Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies became the first team to clinch their division, edging out the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-5, to secure their place in the bracket. The Milwaukee Brewers have also secured a playoff berth, but still need a few more wins to pip the Chicago Cubs to the NL Central title.
By the end of this week’s series, two more teams could be eliminated and three others can clinch playoff berths. Three of those teams will be part of tonight’s 11-game featured DFS slate at DraftKings. Here are my two favorite pitchers, three favorite infielders, and three favorite outfielders from tonight’s contest.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $175K Bat Flip [$75K to 1st]
PITCHER
Stud
Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals, $8,500 – Abbott is a major reason the Reds are still in a tightly-contested NL Wild Card race that still features four teams within two games of each other for the third and final playoff berth: Cincinnati has won 15 of his 26 starts, and he has a career-best 2.79 ERA. The 26-year-old has had a couple of rough outings recently but is coming off of an eight-inning, one-run (27.8-FPT) gem, and unlike several of the other high-priced pitchers on tonight’s slate, has actually averaged more FPTS per game on the road than at home. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have struggled on offense for several months, posting the league’s worst OPS since the All-Star break.
Value
Shane Smith, Chicago White Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles, $7,000 – The White Sox have long been eliminated from playoff contention and can knock Baltimore out with a win tonight. They look like a solid bet to pick up that win behind Smith, their All-Star representative this year, who’s posted a 2.84 ERA in his 44.1 innings since the start of August (17.4 FPTS per game). The 25-year-old has been lights-out at Rate Field all season, putting up a sub-3 ERA in his 13 starts (66.1 innings) at the venue, and Baltimore has been cold offensively, with the league’s fourth-most impotent offense through the first 13 games of September.
INFIELDER
Stud
Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies at Los Angeles Dodgers, $5,700 – Harper went deep in the eighth inning last night as part of a 23-FPT performance and has posted a 1.009 OPS (11.1 FPTS per game) over his last 10 contests. I don’t necessarily trust Harper to get his against Shohei Ohtani ($8,000), even if he’s posted a 140 sOPS+ against righties, given how good the two-way star has been. However, Ohtani is capped at five innings and has completed the fifth only once, leaving half the game to a poorly-rested Dodgers bullpen that has conceded a 4.60 ERA so far this month.
Stud
Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals vs. Seattle Mariners, $4,700 – Garcia has been good in the last week, putting up double-digit FPTS in three of his last five games and seven on Saturday. It’s been by far the finest season of the Venezuelan’s career, and his power especially has come around since the All-Star break. Though Logan Gilbert ($10,000) and the white-hot Mariners represent a difficult matchup on paper, the Seattle starter has posted an ugly 5.29 ERA in 10 starts away from pitcher-friendly T-Mobile park. Plus, Gilbert throws breaking pitches 42.7% of the time, and Garcia has slugged .543 against breaking balls this season.
Value
Ernie Clement, Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays, $3,200 – I chose Clement in this space last Friday, but until it stops working, I might as well stick with it. The 29-year-old has stepped fully into Bo Bichette ($4,400)‘s absence, posting 10, 16, and nine FPTS over his last three games to help the Blue Jays close in on their first division title since 2015. Rays starter Ryan Pepiot ($7,900) has been in incredible form, with three straight scoreless outings, but those starts came against the Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cleveland Guardians, who all have awful offenses. Clement hits lots of fly balls to left field, where Chandler Simpson ($4,500) has been one of the worst defenders at his position.
OUTFIELDER
Stud
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins, $6,500 – Judge appears to have passed Cal Raleigh ($6,200) again in the quest for AL MVP with five homers in his last seven games and an average of 13.4 FPTS per game in his last 10. Plus, he’s ben even better on the road than at Yankee Stadium, averaging 12.0 FPTS per contest on the road. He has a relatively favorable matchup in Twins starter Zebby Matthews ($7,700), who’s coming off of a 4.2-inning, seven-hit, five-run (5.1-FPT) effort the last time he took the mound. Matthews throws hard and generates plenty of whiffs, but I shouldn’t have to clarify why a hurler with a 32nd-percentile barrel rate could be in trouble against Judge.
Stud
Adolis García, Texas Rangers at Houston Astros, $4,200 – García has been hitless in the two contests since he returned from a quadriceps injury that he suffered on September 1, but prior to that, he had been on a roll, posting a 1.032 OPS and averaging 13.4 FPTS per game in his last nine games before the absence. Four of his six batted balls since his return have been hit over 90 miles per hour, so it’s not like he’s seeing the ball poorly. He should be able to bounce back against an Astros bullpen that has taken a step back since the All-Star break, putting up a 4.39 ERA in 205.0 innings.
Value
Joey Wiemer, Miami Marlins at Colorado Rockies, $3,500 – Normally, I don’t love picking against the Rockies at Coors Field because players’ DFS salaries tend to rise so much in the high-altitude environment, but Wiemer has averaged a solid 7.4 FPTS per game in his last 10 contests and has also been better on the road than at home. He also starts more frequently against lefty starters, thanks to his career .795 OPS against southpaws. Kyle Freeland ($5,300), like most Rockies pitchers, has been worse at home, pitching to a 5.82 ERA in 60.1 innings at Coors Field this season. He’s also allowed an OPS 135 points higher against righties.
