Daily Fantasy Baseball News & Updates for FanDuel & DraftKings - 9/16/16

Welcome to the daily MLB updates and news article. We'll try and update it right up to line-up locks with as much information as comes across our desks. Let's get to it!

Last night's picks can be found here, so you can wrap your mind around what you need to be looking at before lineups lock today.

By the way - we keep our projection system updated with all of the batting lineup changes as they occur throughout the day right up until lineup lock. Every day. If you want access to that system so you can cut out a lot of the research element, click the button below!

What We Know

Personnel

• Josh Donaldson returned to the Jays lineup last night going 3 for 3 with two walks. It appears he is ok playing through the pain.
• Jonathan Villar is out of the Brewers lineup on Friday in the early game. No injury, just a day off.
• After clinching the National League Central division the Cubs are sitting most of their regulars(Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist) today.
• Jose Altuve left the Astros last game on Wednesday with a right oblique injury and is considered day to day.
• Freddie Freeman left Wednesday's game to be with his wife in labor. With the Braves completely out of the playoff picture he could miss Friday's game. Be sure to check lineups before throwing him in your lineup.
• Back spasms have kept Starling Marte out of the Pirates lineup since September 5th and it sounds like he could make a return tonight.
• After making five pinch hit appearances since the start of September, Giancarlo Stanton could return to the starting lineup on Friday. It would be a risky play but a very viable GPP play with huge upside and possible low ownership.
• Cameron Maybin was out of the Tigers starting lineup on Thursday with a sore thumb but made a pinch hit appearance late in the game and recorded a hit. It is unclear if he will be in the starting lineup tonight so stay tuned.
• Alex Bregman pulled up lame on Wednesday and was removed with hamstring discomfort. He will be re evaluated and is considered day to day but most likely will be shut down for the season.

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The "Every Lineup" Guys

Mookie Betts FD 4000 DK 5300
Opponent - NYY (Cessa) Park - @BOS
FD - 14.14 DK - 11.64

Looking at the DeraftKings optimizer Mookie Betts shows up in nine of the first 10 lineups and 20 of 25 overall. He is putting up MVP like numbers hitting .312 with 30 HR, 105 RBI and 109 runs scored. He also comes with speed upside with 23 stolen bases and hits in the very favorable cleanup spot in the Red Sox lineup. They get a terrific matchup against Luis Cessa who has given up eight home runs in his last four starts.

Dee Gordon FD 2500 DK 4200
Opponent - PHI (Morgan) Park - @PHI
FD - 8.94 DK - 8.6

On a night when we are most likely wanting to roster a high priced elite pitcher it makes perfect sense to consider Dee Gordon on FanDuel. His salary has not caught up to his recent hot streak and remains in the mid $2K range. The Marlins leadoff hitter has recorded a hit in seven straight and eight of his last nine games with six runs scored and five stolen bases.

These are players that show up in each of the top 10 lineups as produced by our lineup optimizer. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're "safe," it just means that their projected weighted-mean point total is a solid building block for a great lineup foundation today.

Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below of our lineup optimizer, on us!