This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Baseball series.
Deuces are wild Sunday, as we have two Game 2s in the second round of the MLB playoffs. It's an American League kind of day, with those two series being the once taking place. First pitch is at 4:07 p.m. ET. Now, onto the DFS lineup recommendations!
Pitching
Framber Valdez, HOU vs. MIN ($40): Unfortunately for the Twins, Valdez is effectively built to neutralize their lineup. He's a lefty who has allowed a mere 0.75 home runs per nine innings in his career. The Twins are lefty-heavy in terms of their ideal lineup, and got to this point largely based on finishing tied for third in home runs this season.
Top Target
Ah, but what if you aren't a lefty? What if you are, say, Royce Lewis ($23), and you are only having to DH as the Twins allow you, an oft-injured, highly-promising hitter, to focus on offense? Lewis has already hit three homers in this playoffs, which follows up a campaign wherein he posted a .920 OPS with 15 homers and six stolen bases in 58 games. His only issue is a serious problem staying healthy, but he's managing at the moment. Lewis also happened to put up an 1.041 OPS on the road in 2023.
Bargain Bat
It's easy to overlook Nathaniel Lowe ($10), what with Corey Seager's MVP-level numbers and a litany of young bats in the mix for the Rangers, including recent addition Evan Carter. All Lowe did, though, was manage a .360 OBP with 38 doubles. So yeah, maybe he only hit 17 home runs, but it's not all about the long ball. Lowe is also a lefty, and this year Grayson Rodriguez allowed lefties to hit .277 against him. The rookie pitcher allowed 1.18 homers per nine innings, so he isn't particularly homer-prone, perhaps playing into Lowe's hitting profile further.
Stack to Consider
Astros vs. Twins (Pablo Lopez): Yordan Alvarez ($24), Kyle Tucker ($20), Michael Brantley ($10)
Brantley getting healthy gave us DFS players a gift: a viable all-lefty stack for the Astros. Yes, Lopez rebounded against the Blue Jays in the opening round, but he had to rebound for a reason. He allowed 11 earned runs across 15.1 innings while facing the White Sox, Angels and Athletics. That's not encouraging! Neither is his .271 average allowed to lefties, which is why the all-southpaw stack is nice.
For the third season in a row, Alvarez had over 30 home runs, but notably for the second year in a row he had an OBP over .400 as well. Oh, and since 2021 he has a .978 OPS against righties and a .922 OPS against lefties so, you know, good luck to any relief pitcher who comes out of the pen. Tucker fell one home run shy of his first 30/30 season, but his .369 OBP was a personal best. He also put up a .990 OPS over the last three weeks of the year, so he starts the postseason hot. Brantley barely played this season, missing most of 2023 with an injury. However, he says he's healthy, and since 2021 he has an .873 OPS against righties.
