This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Now that the Olympics are over and college football hasn't started yet, it's all about MLB. Tuesday brings us nine games on the main DFS slate, with the first pitch at 7:10 p.m. ET. You have some options to go through. Here are my recommendations to help you on that front.
Pitching
Kevin Gausman, TOR at LAA ($9,000): It's been a tough campaign for Gausman, but once you get him away from poutine and Tim Horton's, it's a different story. At home, Gausman has a 5.91 ERA, but on the road, his ERA is down to 2.74. There are three teams locked into finishing in the bottom five in terms of runs scored. Then, there are four teams trying to avoid finishing in the bottom five, and the Angels are one of that quartet.
Nestor Cortes, NYY at CWS ($8,400): There is a gamble in going with Cortes. He's the inverse of Gausman, as since 2022 he has a 2.85 ERA at home, but a 4.63 ERA on the road. However, it's hard to avoid the enticement of a matchup with the White Sox. Chicago has a .617 OPS as a team and has a chance to set records for offensive futility and losses in an MLB season. If Cortes can't handle this matchup, that's a real concern.
Paul Blackburn, NYM vs. OAK ($7,500): Since joining the Mets, Blackburn has posted a 1.50 ERA over two starts. They were both road starts. Now Blackburn gets to pitch at Citi Field as a Met for the first time. However, there will be a familiar sight for him. Blackburn spent half a decade pitching for the Athletics. Will he be hyped to face his former team? Well, the Athletics are, like the Angels, fighting to avoid finishing in the bottom five in runs scored.
Top Targets
After hitting 40 homers and tallying 100 RBI last season, Marcell Ozuna ($6,000) already has 35 of the former and 90 of the latter this year, and he's hitting .302 as well. While he can hit his fellow righties with aplomb, he has a 1.000 OPS against lefties. While Kyle Harrison allows much fewer home runs at home (which he can thank San Francisco's ballpark for), he is a lefty and has a 4.22 FIP this season.
Fenway Park is often kind to Boston's lefty hitters, but visitors like Corey Seager ($5,400) can reap those benefits as well. He often benefits from facing righties, who he has a .946 OPS against this year. Suddenly, Kutter Crawford has become extremely homer-prone. Over his last 10 starts, he's allowed 21 homers.
Bargain Bats
The Diamondbacks have been one of the hottest teams in baseball, and Eugenio Suarez ($3,800) has a 1.017 OPS over the last three weeks. He's struggled on the road this season, but on the year he has a .807 OPS at home. Austin Gomber has a 4.42 ERA at home, which is not surprising at Coors Field, but he has a 5.37 ERA on the road.
Though Jeff McNeil ($3,400) has struggled at home, he has a .976 OPS over the last three weeks, and for a second baseman that stands out. Ross Stripling has struck out a paltry 4.98 batters per nine innings and he has been tuned up by lefties with gusto. Southpaws have batted .335 against him.
Stacks to Consider
Red Sox vs. Rangers (Jose Urena): Rafael Devers ($5,900), Wilyer Abreu ($4,300), Connor Wong ($3,900)
For the fifth season in a row, Urena is going to finish with fewer than six strikeouts per nine innings and a K/BB rate below 2.00. That's bad. It's also a big reason why he has a career 4.80 FIP. Since 2022 he has let lefties hit .293 against him, so I have two southpaws in this stack. However, this year righties have hit .271 against Urena, so I have one righty from Boston in Wong.
Devers has an OPS of over 1.000 against righties and an OPS of over 1.000 at home. That's fairly tidy in terms of why I'm recommending him, right? Abreu is coming off a tough week, but he still has a 1.019 OPS over the last 21 days. He can't hit his fellow lefties at all, but in his career, he has a .896 OPS versus right-handed pitchers. Wong is a righty and also a catcher. I think he's an excellent option for the catcher spot, a requirement on DraftKings. I mean, a catcher who is batting .292? He's also slugged .431 at Fenway in his career, which is impressive for his position.
San Francisco vs. Atlanta (Charlie Morton): Matt Chapman ($5,000), Tyler Fitzgerald ($4,800), Jerar Encarnacion ($3,300)
Morton is 40. He's pitched over 100 innings this season. In a way, that is quite impressive. It also doesn't speak to performance at all, and it would appear it is time for Morton to finally hang up the cleats. His 4.75 FIP is his highest since 2010, and his K/9 rate is his lowest since 2015. On the road, he has a 5.14 ERA this season. While Morton is still capable of handling lefties, even though he is right-handed, for the second season in a row righties are hitting him well. In 2024, right-handers have averaged .278 against the veteran.
In his first season as a Giant, Chapman has 19 homers and a personal high of 12 stolen bases. He's been in fine form as well, notching a 1.087 OPS over the last three weeks. I've been waiting to see if Fitzgerald would fall back to Earth. Honestly, I was kind of expecting it. However, he has a 1.109 OPS over the last three weeks, so the slowdown has yet to arrive. Thus, he stands here with a .308 average, 12 homers and 12 stolen bases through 58 games. The Giants called Encarnacion up at the start of August and he emerged as the top choice at DH. He had a 1.054 OPS at Triple-A and he's slashed .265/.324/.441 to start his MLB career.
