This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
We have an 11-game slate featured on DraftKings for Saturday that begins at 7 p.m. EDT with the Tigers facing the Royals and the Astros taking on the Rangers. This is the final weekend of the regular season with most of the playoffs already decided, yet a few teams are fighting for a spot. From a pitching standpoint, it feels fairly wide open with nobody over 10k. But as always, I'll try to identify a couple options to jumpstart your lineup building process as well a few bats and team stacks that appear favorable today.
Pitching
Luis Castillo, CIN at MIN ($9,800): Castillo comes in as the most expensive pitcher on the slate, as he's dominated his last three starts with over 30 fantasy points in each. He gets a tough matchup against the Twins, but should find some strikeouts in this order with Minnesota registering 14 on Friday and 10.33 over their last three. The Reds have clinched a playoff berth but are still battling for the division, so we should expect Castillo to get a full workload. He's been equally as good to both sides of the plate, but slightly better against righties holding them to a .230 batting average on the season with no homers allowed.
Aaron Civale, CLE vs. PIT ($8,500): This season has been somewhat of a mixed bag for Civale. He's shown flashes of brilliance at times, but has also seen his share of struggles in various matchups. Civale gets the Pirates today, a team he recorded his best outing of the season against with a 33.8 fantasy point performance. The Indians are still trying to win the division and sit one game behind the Twins in the AL Central. This should be a favorable spot for him again as the Pirates sit in the bottom of just about every statistical category, most notably their league low 3.53 runs per game for the season. Civale has experienced more difficulties with righties this year, but has held lefties to a .214 batting average and could see four or five in the Pirates' batting order this evening.
Top Targets
Mookie Betts, LAD vs LAA ($6,000): The most expensive bat on the slate faces off against Dylan Bundy and the Angels Saturday night. While it hasn't been his best season to date, Betts has still been tremendous during this shortened campaign with a .925 OPS. He takes on Bundy, against whom he's faced 36 times over his career and has produced nine hits, four home runs and eight RBI. As the leadoff, Betts always offers the ability to steal a base if he can get on with 10 on the season. And with the potent Dodgers' offense, he will always have the opportunity to score and knock in runs on any given day.
Christian Yelich, MIL at STL ($4,300): I haven't featured or played Yelich much this season, but my hand may be forces at this ridiculously low valuation. Not that it would take much, as we're still talking about a former National League MVP. While Yelich has struggled this year, he still holds a .231 ISO and .352 wOBA with a 42.3 percent hard hit rate. Bottom line, he offers tremendous upside in relation to his salary and should make for a nice one-off piece to fit into your lineup.
Key Values
Michael Brantley, HOU at TEX ($4,000): Brantley doesn't exactly qualify as a value play at this salary point, but the matchup against Kyle Gibson should make him worth the price of admission. The Astros in general have been turning it on lately by averaging six runs over their last three contests. Brantley earns the platoon advantage here and has produced multiple extra base hits versus Gibson over 26 at-bats. He's also walked five times with zero strikeouts and should find himself with runners on base to knock in thanks to Gibson and his 5.37 ERA.
Luis Robert, CWS vs. CHC ($3,600): After a hot start to the season, Robert has struggled recently and that's seen his salary tumble below the 4k mark. He still carries a solid .211 ISO on the season, but his strikeout rate has climbed to 32.9 percent. Robert offers upside with his base steal ability at this valuation, as he's registered eight for the year and can still crush the ball with 11 homers and 30 RBI.
Stacks to Consider
Royals vs. Matthew Boyd: Whit Merrifield ($5,200), Salvador Perez ($5,200), Hunter Dozier ($4,100)
The Royals take on Boyd, a pitcher they've seen many times and have managed varying success with Merrifield leading the bunch compiling 20 hits and eight RBI in 39 at-bats. Dozier has been equally as effective against Boyd with two home runs to his credit and a .588 lifetime batting average. Perez rounds out the stack and has been on fire recently by clubbing three homers in as many games with a blistering 1.028 OPS and .350 batting average on the season. He also fills a catcher spot, which is always an appealing piece to any stack.
