After looking at all of the tools available at FantasyAlarm, 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.

 

Pitching

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.

Pitching is pretty stacked tonight, and as mentioned in the playbook, half of the games tonight feature implied run totals of under eight.  Max Scherzer and Corey Kluber are the top options tonight, and check in more than $2K on FD, and $1.6K on DK over the next tier of options.  That doesn’t exactly mean that you have to take one of those two pitchers in your cash games though.  Of course, they are your best routes if you can afford them, but Carlos Martinez and Ross Stripling are in solid spots for a discount on FD, and a Kyle Hendricks and Joe Musgrove could also be sprinkled into many lineups in all formats as well.  The matchup between James Paxton and Dallas Keuchel has me learning Keuchel as the favorite for cheaper, but on the flip side, I prefer the underdog in Patrick Corbin over the season debut of Madison Bumgarner. 

Add in a sneaky Andrew Heaney, Sean Newcomb, or even Jordan Lyles, and you can see that there are plenty of routes to take when it comes to pitching tonight.  For me, I can see things working out by paying up, as well as with going the value route.  It’s a homerun or strikeout era now, and without any clear cut top bats to target, going “safer” with a Scherzer or Kluber could be key if say those who paid up for Machado, Sanchez, and Trout fall flat.  On the flip side, if Scherzer and Kluber only strikeout 9-11 batters while giving up a couple runs, a cheaper Stripling, C-Mart, Musgrove type play that strikeouts 6-8 batters allows you to take those extra bats that the higher priced pitcher takes away. 

Thoughts from the FantasyAlarm Team: Our pitching coach, James Grande, likes both of the top options in Scherzer and Kluber, and would go with Musgrove or Hendricks if looking at the mid-priced options.  Lyles and the knuckleballer Wright would be his value pitchers.

Our projections have Scherzer and Kluber pretty much tied, with Stripling, C-Mart, and Heaney rounding out the top five.  Vargas checks in as the top value option on both FD and DK tonight. 

 

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.

The Red Sox, Yankees, and A’s check in as the top teams to target bats from tonight, but there are plenty of other solid teams facing pitchers worth targeting tonight.  If stuck deciding between certain players, I would look at these three teams first for cash games, followed by teams you already are targeting players from.  For gpp’s, it’s more wide open, but there still isn’t the need to fully try to be cute by stacking the Rays.  Not limited to only the next four, but the Rangers, Indians, Angels, and Cubs will be popular pivots off of the top team targets.

You’re going to have to pick and choose where to spend up tonight.  I’ll give my recommendations for a top priced, as well as a mid or value option for each position, but can’t really say pay up for Machoda at short, but not for Trout in the OF.  As mentioned above, feel free to use the playbook and coaches for additional thoughts.

At catcher, I think you can say Gary Sanchez has a chance to break out of his slump vs Estrada, with Willson Contreras and Salvador Perez being other top-priced options to consider. Although there are solid mid-priced options, I’d rather go with a salary relief option at catcher outside of stacking. While Casali was listed in the playbook, he’s not starting tonight, but feel free to use Austin Wynns, Christian Vazquez, Russell Martin, or Kevin Plawecki as your punt.  

Edwin Encarnacion is coming off a monster week, and prefer him if spending up on DK, but not sure how much exposure to the Indians will be used for cash games tonight when a player like Mitch Moreland is $1K plus cheaper than Edwin and Freddie Freeman on FD tonight. Greg Bird and Matt Olson are also in play from the top teams listed, and can sneak in Tyler Austin, who is 3-5, with three homers off Estrada over Bird for gpp’s.  I listed a few punt options at first in the playbook, including Kendrys Morales if thinking Sabathia gets rocked.  If anyone is taking Wright deep tonight, my money would be on Miguel Cabrera.

As mentioned in the playbook, second base may be one of the spots to save some salary with tonight over going with a player like Javier Baez over Whit Merrifield.  Jed Lowrie, DJ leMahieu, Jonathan Schoop, and Asdrubal  Cabrera have solid price tags depending on the site you play on, with Kinsler likely best used in an Angels stack.  Kolten Wong would be my preferred pure punt option on FD.

Third base is another position where you could save some salary over going with Jose Ramirez, Nolan Arenado, or Kris Bryant.  All three are solid options if you have the salary, but as Jon mentioned in the HC, Danny Valencia is in a nice spot for cheap, and with batting in the cleanup spot, may end up a popular value play in non-stacking lineups as well as Adrian Beltre.  Christian Villanueva is a lefty killer if looking for a late night hammer, while Eugenio Suarez has a solid FD price tag.  Plenty of cheap 3B options listed in the playbook if looking to pivot away from Valencia.

If going with Valencia on FD, you may as well pair him up with Manny Machado, who has a very solid FD price tag tonight.  If not on Machado, Marcus Semien leading off for the A’s makes for a solid pivot. DK is wide open if not wanting to pay up for Machado.  Plenty of the other top options like Francisco Lindor, Trea Turner, Didi Gregorius, and Xander Bogaerts are in play, while if not on certain pitchers, going cheap with Nick Ahmed, Jurickson Profar, Eduardo Nunez and Scott Kingery could be in play.

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. I mentioned in the playbook about how you have plenty of top options that are all in plus spots tonight. Mike Trout, Charlie Blackmon, and Bryce Harper are all solid options if not on the bats from the top targeted teams in the Yankees, Red Sox, and A’s. From those games, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew Benintendi, J.D. Martinez, and Khris Davis make up the top priced bats, while you could find some cheaper Oakland plays for punting. 

Marcell Ozuna has the narrative play going for him on DK, but Tommy Pham has dropped to $100 cheaper than him as a FD pivot play. Similar to Casili, Rickard was in the playbook, but didn’t make the O’s lineup.  Trey Mancini instead gets the leadoff duties for the O’s if feeling him as a punt. Jason Heyward and Hunter Pence are two possible lower owned punt options, but I actually like Jay Bruce or Carlos Gonzalez more.

Thoughts from the FantasyAlarm Team: Our hitting coach, Jon Impemba, likes Benintendi, Machado, and Judge if paying up, while Ozuna, Conforto, and Bird are his top mid-priced options. Valencia is joined by Bradley Jr as his top value options.

Our projections have Sanchez and Nolan as the top options, followed by Trout and Lindor.  Stanton makes it in the top five on FD, but Blackmon makes it in over him on DK.  Valencia and Grichuk are the top value options.  

 

GPP

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. Of the seven teams listed above as the top targets, I like a mix of the Yankees and A’s for stacking tonight.  Outside of those seven teams, I like the O’s/Mets full game stack, as well as the Nationals and Rockies.

Thoughts from the FantasyAlarm Team:  Our stacking coach, Tom Vecchio, likes the O’s, A’s, and Cubs tonight as his top options.

 

Final Thoughts

FanDuel: It’s very wide open tonight depending on how you attack pitching.  If paying up for Scherzer or Kluber, I would go cheap with Valencia or Beltre at third, and cheap (under $2.6K) for two of the OF spots.  Using a top SS like Machado, and Moreland at first leaves you roughly $2.8K for the last three spots.  I think you can feel confident with that, but as mentioned in the pitching spot, going the other route with a cheaper pitcher could be in play as well, but make sure you then are able to get that top hitter or two you couldn’t get by using Scherzer.

DraftKings: DK is more wide open, but very difficult to go both Scherzer and Kluber, or even one with Stripling.  I wouldn’t be fully surprised to see users going with the second route listed above in the pitching options, and take two pitchers priced under $10K.  Once you make that decision, taking a player like Wynns or another catcher for under $3K is you best spot to save some salary.  Danny Valencia remains in play at third, but suggest then using a cheap Baltimore player to pari him up with.  Would stick with a similar approach as FD by using two cheaper OF options, as well as using second base for salary relief.  Eduardo Nunez is in a nice spot if needing to save more than by going with Carp or Schoop.