Fantasy Baseball Picks: Top DraftKings MLB DFS Lineup Strategy for Astros vs. Padres Showdown on September 3

Our late DraftKings Showdown matchup on Friday sees an intriguing interleague matchup between two playoff hopefuls in the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres, a team no stranger to this late slate. With two returning starters taking the hill, do we fade both of them? Is a stack in play? We will answer all those questions.

Let’s get into it.

Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $20K Extra Inning [$5K to 1st] (HOU vs SD)

Houston Astros vs. San Diego Padres

Captain’s Picks

Jose Urquidy ($15,900 CP) - Urquidy hasn’t pitched since June, which makes him a risky play here. With that said, I can’t imagine he will be that popular for that very reason. He did go three scoreless innings in his Double-A outing and four in Triple-A, yielding just a run, so there’s certainly reason to believe he could go five and earn the win. He also has the added benefit of facing the team with the lowest wRC+ over the last two weeks, which has hit just nine homers in that time. He was cruising before the injury, and should get back to it.

Michael Brantley ($10,500 CP) - This should be the perfect time to roster Brantley. He’s facing a pitcher in Jake Arrieta ($9,800) who has given up hard-hit balls at better than 44% this year, and he enters as one of the best contact hitters in all of baseball. This means when he does get the ball in play, chances are it’s going to be hit hard. He’s also 4-for-8 off of Arrieta for his career, which doesn’t hurt.

UTIL Plays

Jurickson Profar ($4,000) - As one of the few Padres who has homered in the last two weeks, Profar owns a .286 batting average over that span and comes into this one with a good amount of momentum. On top of that, he ranks second on the team with over five runs created per 100 fastballs and first against the slider at 4.33 runs. Those just so happen to be the two main pitches Urquidy throws, totaling 75% of all those he’s dealt.

Martin Maldonado ($5,000) - This is a pure gut play based on speculation, but Maldonado could be a guy to go after in GPPs. We know Arrieta loves to allow hard-hit balls and home runs, and Maldonado is essentially just a home run lottery ticket which won’t cost you much at all. He does have a hit in two of his last three games and should carry some decent upside as part of a lineup which should torch Arrieta.

Fades

Tommy Pham ($7,200) - Pham had a nice couple of weeks this year, but on the whole he hasn’t been great. He is simply not a strong hitter for average anymore, carrying a .235 mark into this game, and he is also sporting just a .738 OPS against righties. I’m not even sure he’ll get the starting nod in this game, but if he does this is far too expensive.

The Outcome

With Urquidy returning to the hill, the Astros should finally right the ship after losing a couple of games in a row and going scoreless in 19 straight innings. Jake Arrieta will help cure what ills Houston, providing plenty of fastballs over the heart of the plate to be taken out of Petco Park. Houston rolls.

Final Score: Astros 7, Padres 2

Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $20K Extra Inning [$5K to 1st] (HOU vs SD)

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