Jake Arrieta has a very favorable matchup Thursday night

Welcome to Thursday night on FanDuel! We have a nice slate of games tonight and all of them have an evening start. Right now it looks like there could be weather in Baltimore for the Orioles/Twins game, but storms could creep up elsewhere on the east coast as the day moves on. Be sure to keep yourself updated by following @KevinRothWX on Twitter for up-to-the-minute weather information.

Tuesday’s lineup wasn’t so hot, and couldn’t finish in the money in the $1 Bunt or a $1 50/50 game. While my Marlins stack wasn’t a bad choice, I picked the wrong fish, especially Justin Bour. Tonight I’m using a different strategy and relying on the FanDuel cheat sheet we have here at FantasyPros for my picks (along with wOBA and wRC+ splits). Be sure to check out our FanDuel cheat sheet as you craft your lineup.

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Pitcher

• Jake Arrieta – CHC – $10,600

Arrieta is the top pitcher on our cheat sheet for tonight’s games. The Cubs are the largest favorite for a win tonight with a -260 line against Atlanta at Wrigley Field. The Braves have lost seven of their last 10 games while scoring an average of 2.8 runs a game in that span. We have Arrieta projected to score 13.32 points tonight, the highest projected point total in this evening’s group of pitchers. He’s been incredibly solid, posting no less than 10 points in his last 10 starts with seven wins in that span.

Other notables

• Chris Archer – TAM – $11,900
• Collin McHugh – HOU – $8,600
• Nick Tropeano – LAA – $5,600

Tropeano is the fourth ranked pitcher on the cheat sheet tonight. At his price, you could build a stellar lineup of hitters around him. If you’re entering multiple lineups, be sure to consider building one with Tropeano.

Catcher

• Wilson Ramos – WAS – $2,800

I must admit, this Ramos pick was easy until I started looking at numbers. “Oh, Ramos is facing a lefty in Colorado? He’s an automatic lock!” is what I said before diving deeper. Ramos is the ninth catcher on the cheat sheet, and has a pretty nice price considering he’ll be standing in the batter’s box at Coors Field. The problem is he’s not as good against lefties as I thought, sporting a .244 wOBA and a 51 wRC+ against them this season. His career numbers against southpaws look much better, as he has a .326 wOBA with a 106 wRC+. Could he be playing through an injury this season? The Nationals need offense, and I think Ramos is a better bet to help their offense than Jose Lobaton. I’ll side with the career number tonight given his price and matchup.

Other notables

• Kyle Schwarber – CHC – $4,300
• Brian McCann – NYY – $3,600
• Welington Castillo – ARI – $3,400
• Victor Martinez – DET – $3,000
• Matt Wieters – BAL – $2,500

First Base

• Prince Fielder – TEX – $3,400

Fielder is the eighth ranked first baseman on the cheat sheet tonight, and the third lowest priced of the top-10 behind Mike Napoli (who might not play) and Mark Teixeira. Fielder has feasted on right-handed pitching at home this season, with a .399 wOBA and 153 wRC+. The Rangers/Tigers game should see some offense tonight, and has an over/under at nine runs. Tigers starter Alfredo Simon has given up nine home runs in his last 10 starts and his ERA has risen from 3.29 to 4.84 over that span.

Other notables

• Chris Davis – BAL – $4,900
• Paul Goldschmidt – ARI – $4,500
• Anthony Rizzo – CHC – $4,400
• Ryan Zimmerman – WAS – $4,000
• Albert Pujols – LAA – $3,800
• Mark Teixeira – NYY – $3,300

Second Base

• Aaron Hill – ARI – $2,400

Hill is my lowest priced play of the night, and my least confident pick. His price has allowed the rest of my lineup to come together so I’m sticking with him against The Reds and lefty John Lamb tonight in Cincinnati. Hill is the seventh second baseman on the cheat sheet tonight, despite his underwhelming numbers on the road this season against left-handed pitching; .259 wOBA, 57 wRC+. Hill has hit safely in seven of his last 10 games including three multi-hit performances. He has bounced all over the Diamondbacks lineup, appearing as low as ninth and as high as second. He’s far more intriguing if he’s hitting second. He’s a candidate to get switched out if he’s hitting lower or not playing at all, but right now I have him in.

Other notables

• Danny Espinosa – WAS – $3,200
• Chris Coghlan – CHC – $3,000
• Dee Gordon – MIA – $4,000
• Ian Kinsler – DET – $4,100
• Rougned Odor – TEX – $3,500

Third Base

• Todd Frazier – CIN – $2,800

Third base seems obvious tonight, as Todd Frazier is the top option on the cheat sheet despite being priced as the 16^th third baseman. Tonight he benefits from his home park and a match-up against the left-handed Patrick Corbin. At home this season, Frazier has an otherworldly .506 wOBA with a 228 wRC+. At that price, how can you NOT use Frazier? The only issue I can see is Frazier having a very high ownership percentage across games tonight, so if you want to zag against the competition, look elsewhere. My second choice would be Derek Dietrich for $2,900 against Jerome Williams.

Other notables

• Alex Rodriguez – NYY – $3,800
• Kris Bryant – CHC – $3,300
• Derek Dietrich – MIA – $2,900
• Nick Castellanos – DET – $2,800

Shortstop

• Francisco Lindor – CLE – $2,800

I’ve been using Lindor a lot lately. His price hovers around $3,000, he hits high in the Cleveland batting order, and he hasn’t scored negative points in his last 10 games (although he’s only scored 0.25 points in each of his last four games). He faces Ivan Nova at Yankee Stadium tonight, and on the road this season Lindor has a .297 wOBA with a 88 wRC+ against right-handed pitching. He’s the fourth ranked shortstop tonight on the cheat sheet.

Other notables

• Ian Desmond – WAS – $4,200
• Carlos Correa – HOU – $4,200
• Brandon Crawford – SF – $3,400
• Xander Bogaerts – BOS – $3,400
• Nick Ahmed – ARI – $2,300

Outfield

• J.D. Martinez – DET – $3,600
• Mookie Betts – BOS – $3,500
• Brett Gardner – NYY – $3,000

Martinez, Betts and Gardner are ranked third, fifth and twelfth respectively on the cheat sheet tonight. Each has a favorable pitching matchup and each game has over/under run totals of 8.5-9.0. Here are their splits against pitching-handedness at home for Betts and Gardner, and on the road for Martinez:

• J.D. Martinez away vs. LHP: .337 wOBA, 113 wRC+
• Mookie Betts home vs. LHP: .368 wOBA, 133 wRC+
• Brett Gardner home vs. RHP: .412 wOBA, 166 wRC+

Other notables

• Bryce Harper – WAS – $5,800
• Charlie Blackmon – COL – $4,300
• Lorenzo Cain – KAN – $4,100
• A.J. Pollock – ARI – $4,300
• Mike Trout – LAA – $4,500
• Carlos Gonzalez – COL – $5,000
• Jayson Werth – WAS – $3,800
• Jacoby Ellsbury – NYY – $3,500
• Gerardo Parra – BAL – $3,700
• Shin-Soo Choo – NYY – $3,300
• Carlos Beltran – NYY – $3,500
• Michael Brantley – CLE – $4,200
• Mitch Moreland – TEX – $2,900
• Michael Taylor – WAS – $2,700
• Gregory Polanco – PIT – $3,200
• Gregor Blanco – SF – $2,600

My Lineup

• P: Jake Arrieta – CHC – $10,600
• C: Wilson Ramos – WAS – $2,800
• 1B: Prince Fielder – TEX – $3,400
• 2B: Aaron Hill – ARI – $2,400
• 3B: Todd Frazier – CIN – $2,800
• SS: Francisco Lindor – CLE – $2,800
• OF: J.D. Martinez – DET – $3,600
• OF: Mookie Betts – BOS – $3,500
• OF: Brett Gardner – NYY – $3,000

Remaining salary: $100

We’ll see how our cheat sheet strategy fares this evening. Hopefully it’s stronger than Tuesday’s lineup. Remember to bookmark the cheat sheet.

JP Gale is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from JP, check out his archive and follow him @gojpg.