This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
As we near July, and the All-Star break in turn, Wednesday brings up 13 games in the evening. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. EDT. Here are my DFS recommendations to try and boost your lineup.
Pitching
Blake Snell, SD at PIT ($11,100): Hey, remember when Snell was an elite pitcher for the Rays? Well, he has a 0.50 ERA over his last six starts, with double-digit strikeouts in each of his last three. This isn't some Petco Park thing either, as he has a 2.68 ERA on the road, and had a 3.06 ERA on the road in 2022. The Pirates, once the feel-good story of the season, are now threatening to finish in the bottom five in runs scored again.
Kodai Senga, NYM vs. MIL ($10,300): Senga's first MLB season has been characterized by his home/road splits. He has a 4.58 ERA in away games, but a 2.52 ERA at home. Notably, he's held lefties to an .188 average, and that doesn't bode well for the likes of Christian Yelich and Rowdy Tellez. Plus, all in all, the Brewers are just trying to stay out of the bottom five in runs scored, and they are already there in terms of batting average.
Logan Allen, CLE at KC ($8,400): Don't expect a lot of offense in this one. The Guardians and Royals are both in the bottom four in runs scored (along with the Tigers, because the AL Central is one of the worst divisions in MLB history), and the Royals have a sub-.300 OBP as a team. Allen has failed to make it to five innings in each of his last two starts, but he has a 3.68 ERA on the season, and he's a lefty, which is good enough for me in this matchup.
Top Targets
I'll happily take a guy with a career .519 slugging percentage at Coors Field, and that guy is Mookie Betts ($4,500) in this case. He'll be facing southpaw Kyle Freeland on Wednesday, and since 2021 Betts has a .942 OPS against left handers. Now, he's been much better at home in that time, but an .816 OPS on the road is far from concerning and, again, this is Coors Field.
Though Mike Trout ($4,000) has been decidedly worse at home this year, that's not the usual circumstances. He had an OPS over 1.100 at home in each of his last two campaigns. Plus, since 2021 he's slugged .605 against right handers. In that same time frame, righties have hit .258 against Lucas Giolito, though a lot of that is the fact they hit .312 against him in 2022. That being said, Giolito has a 4.19 FIP, and a 4.64 ERA on the road, and that's enough for me with Trout.
Bargain Bats
C.J. Cron ($3,200) just returned from a back issue, which is a good time to remind everybody that he has a .979 OPS since joining the Rockies. I'm also expecting a bullpen game here from the Dodgers. Cron has an .826 OPS against righties since 2021, and an .817 OPS against lefties in that time, so he's a nice choice for such a scenario.
The closest thing the Athletics have to a righty with power is Brent Rooker ($2,800), but his 13 homers and .461 slugging percentage were fueled by a hot start. That being said, Domingo German has a 5.29 FIP, and in his career he's allowed 1.65 home runs per nine innings. He has routinely kept lefties in check, but righties have hit .252 against him since 2021, which is why I did my best to find a righty with power from MLB's worst roster.
Stacks to Consider
Orioles vs. Reds (Luke Weaver): Anthony Santander ($3,300), Gunnar Henderson ($3,200), Ryan O'Hearn ($2,600)
Guys with career 5.04 ERAs always draw the eye when it comes to stacks. Weaver is that guy, and he is primed to have an ERA over 6.00 for the third time in four campaigns. Now, previously, there was some real bad luck to that, but this year he has a 5.51 FIP and has allowed 2.09 home runs per nine innings. Weaver hasn't been unlucky. He's been awful, and the Orioles can take advantage of that.
Santander doesn't walk, but he's hit .266 and slugged .493 with 14 home runs. The switch hitter is better versus southpaws, but he has an .803 OPS against righties this year, a step up from him. Plus, he has an .844 OPS at home since 2021, which balances out the righty on the mound to me. Henderson was seen as the American League's equivalent of Corbin Carroll heading into 2023, and recently he's looked something akin to the presumed NL Rookie of the Year. Baltimore's lefty has an 1.066 OPS over the last three weeks, and he's been strong against righties since the day he hit the majors. In his career he has an .877 OPS versus right-handed pitchers. With the Royals, O'Hearn was terrible against lefties and…less bad against righties. This year, though, he's still a zero against southpaws, but has a .932 OPS against righties, earning him a regular spot in the lineup.
Reds at Orioles (Kyle Gibson): Elly De La Cruz ($4,500), Matt McLain ($3,800), Jake Fraley ($3,300)
With the Reds now boasting an exciting lineup of their own, why not flip this matchup around for a stack? Gibson is 35 and has been in MLB for a decade. We know who he is at this point. The righty has a career 4.51 ERA, and while he admittedly doesn't allow many home runs, he's also struck out 7.17 batters per nine innings in MLB. Gibson allows a lot of contact, and this year righties have hit .256 and lefties have hit .272 against him.
So far, De La Cruz has been much better at home, but the sample size is slim enough I am not going to worry about that yet with an elite prospect who has hit .299 with three homers and eight stolen bases in 19 games. His 1.167 OPS against righties, compared to a .300 OPS against lefties, could in theory mean more from the switch hitter, but obviously this matchup plays into that, however true it is. McLain arrived to MLB just before De La Cruz, so we've seen him slash .321/.378/.552 over 39 games. That's with six homers, but also four triples and four stolen bases. The shortstop is a major threat on the base paths. Fraley has 11 homers and 12 stolen bases, and he's the one guy in this trio who has a better OPS on the road (.855 compared to .830 at home). He's also the one true lefty bat, and since 2021 he has an .871 OPS versus righties.
Astros at Cardinals (Miles Mikolas): Kyle Tucker ($3,400), Jose Altuve ($3,200), Alex Bregman ($3,100)
Mikolas is similar to Gibson, even in age, but only with less of an MLB resume as he spent years overseas pitching. He doesn't allow home runs, but he has had a K/9 rate over 7.00 exactly once in his MLB career. This year he has a line-drive percentage of 27.3 as well, which does not work out well for pitchers. Throw in a 4.97 ERA at home in 2023, and I am stacking the Astros, even if finding a stack was trickier than you might expect. This isn't the old Houston lineup. Jose Altuve has even been dealing with a banged-up heel, but if he doesn't play, Mauricio Dubon ($2,700) has done fairly well in his stead this year, and that's a substitution you can make at the same position in your DFS lineup.
Tucker has hit .273 with 10 homers and 14 stolen bases. The southpaw has been better against lefties than righties this year, but since 2021 he has an .850 OPS versus right handers, so that might not sustain itself. Altuve got off to a late start to the season, but he has a .351 OBP with three homers and already five stolen bases. So far he hasn't hit lefties at all, but he has an .891 OPS versus righties, which is not out of line with his .861 OPS in those matchups across the prior two seasons. Bregman's overall numbers have dipped from his peak, but the clear issue is that he started to struggle against lefties. He had an .881 OPS against righties last year, though, and has a .798 OPS in those matchups this season.
