This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
FanDuel has a 15-game slate for Major League Baseball on Sunday. With injuries, order changes and weather, always make sure you check the lineups page before finalizing your rosters. Here are some of the plays to keep an eye on for Sunday:
Starting Pitcher
Lance McCullers ($6,700)
At this price, McCullers has to be in play. The Mariners have the third worst strikeout rate against right-handed pitching and the worst batting average in all of MLB. McCullers has been dominant since his call up, as he has a 2.32 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 36 strikeouts in 31 innings. He has already returned games of 14 and 23 fantasy points, which would be huge value numbers based off his price here. He has returned at least 10 fantasy points in each of his last four starts, so he has the floor for cash games and upside in tournaments.
Catcher
Brian McCann ($3,700)
McCann has been on a hot streak lately, with nine hits in his last 25 at-bats and four of them going for extra bases. He also has six RBI during this stretch, so he produced some nice fantasy scores over his last six games. He has had at least 3.5 fantasy points in four of his last six and is averaging 3.66 points per game during this span. He also has a good matchup in a solid hitters' park against Mike Wright, who has allowed left-handed batters to hit .286 against him with three homers in 10 innings. All the arrows point to Sunday being a good day to pay up for McCann.
First Base
Mark Teixeira ($3,700)
Teixeira is another left-handed bat to take against Mike Wright in a good hitter's park. Tex has been awesome over his last 10 with an average of four fantasy points per game. He has hit safely in nine of his last 10, with 12 hits in 37 at-bats. He has three doubles, three homers, six runs scored and 11 RBI over this stretch, so he has been scoring points in a lot of different ways. We already mentioned Wright's struggles with left-handed bats when discussing McCann, and all of that applies to the switch-hitting Teixeira as well.
Second Base
Jace Peterson ($2,800)
Peterson has been doing a solid job as the leadoff man for the Braves, reaching base safely in his last 10 games and has a hit in nine. He has averaged 3.15 fantasy points per game over his last five, which means he is safely averaging more than his value number would be at his price Sunday. He also gets a matchup with Dillon Gee, who is both fresh off an injury and struggling with left-handed bats this season. Gee has allowed left-handers to hit .342 against him and his WHIP is currently at 1.67 against them. That should be positive for Peterson to continue his on-base streak, and likely add more percentage points to his ever increasing batting average.
Shortstop
Carlos Correa ($3,000)
Correa is the young phenom the Astros just called up to play short. After going 5-for-12 with two home runs in his first four games, he was moved into the two hole Saturday. Correa, a right-handed batter, gets a matchup with Roenis Elias, who has been pretty good this year, but historically has always been better against left-handed batters, so Correa has the splits on his side. He is the top prospect in all of baseball, so there's upside to him even as his price continues to rise. If he is in the two hole for this game, he can be a useful piece who goes off lower-owned as not everybody has jumped on his bandwagon yet.
Third Base
Kris Bryant ($4,100)
Bryant is just one of many third baseman in good spots, but no one has been hotter. Bryant has hit safely in each of his last 10 games, and he has been doing much of that damage against right-handed pitching, which he will see again Sunday. He gets a matchup with Anthony DeSclafani, whose performances have been up and down all season long. Bryant has 11 hits in his last 22 at-bats with five of those going for extra bases. He also has five walks and has scored eight runs, so the number of positive events he stacks up per game help keep his floor high and his upside even higher. Josh Donaldson faces a lefty and Matt Carpenter gets a righty, so there are other ways to go for a good matchup, but neither of them has produced across the board with the same consistency as Bryant.
Outfield
Giancarlo Stanton ($5,400)
Stanton now has five multi-hit games in his last six, and he also has five home runs in that span. He has scored 50.5 fantasy points over this six-game stretch which breaks down to about 8.5 per game. He will have a good chance to extend the streak Sunday as he faces Jorge De La Rosa because he smashes left-handed pitching. The only thing that keeps Stanton from value here would be a string of intentional walks. As hot as he has been, that might not be the worst decision.
Eddie Rosario ($2,600)
The young Rosario is someone who should be on your radar by now. He has been moved up all the way to the two hole for the Twins, and his left-handed stick has even provided some power recently. Rosario has averaged three fantasy points per game over his last six, which is excellent value at his price. He gets a good matchup against Nick Martinez, who has struggled with left-handed bats over his short time in the majors. Martinez had been solid earlier in the season, but his underlying numbers show that regression is likely. If Rosario remains toward the top of the order, he is too cheap to ignore in a solid matchup at this price.
Josh Reddick ($3,400)
Reddick is arguably one of the most underrated left-handed bats in all of baseball. He is hitting .309 with an OPS close to 1.000 on the season. He has 10 hits in his last 24 at-bats and five of them have been for extra bases. He gets a matchup with Matt Shoemaker, who has struggled allowing home runs this season. He has already allowed 13 of them in only 63 innings, and Reddick has hit a homer in both of his last two starts. Reddick should again find himself in the three hole, and he cannot be ignored with the way he has been hitting.
