With just a few weeks remaining in the MLB season, a lot is still up for grabs. After beating the Seattle Mariners last night, the Tampa Bay Rays are trying to insert themselves into a five-team race to the third AL Wild Card spot. Seattle needs to bounce back tonight to hold onto pole position, and it has just the man on the mound for the job: Bryan Woo ($10,500).
Despite being the most expensive player on a somewhat limited slate, Woo makes the team as a safe option. Besides Woo, here’s one other pitcher, three infielders, and three outfielders I’m targeting from tonight’s nine-game featured DFS slate on DraftKings.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $200K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st]
PITCHER
Stud
Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, $10,500 – A few things are guaranteed about Woo: he’s going to continue to sling his four-seam fastball into the zone, he’s not going to walk any, and he’s going to finish the sixth inning. Thanks to every out counting for 0.75 FPTS, Woo’s sheer volume and impeccable control makes him a virtual fantasy guarantee, and I expect him to bounce back after a “down start” in which he managed 5.2 innings of six-hit, two-run (19.95-FPT) ball in a win over the San Diego Padres. Tampa Bay has struggled on offense lately, finishing with the ninth-worst OPS in August, and though it exploded for 10 runs last night, Luis Castillo is no Woo.
Value
Luis Severino, Athletics at St. Louis Cardinals, $6,200 – Severino, the Athletics’ record contract signing, has made his displeasure about playing in West Sacramento known, but he’s thrived on the road and been playing well lately. Away from hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park, Severino has pitched to a 3.31 ERA and averaged 14.3 FPTS per game, and he’s topped even that solid road figure in each of his last four starts, regardless of venue. He’s been on the injured list with an oblique strain and didn’t throw a minor-league rehab game, so he might be held under 90 pitches for just the second time this season, but that should be plenty enough pitches to shut down the Cardinals, who had the league’s second-worst OPS in August.
INFIELDER
Stud
Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Angels, $5,800 – September baseball can be weird, but Witt is a fairly safe play. Last season’s MVP runner-up and batting title winner has been as solid as ever in recent weeks, posting a .326/.356/.512 slash line over his last 10 games and averaging 10.4 FPTS per game across that span. He has a friendly matchup in rookie Mitch Farris ($5,500), who’s making his MLB debut, and while Farris has put together a solid 2.66 ERA across his last seven starts for the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas and recorded 13 strikeouts in his most recent start, the Royals aren’t the Columbus Clingstones. Witt will welcome him to the majors with a bang.
Stud
Jackson Holliday, Baltimore Orioles at San Diego Padres, $4,200 – In what has been a disappointing season for Baltimore as a whole, Holliday has made some strides. The 2022 first overall pick was awful as a rookie but has seen the ball a lot better this season, ranking as roughly a league-average hitter by expected slash line. Plus, he’s been hot as of late, recording double-digit fantasy points in three of his past four games thanks to a trio of runs. Yu Darvish ($6,700) has recorded 10 or fewer FPTS in six of his 10 starts this season, and while he’s shown flashes of his former greatness, he hasn’t demonstrated any consistency. Both Darvish and Holliday have extreme platoon splits.
Value
Kyle Higashioka, Texas Rangers at Arizona Diamondbacks, $3,600 – This is another case of trusting a small sample size, but the Rangers’ offense has finally started to turn itself around thanks in large part to Higashioka, who’s recorded double-digit fantasy points in four of his last five games. The 35-year-old hasn’t always been an everyday player, but he’s been assuming the DH role as of late even when Jonah Heim ($3,100) gets the start behind the dish. Nabil Crismatt ($6,000) is a converted reliever whose advanced numbers (a 3.54 FIP and 16.9% strikeout rate) indicate that he’s due for some regression from the 1.84 ERA he’s allowed in his 14.2 innings this season.
OUTFIELDER
Stud
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago White Sox, $6,000 – Buxton has capped off what has arguably been a career-best year offensively with a ridiculous five-game stretch in which he’s driven in a pair of runs in each contest and averaged 20.2 FPTS per game. At some point, he’ll stop performing at quite this level, but all the splits are in his favor: he’s averaged 11.1 FPTS per game at home and 9.6 on the road, and Davis Martin ($6,900) has an ERA 1.04 runs higher away from Rate Field. Martin has been laced all season, allowing just a 10th-percentile average exit velocity, and Buxton produces hard hits at elite rates.
Stud
Jordan Beck, Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants, $4,000 – I’d admittedly like to take a Giant to target Kyle Freeland ($5,000), but every San Francisco player has had their DFS salary boosted by roughly $1,000, and that just isn’t worth it. Most of the Rockies’ players have had their salary stay the same or even decrease despite Colorado recording the league’s eighth-best home OPS this season. Beck is averaging 8.4 FPTS per game at Coors Field and 5.8 FPTS per game everywhere else. Plus, Logan Webb ($9,000) has been 0.68 runs worse away from pitcher friendly Oracle Park and has a career 4.44 ERA in nine starts in the Mile High City.
Value
Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, $3,600 – Harris was one of baseball’s worst hitters through the All-Star break and has been one of its best ever since then, putting up a .210/.234/.317 slash line through July 13 (5.6 FPTS per game) and a .335/.354/.608 mark since then (10 FPTS per game). Neither version of Harris is sustainable, but he’s averaged 7.7 FPTS per game on the road and only 6.2 per game at home in 71 road starts and 65 home starts, which is a large enough sample size to be notable. Shota Imanaga ($9,500) isn’t an easy matchup, but he tends to throw four-seam fastballs, and Harris has posted a solid .531 xSLG against the pitch.
