Every year around this time, there are awkward but viral made-for-TV moments when a player gets traded in the middle of a game.
Thankfully for those athletes and their families, that’s unlikely to happen today, with just a three-game slate, two of which start after the 6 p.m. ET deadline. Here are three value options I like for today’s small but mighty featured DFS contest.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $80K Relay Throw [$20K to 1st].
SP Carlos Carrasco, Atlanta Braves at Cincinnati Reds, $6,000
We’re starting off strong with a deadline acquisition after Atlanta sent the New York Yankees cash considerations for his services to help fill out its injury-decimated rotation. The Braves’ other new starter, Erick Fedde, didn’t do so well in his team debut — giving up four runs in 4.2 innings (4.3 FPTS) — but that was against a Kansas City Royals offense in slightly better form than Cincinnati’s and Carrasco is a slightly better pitcher than Fedde.
Though the 38-year-old has just a seventh-percentile expected batting average, a ninth-percentile average exit velocity, and a sixth-percentile barrel rate, at least he generally avoids issuing walks, and the soft-hitting Reds aren’t exactly suited to take advantage of his weaknesses. Cincinnati is coming off a series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in which it scored a total of 11 runs over three games, and it’s had the ninth-worst OPS since the All-Star break and the fifth-worst in July overall.
OF Wyatt Langford, Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners, $4,000
One of last season’s better rookies has gone through somewhat of a sophomore stagnation, as his production has been relatively similar across the board to what he put up in 2024. But in recent weeks, he’s figured it out a little bit, with three double-digit-FPT performances in his last six games, and he’s been much better on the road than at home, averaging 1.7 more FPTS per game away from Globe Life Field. The Rangers’ offense as a whole has picked up since the All-Star break, allowing him to drive in runs with some regularity.
Though T-Mobile Park is an even more pitcher-friendly venue than Globe Life Field is, George Kirby ($8,800) should leave him with plenty of chances to impart some damage. The ever-inconsistent Kirby has allowed four earned runs in two of his last three starts and sports a 4.50 ERA overall (4.05 ERA at home). In particular, Kirby has a bottom-quartile average exit velocity and hard-hit rate, while Langford ranks in the top tertile in both of those categories, and with temperatures in the high 70s by the time of first pitch (pretty hot for Seattle), the ball should travel.
2B/3B Ryan McMahon, New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays, $3,700
McMahon is another recent deadline acquisition, arriving from the Colorado Rockies for a pair of minor league pitching prospects. The former mile-high man has acquainted himself well with life at sea level so far, getting hits in four of his first five games in New York and averaging eight FPTS per game overall. In his 11 career games at Yankee Stadium, he has a .715 OPS, a performance that puts it slightly above the median among the 33 venues in which he has played.
I like his matchup against Ryan Pepiot ($8,300), who has been somewhat less effective away from home. In particular, he has a higher walk rate on the road, which could be trouble against McMahon, who walks at an 86th-percentile clip. More worryingly, Pepiot is also prone to giving up hard hits, ranking in the 34th percentile in average exit velocity and the 26th percentile in barrel rate and conceding 21 homers already this season. McMahon consistently laces hard hits and has been a fair bit better against righties than lefties in his career. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see him hit his first Yankee homer tonight.
