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.  

 

Top Pitching Targets

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.

As mentioned in the playbook, there are plenty of top pitching options taking the mound tonight, but Chris Sale remains your best option.  There is enough value tonight with hitting on FD that if playing cash games, Chris Sale should be a plug and play. DK is a little more tricky due to Sale’s $14K price tag, but if planning to spend $21K plus on pitching tonight, you may as well go with the best bet to get your 40 DK points. I can see users taking a stab on one of the pitchers in the $6K range, but may end up paying up for another top priced pitcher, with Kenta Maeda as the leading candidate.  

Plenty of GPP options if not on those above, and leaning towards the underdogs in Mike Foltynewicz and Dylan Bundy . Brett made the case for some other wild card gpp plays in the pitching coach, and if going for a higher risk, cheaper play, German Marquez would be my flier.  I’ll likely be looking at paying up for pitching tonight, and finding the value hitting.

Thoughts from the Fantasy Alarm Team:  Our pitching coach, Brett Talley likes Sale,  Jacob deGrom , and Lance McCullers if paying up, while Pivetta would be his mid-priced gpp play.  Lance Lynn would be his cheap cash option, with Pena as his cheap ggp target.

Our projections have Sale leading the way, followed by deGrom, Freddy Peralta , Carrasco, and McCullers.  Peralta is the top value play on FD, with Zimmerman checking in as a top DK value play.

 

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.

I suggest picking your pitcher(s) first, and then finding your hitting targets based on salary restraints. If trying to decide between similar priced players, the Red Sox, Nationals, Yankees, Indians, and Astros all check in with implied run totals over five runs, while the Tigers look to be the best team for salary relief.  This doesn’t mean that other teams aren’t in play, as plenty of teams have solid matchups, as well as price tags tonight.

Catchers are pretty weak tonight, and although you can pay up for Evan Gattis , J.T. Realmuto , or Yasmani Grandal , it’s likely best to just punt with a catcher tonight if not stacking.  Chris Herrmann would be my play, but Spencer Kieboom , James McCann , Tim Federowicz , and Sandy León are all solid options.

If paying up, I like Paul Goldschmidt , with Freddie Freeman and Cody Bellinger as solid pivot options.  Plenty of cheap value options at first to use once again tonight, with Yulieski Gurriel and Matt Adams as my top options, but feel like the higher owned options will be the even cheaper like Steve Pearce on FD, or Logan Morrison for the second straight game.  

Second base has José Altuve and Ozzie Albies available if looking to pay up, as well as Max Muncy on FD.  Feeling like paying up for pitching is the play tonight, leaving Rougned Odor , Jonathan Schoop , Brock Holt , Jedd Gyorko , and plenty other cheap 2B options as my preferred route outside of stacking.  

As mentioned in the playbook, 3B looks to be a mid-priced target for me over spending up for José Ramírez or Alex Bregman .  Adrián Béltre , Miguel Andujar , and Matt Carpenter would be my targets, but feel free to go back to punting with Tim Beckham , Colin Moran , or one of the duel positions options on DK.  Jedd Gyorko , Wilmer Difo , and Jorge Polanco lead that list for me.

I prefer Francisco Lindor if going cheap with pitching for a gpp Cleveland stack but the discount with Trea Turner after his game last night will make him a popular target in all formats.  Xander Bogaerts or Elvis Andrus are solid pivots depending on the site you play on.

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.  It will be hard to have any top priced OF option if paying up for pitching, but I mentioned a few different routes to take in the playbook, and really comes down to which teams you want to target. I just spoke in our chat about pivoting off of the top priced OF option from a team, to a secondary option still in a great spot.  Andrew Benintendi , Aaron Hicks , JaCoby Jones , Josh Reddick , and Steven Souza Jr. are some of my top options as pivots off their higher priced teammates.

Thoughts from the Fantasy Alarm Team:  Our hitting coach, Jon Impemba, likes J.D. Martínez and Muncy if paying up, and Adams, Reddick, and Brett Anderson as mid-priced options.  Jonathan Schoop and Martín Prado would be his value plays.

Our projections have Judge as the top play, followed by Martinez, Betts, Bellinger and Benintendi.  Dickerson leads the FD value options, and is joined by Gardner as the top 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. If paying up for pitching, I like the Pirates, as well as O’s for salary relief again if not on the Tigers or secondary options from the D-Backs or Indians.  If paying up for hitting, I like the Red Sox and Nationals over the Yankees.

Thoughts from the Fantasy Alarm Team:  Our stacking coach, Tom Vecchio, likes the O’s, Tigers, and Red Sox for his gpp stacks.