This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
If you have the day off Monday, good for you. However, do you want to take the day off from DFS baseball as well? If you are reading this, probably not. The DFS docket contains six games, with the first starting at 6:40 p.m. ET. It seems a lot of baseball players are getting Monday night off as well. Here are my recommendations.
Pitching
Triston McKenzie, CLE at KC ($10,500): McKenzie didn't break out as I hoped this year, but he has a 3.18 ERA through 24 starts. Plus, since the start of July he has a 2.24 ERA. Kansas City, meanwhile, is 24th in runs scored.
Blake Snell, SD vs. ARI ($10,300): This is the worst day for pitchers I can recall this season. However, Snell does have a 2.30 ERA over his last eight starts. He's also a southpaw, and the Diamondbacks' lineup is usually loaded down with lefties.
Jose Suarez, LAA vs. DET ($8,000): With a dearth of quality options, I turn to a matchup. The Tigers are last in runs scored and team OPS. They have a .336 slugging percentage as a team, which wouldn't win a batting title in some seasons. Suarez has been mediocre, but the Tigers have been terrible. Give me the Angels hurler at home.
Top Targets
To think, Mike Trout ($4,100) has 29 home runs even though he's missed a chunk of time. He also has an OPS over 1.000 both at home and versus lefties. Well he's at home Monday, and lefty Tyler Alexander has a 4.76 ERA.
Since 2020, Jose Abreu ($3,600) has a .937 OPS versus lefties. Additionally, this year he's struggled at home, but on the road he has a .935 OPS. Meanwhile, the lefty Marco Gonzales has a 3.99 ERA but a 4.93 FIP.
Bargain Bats
I may like Snell on the mound, but I also like Ketel Marte ($2,800) at this salary. He's a switch hitter, but he greatly prefers a lefty. Since 2020 he has an 1.020 OPS against southpaws. Hey, sometimes a pitcher and a hitter facing one another can both have nice days for fantasy purposes.
The breakout campaign being enjoyed by Andres Gimenez ($2,700) has seen him slash .299/.367/.480 with 15 homers and 16 stolen bases. He also has an .853 OPS versus righties and an .860 OPS on the road. Brady Singer is a righty, and he has a 3.62 FIP, which is actually the best of his career.
Stacks to Consider
Padres vs. Diamondbacks (Ryne Nelson): Manny Machado ($4,500), Juan Soto ($3,900), Jurickson Profar ($2,400)
Nelson is making his MLB debut, and he's on the road against the Padres. Sure, Petco Park is often friendly to pitchers, but this lineup is not. Nelson also doesn't come with the best track record. He had a 5.43 ERA at Triple-A this year. Yes, he pitches in Reno and spent a ton of time in hitter-friendly environments. Still, there is no reason to be encouraged about Nelson.
Machado has an 1.058 OPS over the last three weeks. He also has a .928 OPS at home since 2020. What pitcher-friendly ballpark? Soto has a .411 OBP this year. The former National also has an 1.035 OPS against righties since 2020. The switch-hitting Profar often leads up, and he has a .745 OPS versus righties and a .766 OPS at home. He also has a .750 OPS over the last 14 days.
Rangers at Astros (Hunter Brown): Adolis Garcia ($4,000), Nathaniel Lowe ($3,800), Marcus Semien ($3,600)
Hey, it's another pitcher making his MLB debut! Brown will be at home, and he had a 2.55 ERA in Triple-A, though some of that was in relief. Given the circumstances, I'm down to stack three Rangers versus an MLB debutante.
Garcia doesn't need to get on base a ton to make a splash. He has a sub-.300 OBP but has hit .251 with 22 home runs and 22 stolen bases. The guy likes to play a game rich in incident. Lowe is on fire, posting an 1.266 OPS over the last three weeks. He also has a .931 OPS on the road this year. Semien is right behind Garcia with 21 homers and 21 swiped bags. He also has something in common with Lowe, as he has an .849 OPS on the road.
Mariners vs. White Sox (Lance Lynn): Eugenio Suarez ($3,800), Julio Rodriguez ($3,700), Mitch Haniger ($3,100)
It's been a tough campaign for Lynn, who has a 4.70 ERA, including a 5.59 ERA on the road. He's allowed 1.71 home runs per nine innings, and even across his last three starts wherein he's only allowed one run each time, every run has come off a homer. With the 35-year-old in Seattle, I like these three Mariners.
Suarez is here for his homer potential. He's hit 25 home runs this year, and also over the last three weeks he has a .959 OPS. Rodriguez is coming off a huge Sunday that helped bolster his Rookie of the Year campaign, He now has 23 homers and 24 stolen bases. Haniger has only played in 35 games, but has seven homers. Also, in that smallish sample size he has an .810 OPS against righties and a .903 OPS at home.
