This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Baseball series.
Saturday night gives us a nice bit of baseball. There are six games starting at 7:05 p.m. ET or later. It's been a hot summer, but let's heat up the DFS action in turn. Here are my lineup recommendations for your DFS contests.
Pitching
Logan Webb, SF at WAS ($48): Webb is definitely better at home, but he has a 4.08 ERA on the road, which isn't bad, and he has a 3.62 road ERA since 2021. Plus, in his three July starts he has an 1.59 ERA and has struck out 11.1 batters per nine innings. The Nationals are just outside the bottom five in runs scored, but they are bottom five in home runs as a team.
Reid Detmers, LAA vs. PIT ($45): Detmers has a 4.42 ERA, but a 3.72 FIP. The lefty also has a 3.63 ERA at home, where he has allowed a mere 0.9 home runs per nine innings. The Pirates have absolutely collapsed offensively. Remember that hot April that was so fun? Pittsburgh is now 27th in runs scored and bottom five in home runs.
Top Targets
What more can be said about Shohei Ohtani ($25) this season? Well, just for the fun of it, he's slugged .703 against righties this year. Rookie Osvaldo Bido has a 5.00 ERA through 27.0 innings, and lefties have hit .292 against him.
Kyle Tucker ($24) has gotten hot and now has a .303 average with 17 homers and 17 stolen bases. He's been unusually good against lefties this year, but the southpaw also has a .940 OPS on the road. Paul Blackburn has a career 5.15 ERA, and since 2021 lefties have hit .288 against him.
Bargain Bats
After tearing up the minors, Edouard Julien ($22) got the call from the Twins, and he's remained hot. He's glued to the bench against his fellow lefties, but slashed .318/.399/.565 overall. I wanted a lefty who wasn't all about the power, because Dylan Cease has a 4.33 ERA and has allowed lefties to hit .256 against him, but he is still good at keeping the ball in the park.
The Athletics have attempted to give Oakland fans (you know, the fans they plan to leave behind) a sliver of positivity by calling up Tyler Soderstrom ($7), the lefty-swinging catcher considered their best prospect, and one of the better prospects in baseball. He's done little at the MLB level so far, but he's got his sterling reputation, eligibility at catcher and also a salary worth taking a shot on. Cristian Javier was really struggling, so much so the Astros even skipped him for one start. It didn't help, and so the righty has a 12.06 ERA over his last four outings. If that wasn't enough, lefties have averaged .296 against Javier this season.
Stacks to Consider
Atlanta at Brewers (Adrian Houser): Matt Olson ($27), Ozzie Albies ($20), Michael Harris ($18)
Only once in Houser's career has he averaged more than 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings, and that was back in 2019. This likely plays a part in his career 4.17 FIP, and his 4.33 FIP this year. This season, righties have hit .311 against Houser, but since 2021 he's held righties to a .226 average, while lefties have hit .285 against him. As such, I have two lefties and a switch hitter in this stack.
Even during his time with Oakland, Olson has been an elite power hitter. This year, though, he's slugged .582 and already has 32 homers. The key has been his 1.014 OPS versus righties. The switch-hitting Albies is better against lefties, but his .753 OPS versus righties is solid. Plus, he has posted a .910 OPS on the road. An uptick in play has Harris with nine homers and 12 stolen bases, giving him a chance to finish in line with his 19 home runs and 20 swiped bags as a rookie. As to that uptick, he's hit .275 and slugged .490 over the last three weeks (he still doesn't walk, so his OBP is only .315).
Giants at Nationals (Josiah Gray): LaMonte Wade ($13), Michael Conforto ($13), J.D. Davis ($9)
I was having a little issue finding a second stack, but then I saw Gray was starting at home. That is to say, starting in a place where he has a 5.93 ERA in his career. A place where he's allowed 2.6 home runs per nine innings. Lefties and righties both have shown the ability to hit Gray, whose career 5.49 FIP speaks to how hittable he has been. The Giants lack big names, but they can handle a good matchup.
Wade came out of nowhere when he joined the Giants in 2021, had a bad campaign in 2022, but has picked it back up in 2023. He's slashed .275/.405/.431 with nine homers. Since joining San Fran he has an .832 OPS versus righties as well. After missing the 2022 season Conforto has played respectably for the Giants in his first campaign with the squad. He's got a .789 OPS against righties, but more importantly an .885 OPS away from his new home park. Davis was struggling a bit after the break, but he just missed two games with an illness, so perhaps he had to get his body right. For what it's worth, he hit a home run in his return Friday. On the year he's posted a .366 OBP against righties, and he has an .830 OPS on the road.
