With most of Wednesday’s MLB games taking place early in the day, DraftKings’ featured DFS slate offers just five games, with the earliest first pitch set for 6:45 p.m. ET and the latest for 9:40 p.m. ET.
With such a small slate, there aren’t necessarily five pitchers worth targeting. For the smaller slate, here are my three favorite starting pitching options for tonight’s contest.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $150K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st].
1. Jeffrey Springs, Athletics ($6,800)
Springs was widely expected to be traded by his team at the deadline, given his solid recent form, age, and the fact that the Athletics have effectively been eliminated from the playoffs this season. But the 32-year-old is still on the roster and pitching well, having posted a 3.10 ERA over his last nine starts (16.2 FPTS per game) and giving up more than two earned runs just twice across that span. The southpaw is also somewhat of a workhorse, completing the sixth inning with regularity, though he shouldn’t need to tonight with how well-rested the Athletics’ bullpen is.
I expect him to cruise tonight against a Nationals offense that has posted the league’s sixth-worst OPS since the All-Star break and the 12th-worst against lefties overall. One of my best bets for the game is for Springs to pick up his 11th win of the season, which would give him an additional four FPTS. If the Washington Nationals’ spot starter, Cade Cavalli ($7,000), does as poorly as his shoddy performance in the minors recently has indicated, all Springs will need to do to pick up the win is reach the five-inning minimum. The Athletics’ offense is extremely hot and represents a nightmare for a pitcher who’s put up a 9.00 ERA in his last 27 innings for Triple-A Rochester.
2. Jose Quintana, Milwaukee Brewers ($7,700)
The Milwaukee veteran is a high-floor, low-ceiling option, offering at least 13 FPTS on a fairly consistent basis while only reaching the 20-FPT threshold twice this season. Though hitters haven’t missed his pitches much — he has just a second-percentile whiff rate — that might actually be a blessing in disguise, given that he’s backed up by one of the league’s better defenses and can get through more innings. He’s helped to spare the Brewers’ bullpen, completing five innings in all but one of his starts, so as long as he doesn’t walk too many batters, he should record at least 15 outs (11.25 FPTS) tonight.
The Atlanta Braves have had a fairly cold offense, posting a below-average OPS after the All-Star break, and no longer have the services of the injured Ronald Acuña Jr. Several of the Braves’ most impactful hitters are slumping: Sean Murphy ($3,300) has averaged just 3.5 FPTS per game over his last 10 contests, Matt Olson ($5,500) has recorded 5.5, and Marcell Ozuna ($3,600) 7.0. In fact, the only player in Atlanta’s starting lineup today who’s averaged more than 10 FPTS per game in his last 10 games is Michael Harris II ($3,400), who’s been much worse at home than on the road and has hit just .229 against lefties.
3. George Kirby, Seattle Mariners ($9,900)
I probably should be done fading the Chicago White Sox’s offense, given that the team has posted the league’s third-highest OPS since the All-Star break and has gone 19-19 since June 20. Luis Robert Jr. ($4,300), the man widely expected to be traded at last Thursday’s trade deadline, is still on the roster and is in the form of his life, averaging 11.3 FPTS per game on a .351/.390/.514 slash line over his last 10 games, and Colson Montgomery ($4,000) and Lenyn Sosa ($3,100) have double-digit recent averages as well. Even soft-hitting Edgar Quero ($3,100) has gone deep twice since the All-Star break.
But good pitching can beat good hitting, and Kirby has outshined even his All-Star teammate Bryan Woo over his last two starts. Kirby has recorded 26 or more FPTS in each of his past two starts, combining for 12 innings of two-run ball, walking five and striking out 15, across that span. The hard-throwing right-hander has exceptional control, frequently induces chases, and has been somewhat better at pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park than on the road. In a relatively weak offering, it’s often prescient to go with the safest option.
