This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Wednesday's LCS slate features one potential elimination game in the Rays-Astros battle, which sees Houston facing a particularly steep uphill battle against Tyler Glasnow. Meanwhile, the Dodgers are looking to avoid falling into a 3-0 hole of their own as they try to carry over some of the offensive momentum they were able to muster in the latter portion of Tuesday's Game 2.
Pitchers
Tyler Glasnow, TB vs. HOU ($8,800): Glasnow has a chance to put a nail in the Astros' coffin, and there's no pitcher on the Rays' staff with more overpowering stuff than the towering righty. Glasnow finished the regular season with a career-best 13.9 percent swinging strike rate and 38.4 percent strikeout rate while mustering a better FIP (3.65) than his respectable ERA (4.07). His biggest Achilles heel is the long ball (1.7 HR/9), but even while giving up a pair of homers each to the Blue Jays and Yankees in his first two playoff starts, Glasnow still racked up 18 strikeouts over 11 innings in that pair of outings before firing 2.1 scoreless frames in the ALDS clincher for the Rays on Friday against New York.
Julio Urias, LAD vs. ATL ($8,600): Urias has been named the Game 3 starter as the Dodgers continue to adjust to the late scratch of Clayton Kershaw in Game 2. The young lefty certainly carries some risk with a fearsome Atlanta lineup on tap, but Urias has traditionally been very good at limiting the long ball and posted a 0.8 HR/9 this regular season before pitching to an unblemished 0.00 ERA and an 11:1 K:BB over a pair of playoff appearances against the Brewers and Padres (eight total innings). Also helping brighten Urias' outlook is the fact that Ronald Acuna, Freddie Freeman, Travis d'Arnaud, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley all posted averages of .245 or worse against left-handed pitching this season.
Top Targets
Mookie Betts, LAD vs. ATL ($4,200): Betts eviscerated right-handed pitching all season to the tune of a .323/.385/.677 line, 18.2 wRAA and .438 wOBA across 182 plate appearances while only striking out 12.6 percent of the time. He was also having a red-hot postseason before going 1-for-7 over the first two games of this series, as evidenced by a 7-for-19 tally with five doubles and four RBI across five games versus the Brewers and Padres. Atlanta starer Kyle Wright was mostly effective against right-handed hitters, but Betts posted a .355/.412/.581 line and .423 wOBA against the sinker, Wright's most often-thrown pitch, during the regular season.
Corey Seager, LAD vs. ATL ($3,900): Seager is one of the most complete left-handed bats in the Dodgers' potent lineup, and that could spell trouble for Wright, who allowed a .393 wOBA, 2.0 HR/9 and elevated 28.1 percent line-drive rate in 87 PAs to left-handed hitters this season. Seager posted a .416 wOBA, .301 ISO and .998 OPS against right-handed pitching, along with an impressive 24.4 percent HR/FB rate (versus Wright's 21.1 percent HR/FB allowed to lefty bats) and 53.5 percent hard-contact rate.
Randy Arozarena, TB vs. HOU ($3,500): Arozarena hasn't quite duplicated the home-run heater he was on earlier in the postseason, but the right-handed slugger is still 6-for-16 with a double and a solo home run over the first three games versus Houston. He could be set up for more success Wednesday against Zack Greinke, who hasn't been himself all season. Greinke allowed a .354 wOBA and 1.4 HR/9 to right-handed hitters during the regular campaign, and he yielded four earned runs on five hits, including a pair of homers, to the Athletics in his most recent playoff start. Arozarena posted a .349 wOBA and .250 ISO versus right-handed pitching, and he owned a .375/.500/1.000 slash line and .590 wOBA against the four-seam fastball, Greinke's most frequently thrown pitch and one he allowed a .387 wOBA on this past regular season.
Bargain Bats
Manuel Margot, TB vs. HOU ($2,900): Margot is another right-handed Rays bat to attack Greinke with, as he arrives in Wednesday's matchup with a .438 average and a pair of homers in 17 career plate appearances against the veteran right-hander. Margot also posted a .284 average and .336 OBP in 119 plate appearances against right-handed pitching this season, already has a three-run homer in the series, and is an above-average contact hitter that struck out at a career-low 15.7 percent rate this season.
Aledmys Diaz, HOU vs. TB ($2,200): Diaz is going against my top pitching recommendation in Glasnow, but both his price and history versus the righty make him worthy of consideration, especially in larger-field tournaments. The veteran boasts a .300 average in 11 career plate appearances versus Glasnow, with all three of his hits against him having gone for extra bases (one double, one triple, one homer). What's more, Diaz is just the kind of hitter that can give Glasnow some trouble, as he historically been an excellent contact hitter (strikeout rates of 14.0 percent or lower in first four big-league seasons before 2020), has some decent power, and hits right-handed pitching (.365 wOBA this season) and Glasnow's trademark four-seam (.352 wOBA against pitch in career) well.
Stacks to Consider
Dodgers vs. Wright: Betts; Seager; Justin Turner ($3,000); Cody Bellinger ($4,000)
As detailed earlier, Wright has had trouble versus left-handed hitters in particular. However, he also allowed six homers and a 5.07 FIP to righty bats, which, when combined with the unusually low .212 BABIP he benefited from when facing that handedness, hints at some good fortune that could evaporate against a lineup as dangerous as the Dodgers.
Betts and Seager were already covered earlier and make for an excellent 1-2 punch to start your stack. Turner has been struggling thus far this postseason, but he posted a .340/.419/.495 line and .397 wOBA against right-handed pitching this season. He also happens to have an excellent track record against the sinker – Wright's most frequently thrown pitch – having recorded a .516 average and .575 wOBA versus the pitch this season, and a .330 average and .390 wOBA against it during his career. Finally, Bellinger, like Seager, is a high-upside lefty bat to roll out versus Wright, with the Dodgers slugger having smacked nine of his 12 homers this season off right-handed pitching on his way to a .360 wOBA and .252 ISO against that handedness.
