This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Happy holidays! Baseball graces us with 15 games starting at 1:05 EDT. So if you want to get away from your annoying relatives, you can! Let's take a look at some plays on DraftKings for today's slate.
PITCHERS
While it's grabbing the low-hanging fruit, it's tough to get away from Zack Wheeler ($10,200) despite his hefty salary cap hit. He gets the Marlins away and they were one of the worst hitting teams in baseball last season while scoring three or fewer runs in six of their first eight games. Coming off a career season, look for Wheeler to dominate here.
Michael Wacha ($6,200) wasn't especially great in his first start, but he wasn't terrible either. 12.8 fantasy points at this salary cap hit is a decent return and will allow for some prime bats in your lineup. The Twins have been hit or miss this season producing two runs or less in four of eight games.
TOP BATS
By using Wacha, you can add a top bat like Bryce Harper ($6,200). He reached base in all five of his plate appearances yesterday suggesting he's worth this cap hit. Elieser Hernandez ($8,400) is still learning the ropes of the big league and Harper has gone 4-for-10 against him with two homers.
Vladimir Guerrero ($5,700) has been an all-or-nothing fantasy player to start the season with games of 2, 19, 0, and 49 in his last four games. He actually attempted a stolen base (why not?) yesterday and boasts a plus-home matchup against Adam Oller ($6,800). I'm not sure why the A's are letting Oller toe the rubber again after giving up five earned runs in only 1.1 innings in his first outing, but who am I to question that?
TOP VALUES
Sticking with Toronto, Matt Chapman ($3,700) singled and homered yesterday en route to a 19-point fantasy performance. As previously noted, I'm not sold on Adam Oller and a Jays stack, while obvious, seems like an excellent choice on Sunday.
I swear I'll keep writing about Bobby Witt ($2,600) until he gets some respect from the fantasy community. He scored eight fantasy points on Saturday and has hit that mark in four of his last six games. Using my Euclid-like math skills, if Witt gets to eight fantasy points again today, Bryce Harper would need to score over 19 to match him dollar-for-dollar.
STACKS TO CONSIDER
Giants at Aaron Civale: Brandon Belt ($4,700), Brandon Crawford ($4,900), Joc Pederson ($3,300), Darin Ruf ($3,100)
Would it surprise you to know the Giants have won six of their first eight games? They've been stellar on offense out of the gate averaging 4.4 runs. Pederson and Ruf could have easily made the Top Values considering their salary cap hits while San Francisco's actually comes in as a road favorite. This is a stack that could be overlooked in DFS circles.
Yankees at Bruce Zimmermann: Josh Donaldson ($4,600), Joey Gallo ($4,000), Aaron Hicks ($3,100), Anthony Rizzo ($4,200)
Did you notice I left out players named Giancarlo Stanton ($4,500) and Aaron Judge ($5,500)? They're totally usable (obviously) in a stack, but the route here might be to avoid those obvious selections. Baltimore trotting out Zimmermann seems like sending the sheep to the slaughter, but that's what they're electing to do. Gallo will be an unpopular pick given his slow start and Donaldson should be in a groove after homering on Saturday.
