Griffin Wong dives into Friday’s 11-game featured MLB slate to find players to use in your DraftKings lineups.

September might well be among the best sports months of the year, as MLB teams jostle for position down the stretch and the NFL returns to action. Football takes the spotlight this weekend, but there are several games with playoff implications as part of today’s 11-game featured MLB slate on DraftKings, highlighted by the New York Yankees’ potentially division-deciding three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Here are two pitchers, three infielders, and three outfielders I’m targeting from today’s action.

Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $100K Bat Flip [$25K to 1st]

PITCHER

Stud

Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves vs. Seattle Mariners, $10,500 – Prior to suffering a fractured rib cage that held him out for two and a half months, the future Hall of Famer and reigning Cy Young was doing Sale things, recording a ridiculous 1.25 ERA over his last 11 starts before going on the injured list (27.2 FPTS per game). He didn’t miss a beat in his return last Saturday, slinging six innings of three-hit, one-run ball (27.1 FPTS), and there should be no questions about his ability to back that up tonight at home, where he’s had a 2.17 ERA (22.5 FPTS per game). Despite all their talent, the Mariners have had the 10th-worst OPS in the last 30 days.

Value

Ian Seymour, Tampa Bay Rays vs. Cleveland Guardians, $7,800 – There’s a huge gap between the impotence of the Guardians’ offense and that of anybody else. Seymour’s sample size is small — only his latest two appearances have been starts, and his average of 28.15 FPTS in those starts is probably unsustainable — but Cleveland’s OPS has been 65 points worse than any other team’s over the last 30 days. By run value per 100 pitches, Seymour’s changeup lags behind only Michael Wacha ($6,900)‘s and Tarik Skubal’s, so he has the raw tools to shut down the Guardians for five innings.

INFIELDER

Stud

Trevor Story, Boston Red Sox at Arizona Diamondbacks, $4,900 – Story had one of the more memorable home runs of the MLB season on Monday, as his fly ball ricocheted off of the glove of Jhonkensy Noel ($2,100) and onto the Pesky Pole in right field at Fenway Park. At that point, it was his fourth home run in his last 10 games, a span in which he’d averaged 11.1 FPTS per game. He has a favorable matchup in the ever-inconsistent Eduardo Rodríguez ($6,300), who’s ranked in just the second percentile in pitching run value this season and doesn’t produce many whiffs or strikeouts, two of Story’s biggest issues.

Stud

Tyler Freeman, Colorado Rockies vs. San Diego Padres, $4,700 – As has been the case every time a pitcher takes the mound at Coors Field, I wanted to target a Padre, but all of their DFS salaries have been increased by $1,000, and it’s hard to justify that in such a volatile sport. Freeman has slashed .353/.450/.353 in his last 10 games, averaging 7.1 FPTS per game, and he’s coming off of two consecutive double-digit outings. He’s also averaged 8.1 FPTS per game in 51 contests at Coors Field. Nick Pivetta ($9,100) is a difficult matchup, but the last time he pitched in Colorado, he conceded six runs on seven hits in four innings of work (1 FPT) on May 11.

Value

Ryan Mountcastle, Baltimore Orioles vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, $3,400 – Mountcastle has been excellent since returning from a hamstring strain on August 8, slashing .308/.354/.451 and averaging 8.3 FPTS per game, so if he can continue this level of production, he’ll over-perform his DFS salary by roughly $1,000. He’s also been slightly better at Camden Yards, averaging 6.5 FPTS per game at home and 6.1 on the road. Tyler Glasnow ($8,900) has posted a 5.68 ERA in five starts on the road this season and is backed up by a Dodgers bullpen that gave up six runs in 9.1 innings across the first three games of the month.

OUTFIELDER

Stud

George Springer, Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees, $5,000 – I’ve seen Blue Jays fans recently put Springer into MVP conversations, and looking at his numbers since the All-Star break, it makes sense: the 35-year-old is on a hot streak for the ages, slashing .405/.496/.739 and averaging 14.2 FPTS per game across that span, though he missed 16 games with a concussion. It just doesn’t seem that there’s anyone capable of stopping Springer right now, and as amazing as Cam Schlittler ($8,500) is — he’s allowed one or fewer earned runs in each of his last four starts, averaging 25.3 FPTS per game in that time — I just trust the Blue Jays vet.

Stud

Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros at Texas Rangers, $4,400 – Alvarez hasn’t missed a beat since returning from a fractured right hand on August 26, slashing .500/.595/.786 across that span and averaging 11.6 FPTS per game. It’s not like the Cuban has produced monster numbers every night, but four double-digit fantasy efforts in nine games certainly isn’t bad. I like his chances of putting up another great game against Merrill Kelly ($8,000); though Kelly has been very good this season overall, his average exit velocity, barrel percentage, and hard hit percentage all rank in the league’s bottom quartile, and Alvarez has been one of the game’s premier sluggers for his entire career.

Value

Bryce Teodosio, Los Angeles Angels vs. Athletics, $2,600 – Nobody on this Angels team has hit very well as of late, and Teodosio — who’s had zero FPTS in six of his last seven games and 10 FPTS in the other — is no exception. I still think he’s worth a pick because he’s averaged 5.2 FPTS per game at home, and Los Angeles, which is out of playoff contention, should want to continue to give opportunities to one of its top prospects. I also don’t want to overreact to one start by Mason Barnett ($5,500), but I really don’t understand why the Athletics called him up, given that he had a 9.39 ERA in his last five starts with Triple-A Las Vegas.