Sean Barnard gives his top DraftKings MLB Pick6 plays and projections for today’s MLB slate.

While football season has jumped to the front of the conversation in the sports world, the MLB season is just hitting its home stretch. With the playoffs right on the horizon and the race for seedings heating up all over the place, there is still plenty to keep an eye on. There are 15 games of action taking place across today’s slate with all 30 teams in action. With roughly 20 games remaining in the regular season, every pitch means a bit more, and there is still plenty of madness on the diamond. One of the more unique ways is with one of the newest features on DraftKings this year in Pick6 Fantasy Baseball!

This article will look at my top Pick6 plays for today’s action. You simply choose whether each set statistic will be more or less than the set number. With the stage set, here are my top four picks on today’s MLB slate.

Yordan Alvarez More Than 0.5 Runs Batted In

The Houston Astros will play the rubber match against the Texas Rangers today, riding the momentum of the 11-0 rout they produced yesterday. Yordan Alvarez helped drive this effort with a home run, three hits and two RBIs. He now has two home runs in his past three games and 12 hits across his past seven.

Patrick Corbin will be on the mound for today’s game for the Rangers. The 36-year-old is posting a 4.48 ERA with 140 hits allowed across 136.2 innings pitched. While he was once one of the better pitchers in baseball, Corbin has become vulnerable to allowing home runs. This season, he has given up 21 across his 26 starts, and he has allowed 143 home runs across the past five seasons, which includes leading the league in home runs allowed in 2021. Corbin is dependent on his sinker and slider, but he has not gotten outs at the necessary rate.

Alvarez is strong against sinkers and sliders. He is also an equal opportunity hitter who can do damage against both right and left-handed pitching. Against lefties this year, he is hitting .360 with a .720 slugging percentage and 23% barrel rate. The Astros’ bats are hot, so look for them to build off the 11-run effort yesterday with more in the tank. Alvarez has tallied six RBIs in his past five games. Count on him to add to this in today’s matchup.

Brent Rooker More Than 1.5 Total Bases

The Athletics are coming off back-to-back victories over the Angels in which they have put 10+ runs on the board in each. They are in a prime spot to add to this with Mitch Farris set to take the hill for the series finale. Farris is making just his second start of his MLB career. While he impressed in his debut, allowing just one earned run and three hits in five innings pitched, he will face an Athletics lineup that has been mashing left-handed pitching.

Brent Rooker has been at the heart of this and is hitting .324 against lefties this year with a .577 slugging percentage and 14% barrel rate. The 30-year-old has 27 home runs, 81 RBIs and 273 total bases overall. Rooker had a double and an RBI last night and has 12 hits across his past 10 games. Farris does not have a true MLB-quality putaway pitch, and the Angels have already dove into their bullpen heavily over the past two games. Expect this to be a bit of a wake-up call for the young pitcher and for Rooker to tally more than 1.5 bases again today.

Alex Bregman More Than 1.5 Total Bases

In the final matchup of the day’s slate, the Arizona Diamondbacks will face off with the Boston Red Sox. Arizona has picked up the opening two wins in the series, but it will be counting on Ryne Nelson to get the start today. The 27-year-old enters with a 3.57 ERA, a 1.053 WHIP and he has been effective both as a starter and out of the bullpen. But Nelson ranks in the fifth percentile in average exit velocity and 15th percentile in hard-hit rate. He has allowed nine home runs across his past 10 starts. The raw numbers have been good, but the advanced metrics are a bit more worrisome and could even themselves out as the season winds down.

Alex Bregman enters slashing .284/.366/.488 on the season with a .853 OPS. He ranks in the 60th percentile or higher in expected slugging percentage, average exit velocity and hard-hit rate. Bregman has only faced Nelson once, but he went 1-for-3 with a home run in that matchup. He has hits in five of his past six games, including a pair of doubles over this stretch. Don’t be shocked if the Red Sox break open the run total and count on Bregman being in the mix. Look for him to tally more than 1.5 total bases as Nelson’s stats continue to regress to the mean.

Corbin Carroll More Than 1.5 Total Bases

On the other side of the matchup, Corbin Carroll has been in strong form for the Diamondbacks. On the season overall, he is slashing .259/.334/.559 with a .893 OPS. The two-time All-Star has 30 home runs, 28 doubles, 74 RBIs and leads the MLB with 16 triples on the season.

Brayan Bello will be on the mound for the Red Sox today and holds a 3.07 ERA and 1.227 WHIP. Carroll has faced him just three times in his career, with one hit in these matchups. He has a home run in three of the Diamondbacks’ last three games as underdogs, and he ranks fifth among qualified hitters in slugging percentage this season. He has three hits in the opening two games of this series and has 10 hits over his past eight games. Count on Carroll to get the better of Bello in the matchup and tally more than 1.5 total bases again tonight.

Pick6 is a peer-to-peer fantasy variant where you build a lineup (your “Pick Set”) of 2+ players and select whether you believe each will outperform their listed stat projection. Enter your Pick Set in Pick6 contests to compete against other users. Get enough picks correct and win a share of cash prizes.

How to Play

Create a Pick Set

Create a Pick Set by choosing 2+ players from the same sport and Pick Group (a set of picks available from a group of set competitions). For each player, simply select if you think they’ll have more or less than their listed stat projection. In each Pick Set, you can not pick the same player twice and you must pick players from at least two different teams.

Enter an Amount

Once you finalize your Pick Set, choose your entry fee amount. Your entries will be automatically distributed into available contests, subject to your confirmation.

Sweat Your Picks

When the games go live, use the My Picks tab to follow your picks in real time to track how your players are performing against their projections and how they stack up against other users.

Compete for Prizes

Make enough correct picks and win a share of the contests’ guaranteed prizes. Any prizes won will be credited to your DraftKings account after contests are finalized.

Play at DraftKings Pick6 or by downloading the DraftKings Pick6 app on Apple or Google!