Griffin Wong dives into Tuesday’s 11-game featured MLB slate to find players to use in your DraftKings lineups.
On Saturday, the Chicago White Sox became the second team eliminated from postseason contention, and within the next couple of days, the Washington Nationals — who trail the final NL Wild Card spot by 16.5 games with 19 remaining in their season — are likely to become the third later this week. The season is truly winding to a conclusion.
Still, a lot remains to be decided, and this week’s series between the Houston Astros and the Toronto Blue Jays, both of whom hold narrow leads in their respective divisions, could have a huge impact on the rest of the season. That game, along with 10 others, are part of tonight’s featured DFS slate on DraftKings. Here are two pitchers, three infielders, and three outfielders I’m targeting from the slate, although I didn’t choose a single Blue Jay or Astro.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $175K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st]
PITCHER
Stud
Adrian Houser, Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox, $8,600 – Houser was the Rays’ marquee trade deadline acquisition after posting a 2.10 ERA in 11 starts (68.2 innings) with the White Sox. He hasn’t been quite as sharp with Tampa Bay, posting a 4.91 ERA across 33.0 innings, though his 4.54 FIP across that same span suggests that he’s gotten somewhat unlucky. I’m banking that returning to his old stomping grounds can provide some of the old juice, given his 1.13 career ERA in six starts at Rate Field. Chicago is actually hot, having won seven of its last eight games, but now it returns home, where it’s posted the second-worst OPS in baseball.
Value
Chad Patrick, Milwaukee Brewers at Texas Rangers, $7,000 – Patrick must be the bad-luck charm for the league’s best team. Despite having five more wins overall than the next-best team, the Brewers have suffered defeat in 15 of Patrick’s 21 starts. That hasn’t necessarily been the 27-year-old’s fault: he has conceded three or fewer runs in all but two of his starts and recently pitched six innings of shutout ball with Triple-A Nashville. Patrick will be recalled to start today, and he should have a fairly favorable matchup: Texas, now down Marcus Semien ($3,600) and Corey Seager ($4,100), has had the league’s worst OPS in the last seven days.
INFIELDER
Stud
Rafael Devers, San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks, $5,100 – Devers has amassed just one hit in his last three games, but that shouldn’t completely nullify the ridiculous form that the 28-year-old had been in. Prior to the mini-slump, he’d recorded 16 or more FPTS in four of five games, slugging a quartet of homers across that stretch. I like Devers’ matchup against Zac Gallen ($8,400); though Gallen has been hot, giving up just one earned run in his last 18 innings, the former Cy Young finalist is still struggling through his worst professional season overall. Devers has posted a .916 OPS against righties, and Gallen has conceded a .785 mark to southpaws.
Stud
Eugenio Suárez, Seattle Mariners vs. St. Louis Cardinals, $4,300 – Suárez hasn’t been great for the Mariners since they re-acquired him at the trade deadline — he’s posted just a .202/.268/.457 slash line and averaged 7.8 FPTS per game — but this is great value for a guy whose DFS salary sat in the high $5,000s for most of the season and who’s gone deep thrice in as many games. I’m unimpressed by Matthew Liberatore ($6,600), who had conceded three or more total runs in six straight contests before settling down with a 5.1-inning shutout (27 FPTS) against the Athletics. Liberatore struggles to induce whiffs, nullifying one of Suárez’s biggest weaknesses, so more of his plate appearances should end with balls in play.
Value
Jacob Wilson, Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox, $4,000 – Wilson’s tremendous rookie season has been overshadowed by his teammate Nick Kurtz ($5,700)‘s, but he’s still a solid piece of a really promising Athletics young core. This season, Wilson has posted a .335/.387/.490 slash line (8.2 FPTS per game) in 52 games at Sutter Health Park. Boston, meanwhile, will turn to another young prospect, Connelly Early. Early’s 2.60 ERA across two MiLB levels this season is fairly impressive, but there’s no guarantee that success at the Triple-A level will immediately translate into success in the big leagues. Early allowed an OPS 185 points worse to right-handed batters in the minors, and Wilson’s .344 average against lefties ranks sixth in all of baseball.
OUTFIELDER
Stud
Fernando Tatís Jr., San Diego Padres vs. Cincinnati Reds, $5,400 – Despite the Los Angeles Dodgers’ recent struggles, the Padres haven’t been able to make up ground in the NL West, as both powerhouses are floundering. Tatís has been solid as of late, though; in addition to being arguably the National League’s best defensive outfielder, he’s put up double-digit fantasy points in three of his last five games and is still averaging 10 FPTS per game at Petco Park. The Dominican has had the occasional power drought this season, but he should have a chance of going deep against Zack Littell ($7,300), who leads all of baseball in homers conceded with 34.
Stud
Trent Grisham, New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers, $4,600 – Grisham is a little inconsistent, as he’s recorded either 20-plus FPTS or single-digit FPTS in each of his last nine games, but in the aggregate, that evens out to 11.5 FPTS per game over his last 10 games, which is elite stuff. Playing at Yankee Stadium, with its short porch, is always nice for lefties, too. Casey Mize ($7,100) has allowed three or more earned runs in six of his last nine starts and has posted an ERA nearly a full run higher away from home. Grisham has mashed righties to the tune of an .890 OPS this season. Plus, some 58% of Mize’s pitches are some form of a fastball, and Grisham has been one of the league’s best against such pitches.
Value
Alex Call, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Colorado Rockies, $3,500 – If Los Angeles wants to keep rotating its outfield to help the slumping Teoscar Hernández ($4,500) or Andy Pages ($4,200) find their form, Call is usually the first man up. He, too, hasn’t been incredible as of late, but as long as he continues to be in the starting lineup, he could provide some value. I’m banking on him to find some of his form against Germán Márquez ($5,000), whose set of three negative-FPT outputs in four games was broken by a 0.65-FPT start against the San Francisco Giants last Wednesday. Márquez’s poor pitching can’t even be blamed on Coors Field; he has a 5.95 ERA on the road as well.