This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Sunday marks the halfway point of September, which means we are oh-so-close to the playoffs beginning. We have nine games on the main slate docket for MLB DFS purposes. The first pitch is at 1:05 p.m. ET. Here are my recommendations for your DFS lineups.
Pitching
MacKenzie Gore, WAS vs. MIA ($8,900): While Gore has a 4.34 ERA, he has a 3.66 FIP through 29 starts. The lefty walks a few too many batters, but he's struck out 9.65 batters per nine innings and only allowed 0.86 homers per nine. The Marlins are 29th in runs scored and team OPS, and a few of their best bats from the beginning of the season are now playing elsewhere.
Rhett Lowder, CIN at MIN ($8,300): Lowder is intriguing. The 22-year-old started the season at High-A. He spent most of the season at Double-A, where he had a 3.10 FIP in 16 starts. After one start at Triple-A (six innings of shutout ball), the Reds called him up. Lowder has made three starts and has a 0.59 ERA. Now, the Twins are just outside the top 10 in runs scored, but the young Reds hurler seems talented, and with David Festa starting for the Twins, I think Lowder can pick up the win.
JP Sears, OAK at CWS ($8,000): Over his last eight starts, Sears has a 2.81 ERA. That's encouraging in and of itself, but let's be honest, this is all about the matchup. It doesn't seem like the White Sox will get to 500 runs this season. They have a .615 OPS. This is an all-time bad offense.
Top Targets
Once again, Juan Soto ($4,500), will have an on-base percentage (OBP) over .400. While he's better than almost every lefty against southpaw pitchers, he has a 1.004 OPS versus righties. Over his last 10 starts, Kutter Crawford has a 6.41 ERA, largely due to a 2.9 HR/9 rate. While lefties have only hit .202 against Crawford, 20 of the 31 homers he's allowed have been hit by said lefties.
Josh Naylor ($3,600) already has his first season with 100 RBI. He is also just one home run away from his first 30-homer season. Being at home could help him get there, given that the southpaw has slugged .544 in Cleveland. Taj Bradley has allowed 1.61 homers per nine innings. He has given up two home runs in five of his last eight starts.
Bargain Bat
Interestingly, James Wood ($3,200) has a .364 OBP. That shows a lot of patience for a 21-year-old rookie, particularly a rookie caught stealing seven times in 64 games. He does have 12 steals to go with three triples, though, and a .811 OPS against righties. Adam Oller is right-handed. He has a 6.71 ERA, a 1.24 K/BB rate and a 1.94 HR/9 rate in his career.
Stacks to Consider
Blue Jays vs. Cardinals (Miles Mikolas): Vladimir Guerrero ($3,600), Spencer Horwitz ($3,100), George Springer ($3,000)
As per usual, Mikolas has barely walked any batters (1.39 BB/9). Also, as per usual, he's not striking anybody out (6.39 K/9). What's different is his 1.33 HR/9 rate, which would be a career-high. Thus, he has a 5.55 ERA through 29 starts. Lefties have hit .286 against him, but righties have hit .291, so I have two righties in this stack.
Guerrero's launch angle has dipped, but in turn, 42.7 percent of his hits have qualified as "hard," and 10.6 percent of his plate appearances have yielded a barrel. He may never hit 40 home runs again, but he is hitting .320 with 41 doubles, which is ideal for facing a guy like Mikolas. Horwitz will need to learn to hit lefties someday, but his .911 OPS against righties will work for now. Plus, he has a 1.058 OPS over the last three weeks. It's been kind of a down season for Springer, but he has 19 homers to go with his 15 stolen bases. He does have a .710 OPS against his fellow righties, which is better than what he has done against lefties.
Cubs at Rockies (Cal Quantrill) Seiya Suzuki ($3,800), Cody Bellinger ($3,700), Michael Busch ($3,300)
In his first season with the Rockies, Quantrill has allowed 1.30 home runs per nine innings. That's not high, all in all, but over the prior three seasons, he only gave up 0.99 homers per nine. Quantrill has a 5.03 FIP and a 1.81 K/BB rate. Righties have hit .269 against him and lefties have hit .262, so you can mix and match this stack.
Suzuki has a .949 OPS over the last three weeks. He's also slugged .501 against his fellow righties and .542 on the road. Bellinger's 18 homers, 23 doubles and nine stolen bases in 118 games is a step down from last season, but it's good for a shortstop. He has a .796 OPS over the last three weeks, a .786 OPS against righties and a .799 OPS on the road. Again, good for his position, which matters for DFS. Busch's power will suffice at Coors. He's hit 18 home runs and 27 doubles in 139 games in his first season with Chicago. While he's struggled a bit at home, he's slugged .470 on the road.
Reds at Twins (David Festa): Elly De La Cruz ($4,100), TJ Friedl ($3,300), Spencer Steer ($3,300)
As the Twins try to ensure themselves that final Wild Card spot, Festa's role in the rotation has not helped. Through 11 appearances (10 starts) he has a 5.08 ERA and a mere 35.8-percent groundball rate. That's a lot of balls in the air. It is notable he has a 0.7 HR/9 rate in away games and a 2.4 HR/9 rate at home, which is where this game is. Since neither righties nor lefties have hit him with a particularly eye-popping average, I have a mixed selection here.
The dream of 80 stolen bases is out the window (being caught 15 times hasn't helped), but De La Cruz still has 64 swiped bags to go with 24 homers. He has a .530 slugging percentage against righties, but also a .500 slugging percentage on the road. My outfielder choice came down to Friedl and Jake Fraley, two southpaws. Fraley has been much better at home than on the road, so Friedl's .729 OPS away from home bests Fraley's .626 OPS. While Cincinnati's centerfielder has only 13 homers and nine stolen bases, that's in only 74 games. On the one hand, Spencer Steer has been cold recently. On the other hand, he has 19 homers, 33 doubles and 25 stolen bases. The righty has a .746 OPS against his fellow right-handers and a .762 OPS on the road. Festa has a 6.15 ERA and 2.4 HR/9 rate at home.
