This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
If you are the leave-it-to-the-last-minute sort, fair warning for Monday. The DFS slate starts at 6:40 p.m. ET, giving you a little less time than you may be accustomed to on a weekday. With seven games on the docket, here are my DFS lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Braxton Garrett, MIA vs. KC ($9,000): Garrett had a truly disastrous day against Atlanta to start May. How bad? He went from having a 2.45 ERA to having a 5.81 ERA. Since then, though, he's pared his ERA back down to 4.22, with a 3.99 FIP for good measure. Kansas City's offense is not on Atlanta's level, as it is just trying to keep its team OBP above .300, and it is down in the bottom five in runs scored.
Johan Oviedo, PIT vs. OAK ($8,400): Sure, Oviedo has a 4.50 ERA, which is mediocre. His 4.13 FIP is better, though that is also in the range of mediocrity. The thing is, Oakland is so far below the concept of mediocrity offensively, that's plenty. All in all, the Athletics are the worst team in MLB, and to me that is by a comfortable margin. That begins with the worst offense, which is last in runs scored and team OPS.
Top Targets
If I felt fully confident that Alek Manoah is going to remain this kind of pitcher for Toronto, I'd stack Astros. Since his terrible season defies his track record, though, I am going to go with Yordan Alvarez ($4,300) to have an elite bat at my disposal. As in, a lefty with a career .294/.385/.588 slash line levels of elite. As for the aforementioned Manoah, his 5.45 ERA is actually better than his 6.26 FIP, and in addition to walking a ton of batters, he's allowed 1.56 home runs per nine innings.
Though hitting against righties is far from a chore for Paul Goldschmidt ($3,900), he still has been decidedly better against lefties in recent years. Since 2021 he has an 1.128 OPS versus southpaws. The lefty Martin Perez has a 5.00 FIP, and he's struck out only 6.49 batters per nine innings. A left-handed pitcher who allows a lot of contact? Yeah, that's right up Goldschmidt's alley.
Bargain Bats
It's been a redemptive second campaign with the Phillies for Nick Castellanos ($3,300), who has slashed .316/.360/.498. He'll be facing his former team in the Tigers on Monday, and they are starting lefty Joey Wentz. The southpaw has held lefties to a mere .216 average in his career, but righties have hit him to the tune of a .283 average, so Castellanos is likely looking forward to facing his former squad.
A chance of scenery has possibly changed the career of Owen Miller ($2,800). That, or he's just had the best 44-game stretch of his life, but even if that's the case, what a stretch it has been. Now a Brewer, Miller has slashed .319/.358/.475 with four homers and eight stolen bases. Monday, Andrew Abbott is making his MLB debut for the Reds. He pitched well in the minors this year, but he started the season in Double-A, and Abbott wasn't necessarily considered an elite prospect heading into 2023 by any means.
Stacks to Consider
Rangers vs. Cardinals (Adam Wainwright): Corey Seager ($3,900), Adolis Garcia ($3,600), Nathaniel Lowe ($3,200)
It was impressive that Wainwright made 32 starts in his age-40 season in 2022, but that was about the only impressive thing he did. He had a 3.71 ERA in those 32 starts, and this year has been even worse. Perhaps Wainwright held on too long, because through five starts he has a 6.15 ERA. Strikingly, lefties have hit .400, yes .400, against the veteran Cardinals, so I have two lefties in this stack.
Seager is one of those lefties, and he has an 1.028 OPS as well. He tends to hit lefties and righties equally well, but since joining the Rangers his OPS has been 40-percent better at home than on the road. Garcia has 14 homers and 51 RBI after having 27 of the former and 101 of the latter in 2022. He also has an .829 OPS at home since 2021. Over the last three seasons, Lowe has an .809 OPS versus both righties and lefties. However, this year the southpaw has an .857 OPS against right-handed pitchers.
Pirates vs. Athletics (JP Sears): Bryan Reynolds ($3,400), Andrew McCutchen ($3,200), Connor Joe ($3,100)
Sears has a 4.37 ERA, but also a 5.16 FIP. Oakland's pitcher-friendly park has helped him, as he has a 2.57 ERA at home. However, on the road his ERA bloats to 5.97. He's allowed 2.3 home runs per nine innings on the road as well, another reason to stack Pirates against the lefty.
Reynolds has already set a new personal best with eight stolen bases, and he's hit at least 24 home runs in each of his last two seasons. While he's a switch hitter, Reynolds has hit .291 with a .362 OBP versus lefties since 2021. He's been much better on the road this year, but he still has an .811 OPS at home since 2021, so I will still use him in this matchup. McCutchen's return to the Pirates has been a smashing success. He's slashed .272/.368/.444 with eight homers and seven stolen bases. Over the last three seasons he has an .879 OPS versus southpaws as well. Joe has slowed down after a hot start, but since 2021 he has an .848 OPS in matchups with lefties. While he spent the prior two seasons playing home games in Coors Field, but he has an .814 OPS at his new home park.
