Sean Barnard gives his top DraftKings MLB Pick6 plays and projections for Monday’s NLCS & ALCS matchups.

The final four remaining MLB teams continue to battle it out in their respective League Championship series as the race to become World Series Champions thins out. Both matchups will be in action tonight as the Mariners and Blue Jays face off in the ALCS in the first matchup, and the Dodgers face the Brewers in the NLCS. Seattle holds a 1-0 series lead over Toronto, while this will be the opening matchup between the Dodgers and Brewers. There are plenty of ways to get involved in the action on the baseball diamond. One of the more unique ways to play 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 picks on today’s MLB playoff slate.

Trey Yesavage More Than 5.5 Strikeouts

Sometimes, having a surprise in your back pocket can be the difference in a postseason setting. For the Toronto Blue Jays, Trey Yesavage has been their secret weapon. The 22-year-old pitched in just three games and 14.0 innings in the regular season before seeing the playoff opportunity. He did not blink at the bright lights, going 5.1 innings pitched against the Yankees in the previous round and striking out 11. This resulted in a 13-7 victory for the Blue Jays as the Yankees put on some runs on the board in the later innings.

Seattle struck out 11 times in Game 1 despite the victory. Randy Arozarena, Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor and Victor Robles were each sat down twice. They have struck out 69 times across their six postseason games, which is the most per game among remaining teams, and struck out the sixth-most times in the regular season at 8.93 times per game. The sample size is extremely small, but Yesavage averaged 14.7 strikeouts per nine innings in his lone season in the minors and 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings across his three regular-season starts. His chase and whiff rates would each be among the best in the league had he pitched enough to qualify.

It could be a different story once there is a book out on who Yesavage is as a player. But there is not enough time for that to be the case just yet, with no member of the Mariners having faced him to this point. Seattle’s big bats all have strikeout concerns, with Raleigh ranking in the 14th percentile, Arozarena in the 12th percentile, and Eugenio Suarez in the fifth percentile in strikeout rate. Count on Yesavage looking ready for the moment once again and striking out more than 5.5 Mariners tonight.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. More Than 0.5 Home Runs

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been red-hot to start the postseason. Through his first five playoff games, he is slashing .429/.458/.857 with a 1.315 OPS. He has been one of the premier hitters in baseball throughout his seven-year career and has delivered in the postseason setting so far.

Guerrero Jr. has also matched up well with Logan Gilbert in his career, who will get the start for the Mariners tonight. He is 6-for-15 against the former All-Star with two doubles, two home runs and a 1.404 OPS. Gilbert allowed 20 home runs in 25 starts in the regular season with 1.4 home runs per nine innings, tying a career-worst.

The Blue Jays star had just 23 home runs in the regular season, which was his fewest since 2020. But his power has been back to start the postseason and he will look to add to this with his career slash lines against Gilbert of .400/.471/.933 in mind. He ranks in the 88th percentile in average exit velocity and 90th percentile in hard-hit rate. Look for Guerrero Jr. to shake off the hitless series opener and put one over the fence for the fourth time this postseason.

Alejandro Kirk More Than 1.5 Hits, Runs & RBIs

Another member of the Blue Jays who has hit Logan Gilbert well is Alejandro Kirk. The two-time All-Star has four hits across his 12 career at-bats with three RBIs when facing Gilbert. Kirk is coming off a career-best season at the plate in which he slashed .282/.348/.421 with a .769 OPS. He also had a career-high 15 home runs and 76 RBIs.

Kirk posted a wild 93.6% contact rate during the regular season, which ranked among the top-30 qualified hitters in baseball. He has just four hits across his 22 at-bats this season, or a .182 batting average, but he has struck out just once and looked competitive at the plate overall. Look for him to lean on the success he has had in this pitching matchup and get back on track tonight. To provide a bit more variety in how he can achieve this, I am backing Kirk to record more than 1.5 combined hits, runs and RBIs.

Blake Snell More than 6.5 Strikeouts Thrown

In the late matchup, Blake Snell will be getting the ball in the series opener for the Dodgers. The two-time Cy Young winner was limited due to some shoulder issues this year, pitching in just 11 games and 61.1 innings in the regular season. But this has not stopped him from looking like the best version of himself in the postseason. Snell has made two starts and is posting a 1.38 ERA, 0.769 WHIP with 18 strikeouts and five hits allowed across 13.0 innings pitched. He has struck out nine batters in both postseason starts and recorded nine or more K’s in four of his past five starts overall.

Milwaukee will be facing off against Snell for the first time this season. While it has been a good contact team, striking out the fifth-fewest times in the regular season, it is averaging 6.8 strikeouts per game in the postseason. Snell has been artful in his control and ranks in the 95th percentile in chase rate, 96th in whiff rate and 85th in strikeout rate. Los Angeles has little faith in its bullpen and will keep a longer leash than is typically the case in a postseason setting. The Brewers could still make some noise later in the game, but count on Snell striking out more than 6.5 hitters for the third straight playoff start and seventh time in his past eight starts.

William Contreras More Than 1.5 Total Bases

The Brewers have plenty of talent on the roster, but William Contreras has emerged as a key leader in a variety of ways. Contreras slashed .260/.355/.399 with a .754 OPS with 147 hits across his 150 games played this year. He led off the crucial win-or-go-home matchup against the Cubs with a home run and is batting .300 in the playoffs with a .993 OPS.

Blake Snell is a tough matchup for any player in the batter’s box, but Contreras has had great success against left-handed pitching. Across his career, he has slashed .304/399/.502 against left-handed pitching. He also has one hit across three plate appearances when facing Snell.

Contreras has hits in four of the five games and has tallied more than 1.5 total bases in three of these postseason matchups. Expect him to be a tone-setter for this Brewers team and be ready to deliver tonight. He has a better chance in the matchup with Snell than most of the Brewers’ roster, and the Dodgers’ bullpen has struggled in a major way. Look for him to continue serving as the leader on the field and tally more than 1.5 total bases again tonight.

Mookie Betts More Than 1.5 Total Bases

After an uncharacteristic regular season, Mookie Betts has looked the part of the MVP player he has proven to be. The three-time World Series champion slashed .258/.326/.406 with a .732 OPS. This is well below his career averages of .290/.369/.512 with an .881 OPS. Betts has woken up in the postseason with 10 hits across his first 26 at-bats. He is slashing .385/.429/.577 with a 1.005 OPS.

Count on Betts to continue to put his frustrating regular season behind him and be ready to deliver for this Dodgers team. He has proven he knows what it takes to win and has delivered in big moments throughout the duration of his career. You cannot avoid everyone in this Dodgers offense, and Betts will see some pitches to hit tonight. Look for him to ride the momentum of his strong postseason start thus far and deliver with more than 1.5 total bases for the fourth time in these playoffs.

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 cannot pick the same player twice and 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!