes to take when building your MLB lineups tonight. While we are focused on FanDuel and DraftKings, this breakdown can be used for all sites. Please use our live chat feature to share your thoughts, and receive any feedback leading up to first pitch.  Good luck!

Please note that this was written before all lineups have been posted, which may open up new routes to consider.  Also, Antonio Senzatela has been scratched for the Rockies, with Jeff Hoffman the new starter.

 

Top Pitching Options

I always start my lineup building with pitching, as it’s the most important part of building your lineups. I tend to look for pitchers who I believe can pitch six innings, strike out six, and give up no more than two runs.  Feel free to set up whatever parameters you want to, but should set yourself some type of “floor” when it comes to how you select your pitchers.

Overall, this slate looks to one in which paying up for hitting is the better route than paying top price for pitching.  Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner are your top two priced pitchers, but neither are worth their high prices tags in my opinion tonight.  I do prefer Rick Porcello over Walker Buehler in that second tier of DK priced pitchers, but as mentioned in the playbook, I think Dallas Keuchel , Carlos Martínez and Nathan Eovaldi are going to be your best, and most popular options if playing cash games tonight. Eovaldi is the FD play out of the three, but all three have similar DK price tags.

On FD, there’s a solid group of $6K-$7.3K gpp options. Tyler Chatwood , Domingo Germán and Cole Hamels top my list, but Felix Pena and Jake Odorizzi may top other’s lists.  If entering multiple lineups on DK, Wei-Yin Chen is worth a look, as well as a few other routes that I spoke about in the playbook.

Thoughts from the Fantasy Alarm Team:  Our pitching coach, Brett Talley, likes Syndergaard and Porcello if paying up, but also likes Keuchel and Eovaldi as mid-priced cash game plays.  Pena would be his value pitcher.

Our projections have Syndergaard leading the way, followed by Buehler, C-Mart, Porcello, and Keuchel.  Buehler and Chatwood are top value plays.

 

Top Hitting Targets  

There are plenty of other routes to take with details given in the playbook, coaches, and our other tools if wanting to look elsewhere. I provided my overall options in the playbook, with some additional thoughts below.

As far as hitting goes, I feel that it’s the SEA/COL game, and the Red Sox as the top three targets tonight.  The Astros, Cardinals, White Sox, and Rangers are secondary options, but there are plenty of big bats that could be targeted from the other teams as well, with the Cubs and Yankees leading that list for me.

There are other teams that are worth targeting, but those listed above are your best bets when trying to decide between multiple players with the same salary.  No real team stands out as the salary relief team to pair up with a top priced team, but depending on how you feel about certain pitchers, there is definitely value out there tonight.

No Gattis for Houston tonight, but Willson Contreras , Wilson Ramos , and J.T. Realmuto would be your non-stacking pivots off of Tony Wolters , Chris Herrmann , and Sandy León from the top projected scoring teams.  Raffy Lopez looks to be your best punt option, but not sure you’ll need that extra $600 or so tonight.

I do like the top priced options, with Freddie Freeman leading the way for me, but seems like you could get similar, or better production from one of the mid or cheap priced bats. Ryon Healy will still be popular even with the pitching change for the Rockies and is a steal on FD. Lucas Duda , Jose Martinez , Albert Pujols , Greg Bird , and José Abreu lead the long list of value plays.  Sam Travis is taking over for Pearce if looking for Red Sox exposure over Moreland. He’s 1B on DK.

There are some great top priced 2B options, and could be one of the spots where I look outside of Coors.  Ozzie Albies , José Altuve , and Javier Báez are all in play, with Rougned Odor a solid FD value play. I mentioned plenty of other routes in the playbook.

I think all the top priced options are in play depending on your team targets, but I do like Mike Moustakas and Matt Carpenter for cheaper.  Plenty of value routes, with Pablo Sandoval , Maikel Franco , Travis Beckham, and José Reyes leading the pack.

I prefer Trevor Story , but can’t go wrong with Jean Segura , Manny Machado , or Xander Bogaerts . Paul DeJong could be a popular DK value route. Other routes for team stacks were listed in the playbook.

OF is always wide open in terms of routes to consider taking.  If not stacking, I prefer to pay up for one spot, punt the other, and use the last spot to pick a player from a team that I’m already targeting.  Charlie Blackmon and Carlos González are both top options along with Mitch Haniger , Denard Span , and Gerardo Parra from Coors. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martínez could be popular pivots, and Sam Travis could likely be an extremely popular minimum priced FD punt play.

Outside of those three teams, Mike Trout , Shin-Soo Choo , Brett Gardner and the Yankees OF, and Andrew McCutchen would be my preferred plays over the other options in non-stacking lineups.  I mentioned other routes to take in the playbook, but José Bautista , Wil Myers , Albert Almora , Trevor Plouffe , Max Kepler , Marcell Ozuna , and the White Sox OF make for great punt options.

Thoughts from the Fantasy Alarm Team:  Our projections have Betts at the top for FD, with Trout the top DK bat.  After those two, J.D., Judge, and Nolan round out the top five. Matt Davidson is the top FD value play, with both Jose Martinez and DeJong making it towards the top of the DK value plays.

 

GPP’s:

If playing gpp’s, your best approach is stacking.  Pick a game, or two teams that you think will blast off, then go all in on them.  Yes, entering your cash lineup, or another type of lineup can cash in a gpp, but if looking to finish in the top 1%, you need to hit with a stack. I will likely focus on a stack with the top three teams, and then do a wild card one that is late night only.  The Cubs and Braves would be my sneaky stacks if not on the Red Sox, or SEA/COL game. Ideally though, I would use the same core of hitters, and plug in a few different pitching routes.


Thoughts from the Fantasy Alarm Team:  Our stacking coach, Tom Vecchio, likes the idea of going slightly different tonight, and suggests the Rays, Mets, and Diamondbacks.