This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Wednesday's baseball action is stretched out over the course of the day. That leaves us with eight MLB games in the evening, with a first pitch of 7:05 p.m. EDT. Teams have played a bit over 70 games at this point, so we have seen a lot of MLB action, which has paved the way for these DFS recommendations. Let's set some good lineups for Wednesday!
Pitching
Cole Ragans, KC at OAK ($10,600): It's remarkable how much Ragans has turned things around after being dealt from the Rangers to the Royals. He's turned into a frontline starter, having posted a 2.63 FIP through 15 starts in 2024. The Athletics are 28th in runs scored, and have a sub-.300 OBP, making this a fine chance for Ragans to continue his glow up.
Garrett Crochet, CWS vs. HOU ($10,500): If you haven't paid much, or any, attention to the woeful White Sox, I get it. You know enough to know the team is bad, especially offensively. However, consider this a PSA: Crochet is one of the best pitchers in MLB in his first year as a starter. Led by his fantastic fastball, Crochet has a 2.71 FIP and a staggering 6.11 K/BB rate. By the way, over his last nine starts he has an 1.36 ERA and 12.9 K/9 rate.
Top Targets
Oakland's ballpark is spacious, and Bobby Witt ($4,100) has seven triples and 21 stolen bases in 74 games. What I'm saying is that his speed is pretty perfect for a park like this. Luis Medina has a career 5.47 ERA, and in three starts this season he's allowed righties to hit .303 against him. Witt should have a good chance to rack up a couple extra-base hits and/or a stolen base or two.
Having hit over 40 home runs in each of the past two seasons, Pete Alonso ($3,300) has 15 home runs this season. Since 2022, he's slugged .519 on the road as well, compared to a .484 slugging percentage at home. Lefty Andrew Heaney has allowed 1.57 home runs per nine innings in his career, and this season he has a 5.08 ERA at home.
Bargain Bats
In his rookie campaign, Brenton Doyle ($3,300) tallied 10 homers, five triples, and 22 stolen bases. This year through 69 games he has six home runs, but he's also 18 swiped bags. Last season Doyle didn't take much advantage of Coors Field, but he has an .890 OPS at home in 2024. Bobby Miller, owner of arguably the fastest fastball among starters, will be making his first start since April, when he suffered a shoulder injury. Will he be good to go? In case he has any issues in his first MLB start in months, I'd like to have a Colorado hitter in the mix.
His batting average will never be remarkable, and he's always a threat to finish with a sub-.300 OBP, but Daulton Varsho ($3,000) brings the counting stats. He has 11 homers, eight stolen bases, and three triples for the Blue Jays. Varsho also has an .805 OPS at home. Brayan Bello has a career 4.51 ERA and a real issue with lefties. Southpaws have batted .300 against Bello, and Varsho is one of only a couple lefty options for Toronto.
Stacks to Consider
Dodgers at Rockies (Ryan Feltner): Freddie Freeman ($4,200), Will Smith ($4,000), Jason Heyward ($3,200)
Even by the standards of Rockies pitchers, Feltner has issues at Coors Field. He has a 6.70 ERA at home in his career. Lefties and righties have hit Feltner well, and evenly, but this season southpaws have batted .316 against Feltner, so I have two of them in this stack.
Usually, Freeman is great against righties and good-to-great against his fellow lefties. This year, to the extent his numbers are down, it's all about his matchups with southpaws. Against righties, like Feltner, Freeman has an 1.043 OPS. You don't need a catcher in your FanDuel lineups, but Smith is still worth rostering. He's slashed .277/.343/.479 with 10 home runs. Additionally, he has a .938 OPS on the road. Heyward is not known for his hitting, but he has a .996 OPS over the last three weeks. The southpaw has a .941 OPS on the road, and even last season he had an .831 OPS in away games.
Yankees vs. Orioles (Cade Povich): Aaron Judge ($4,800), Anthony Volpe ($3,000), Gleyber Torres ($2,800)
A lot has gone right for the Orioles this season, but issues with injuries have hampered their starting rotation. Povich is filling a spot in said rotation for now. He earned a chance, as he had a 3.18 ERA in Triple-A, a major improvement on his 5.36 ERA at that level in 2023. Povich, a lefty, has made two MLB starts. One went well! In the other, he allowed six runs in 5.1 innings to the Blue Jays. That was a road start, as is this. As such, I'll grab three Yankees for Wednesday. All eyes will be on Gerrit Cole making his season debut for the Bronx Bombers, but the other side of the matchup is worth a stack.
For the third season in a row, Judge will probably finish with an OPS over 1.000. He's also slugged a staggering .802 at home this year. His homers are down, but shortstop Volpe is still dynamic as a hitter. He has six homers to go with 15 stolen bases, but he also has a whopping seven triples. Torres is kind of struggling, but he has six home runs and four swiped bags. Since 2022, he has a .770 OPS at home, including slugging .451.
