Saturday, Oct. 8, brings four Wild Card games with the end of the season on the line in each tilt. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks today for pitchers and stacks for DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy baseball lineups.
DraftKings & FanDuel MLB DFS Picks Today (10/8)
Today should be a fun one as each series is already in the elimination phase. Visiting teams won the first game in each matchup aside from Cleveland managing to hold serve at home. Keep in mind that any series that goes to a decisive Game 3 will still be played in the current venue.
Best MLB DFS Pitchers – Wild Card Day 2
Jacob deGrom vs. San Diego Padres: On Friday the Padres flexed in a big way with four home runs against Max Scherzer on their way to a 7-1 rout of the Metropolitans in The Big Apple. Today, Jacob deGrom will be taking the mound and he has been quite impressive this season in his 11 starts with an unfathomable 14.9 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate. The Friars reminded everyone that they have a loaded offense and when they are firing on all cylinders they are going to be tough to tame. If anyone is up for the task, it is deGrom, who earns the nod as the pitcher to covet in all formats on Saturday.
Aaron Nola at St. Louis Cardinals: Philadelphia plated six runners in the top of the ninth inning to surge by St. Louis for a 6-3 victory. Neither team managed to score through the first six innings of the game as Zack Wheeler and Jose Quintana each spun gems. It was a bit of a surprise to see Albert Pujols in the two-hole, though he may be in the starting lineup again today. Aaron Nola had yet another tremendous all-around season with his 3.25 ERA ranking 23rd, his 0.96 WHIP coming in seventh among all qualified starters, along with 235 strikeouts, which was the fourth most in the league. The projected lineup for the Cardinals has a low 17.0% strikeout rate against right-handed hurlers over the last two seasons. In this same timeframe, Nola has a 29.7% strikeout rate so it will be fun to see how this matchup plays out.
Additional OpportunitiesÂ
Today the Stokastic MLB DFS projections are right in line with most of the MLB strikeout props, which are on the lower end of what we typically see. This, of course, makes sense, with every team taking the field boasting an above-average offense. Unders are in play because there is not much of a reason to keep the pitchers in the game while they “work things out,” with a bullpen full of rested arms. Keep in mind that now the back half of the rotations are also viable options as multi-inning relievers since we are looking at four best-of-three series in the Wild Card round.
For those looking to get a little action on an over, Robbie Ray has a 4.5 over/under on his strikeout prop at what is basically even money. It is always a rollercoaster ride when rolling with Ray, but he should be amped up for this matchup. Currently the Stokastic MLB DFS projections have him at 5.3 strikeouts, which is a tick above a breakeven likelihood of surpassing this milestone.
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Big Bats Against Amazing Aces
Stacks in the postseason are more about trying to corral runs, extra-base hits and, of course, RBIs. When looking for synergy, just two or three hitters against a pitcher is going to be just fine — and as long as they are within a six-hitter span in the batting order, it is all good.
Philadelphia Phillies at RHP Miles Mikolas
While a lot of gamers will consider Miles Mikolas to be one of the weaker pitchers today, he had the best regular season of his career and was a first-time All-Star in his age-34 season. Mikolas does an excellent job of limiting power and baserunners, but he also has a below average strikeout rate. Over the last two seasons he has a 45.6% ground ball rate, however, in the playoffs an RBI double can be just as crucial as a two-run homer in the regular season.
Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber will have the platoon advantage today and either is prime for an extra-base hit any time they step into the batter’s box. Nick Castellanos returned from injury and he along with catcher J.T. Realmuto and slugger Rhys Hoskins all have light tower power against same-handed hurlers. We do not need to go overboard with a full stack, however, this quintet provides plenty of stacking variations and all will be at the top of the order which increases their synergy.
Toronto Blue Jays vs. LHP Robbie Ray
This should be a spirited matchup as the Mariners look to build on yesterday’s success and advance to the next round of the postseason. Robbie Ray had an excellent year, finishing with the seventh-most strikeouts in the league as well as being just inside the top 35 starters for both ERA and WHIP. However, this season was nowhere near his 2021 campaign when he won the American League Cy Young Award while pitching for Toronto.
The Blue Jays have a loaded lineup to say the least. Mid-season acquisition Whit Merrifield and first-time All-Star Santiago Espinal are projected to be batting eighth and ninth. Toronto is the key to unlocking all sorts of lineup iterations on the four-game slate. We should see two catcher-eligible players in Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jansen and you can bet that most gamers will not play both in the same lineup on FanDuel. Then there are sluggers George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez along with versatile options Matt Chapman and Bo Bichette. It is unlikely that Seattle will be able to keep this lineup off the score board for a second consecutive game.
Final MLB DFS Thoughts & MLB Weather Notes
Today will be much cooler than yesterday with Cleveland looking at game-time temperatures in the low 50s, while New York and St. Louis are projected for the mid-50s with their later start times.
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