This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
We have ourselves an intriguing night of MLB baseball Wednesday. There are eight games on the slate starting at 7:05 p.m. ET or later. We have some great pitchers, some potent offenses, some poor offenses, it really runs the gamut. Looking into the matchups, here are my DFS recommendations.
Pitching
Marcus Stroman, CHC at WAS ($9,100): Every opponent other than the Dodgers has been kept in check by Stroman. His strikeouts are up, his homers are down, and he's been racking up the quality starts. The Nationals are down in the bottom five in runs scored, and they certainly don't pose the threat the Dodgers do.
George Kirby, SEA at OAK ($8,500): The Mariners have been a disappointment, but not Kirby. He had a 2.98 FIP as a rookie, and he has a 2.64 FIP through five starts in 2023. Oakland has a pitcher-friendly ballpark (for as long as it remains in the city) and an offense that lacks punch. When all is said and done, the Athletics should be a bottom-five offense once again.
Kyle Gibson, BAL at KC ($8,100): Gibson has had strong starts against the Athletics and the Tigers this season. Now, those are both bad offensive teams, but guess what? So are the Royals! Kansas City is 29th in runs scored, only above Detroit, but last in team OBP.
Top Targets
There are two bats I trust in the Angels' lineup right now, and with Shohei Ohtani pitching Wednesday, I am going with Mike Trout ($6,300) here. The future Hall of Famer hasn't lost a step, and since 2021 he has an 1.029 OPS against righties. Miles Mikolas has a 5.97 ERA because he is getting absolutely lit up this season. Both lefties and righties are hitting over .300 against him, and Mikolas also has a line-drive percentage of 31.2.
Willy Adames ($6,100) has hit at least 20 home runs in every season where he's played over 90 games, including 31 last year. Now he's at Coors Field for a few days. Kyle Freeland, unsurprisingly, has struggled at home, as he has a 5.46 ERA in home games since 2021. In that time, righties have also hit .274 against the southpaw.
Bargain Bats
A catcher with power goes a long way, and that's what Cal Raleigh ($4,200) provides. He posted a sub-.300 OBP in 2023, but slugged .489 with 27 homers. This year he has five homers with a .488 slugging percentage. Now, Oakland is not an easy park to hit homers in, but that hasn't deterred JP Sears from trying. He allowed 1.31 homers per nine innings after being dealt to the A's last year, and he has given up 2.42 home runs per nine this season.
Few lefties struggle as much against his fellow southpaws as Josh Naylor ($3,900), but since 2021 he has an .825 OPS against righties. Clarke Schmidt, meanwhile, is not cut out to be a starter. He has a 6.84 ERA and, no joke, lefties have hit .396 against him. Yes, it's only 58 batters, but that's incredible.
Stacks to Consider
Blue Jays at Red Sox (Nick Pivetta): Bo Bichette ($6,000), Daulton Varsho ($4,700), Whit Merrifield ($3,900)
When I see a guy with 141 career MLB starts and a career 5.02 ERA, I have to wonder why he is still getting trotted out there. It's not like anything has changed for Pivetta. He has a 5.11 ERA through five starts in 2023. Pivetta is a warm body in a rotation, and the Blue Jays can tee off on him.
Last year, I was heavy into "Keep the faith in Bo Bichette" as he started slowly, but I have not had to do that this season. He's slashed .339/.382/.543 with seven home runs. It seems like he's not into stealing bases anymore, but if Bichette hits like this, who cares? Eventually Trout stopped stealing bases too. Varsho is really struggling in his first season as a Blue Jay, but don't forget that he had 27 homers and 16 stolen bases last year. Maybe the lefty just needs to see a right hander he can handle, and last year Varsho had an .801 OPS versus righties. I was going to go with George Springer to finish out my stack, but he has been dealing with an illness so I'll give him some space to recover. Instead, I'll go with Merrifield, who has hit .301 and stolen four bases. He's twice stolen 40 bases in a season, and it tends to be easier to steal against a righty.
Rockies vs. Brewers (Eric Lauer): Kris Bryant ($5,900), C.J. Cron ($5,100), Randal Grichuk ($3,900)
Lauer is in line to start after tearing his fingernail in his last outing. His reward? A trip to Coors Field. Then again, it's not like Lauer has been rewarding the Brewers this season. He has a 5.77 FIP and has allowed 2.08 homers per nine innings. I am stacking three righties against the lefty in the Mile High City.
Bryant has been able to stay healthy this year and has slashed .301/.374/.427. The one-time MVP has not really had a chance to take advantage of Coors much yet, but since 2021 he has a .925 OPS versus southpaws. Since joining the Rockies, Cron has slugged .494 and has hit 63 home runs. In that time, he also has a .988 OPS at home as well. Grichuk just got healthy, but his first season with the Rockies indicates this matchup is right up his alley. Last year he had an .851 OPS at home, and also a .926 OPS against southpaws.
