This is one of those nights where finding contrarian stacking options might not be the easiest task. We’ve got just a six-game featured slate this evening on DraftKings, yet despite the small size of the schedule, we also have at least five legitimate studs taking the mound. Is there anyone set to underwhelm in their final regular season outing of 2020? Or should you instead look to vary the offensive pieces you’re using to attack obvious spots?

Let’s break it all down.

Set your DraftKings lineups here: MLB $125K Relay Throw [$25K to 1st]

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

I’m not sure what sort of ancient magic Mike Fiers ($6,800) needed to survive his last outing in Colorado, but a little bit of luck won’t stop me from continuing to exploit a pitcher that’s clearly on the downslope of his career. The biggest concern with Fiers in 2020 has been his massive drop in velocity and that issue didn’t suddenly disappear at Coors. To wit, the right-hander mustered just a 86.5 mph average velocity on his fourseam fastball — the lowest mark the offering has sat at all season. Combine that with the fact that Fiers possesses the second-lowest swinging strike rate (6.2%) of the 72 pitchers to throw 50-plus innings this season and I’m just not sure how he survives a Dodgers’ lineup with the second-best wOBA in baseball (.347).

Players to Consider

Mookie Betts ($6,200)
Cody Bellinger ($5,800)
Corey Seager ($5,800)
Max Muncy ($5,400)
Will Smith ($5,000)

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2. Atlanta Braves

While Pablo Lopez ($7,200) has actually pieced together a pretty nice campaign for the Marlins, it can’t be overlooked that the last time he took the mound for against the Braves, his team surrendered 29 runs. Now, I think we can safely say that that’s not going to happen again on Thursday, but Atlanta does lead MLB in slugging (.493), wOBA (.359) and wRC+ (123) heading into tonight’s action. They can really, really hit. Strangely, Lopez has also been a completely different pitcher when forced to leave the comfy confines of Marlins Park in 2020. Though the right-hander has a beautiful 2.52 FIP in the 31.2 innings he’s thrown in Miami, that figure jumps to a 4.05 FIP on the road. Lopez also sports a 12.4% walk rate and a 1.65 WHIP within the split. We are dealing with small samples here; however, if Lopez struggles, a Marlins bullpen with a 6.13 ERA in September will be forced to stop the bleeding.

Players to Consider

Ronald Acuna Jr. ($6,100)
Freddie Freeman ($5,500)
Ozzie Albies ($5,500)
Marcell Ozuna ($5,000)
Travis d’Arnaud ($4,800)

3. Boston Red Sox

To be perfectly blunt, I just don’t have anything nice to say about Alex Cobb ($6,900). The veteran right-hander comes into this start allowing an average opponent exit velocity of 91.0 mph — the second-worst mark of any pitcher with at least 145 batted ball events to their name in 2020. Cobb’s .320 expected batting average is also the highest figure among the 82 pitchers to face at least 200 batters this season, while his 6.61 expected ERA is the third-highest output in that same group of players. He’s just been flat out bad and I’d anticipate a Red Sox lineup that’s slashed .285/.347/.457 across the past seven days will be able to do some serious damage against him.

Players to Consider

Rafael Devers ($5,500)
Xander Bogaerts ($5,300)
J.D. Martinez ($4,300)
Alex Verdugo ($4,000)
Bobby Dalbec ($3,800)

4. Detroit Tigers

To be fair to him, Kris Bubic ($6,600) has actually pitched quite well as of late, with the rookie maintaining a 1.99 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP and a .258 opponent wOBA across his past four starts. However, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s left-handed and that the Tigers have mashed southpaw pitching all season long. Detroit comes into Thursday’s slate leading the majors in batting average within the split (.318), while also sitting second in OPS (.880), wOBA (.376) and wRC+ (139). There’s definitely some risk in getting too much exposure to the Tigers’ attack — especially how effective the Royals’ bullpen has looked this month — but, with not a single Detroit player priced above $4K, the saving potential is pretty enticing.

Players to Consider

Willi Castro ($3,400)
Niko Goodrum ($3,300)
Victor Reyes ($3,200)
Jeimer Candelario ($3,200)
Miguel Cabrera ($2,800)

Set your DraftKings lineups here: MLB $125K Relay Throw [$25K to 1st]

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is theglt13) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.