Wednesday is a travel day, so there is all-day baseball that coalesces with a seven-game featured slate locking at 7:05 p.m. ET on DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo. As always, we will use Stokastic’s tools to help in identifying today’s MLB DFS top stacks, key pitchers and MLB DFS picks. Tonight RHP Hunter Brown looks solid against the Oakland Athletics, and Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres are interesting bats against struggling RHP Tanner Houck.
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MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks
MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Pitchers
Main Slate Primary Pitching Target: RHP Hunter Brown vs. Oakland Athletics — 3.3 implied runs
First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $8,200 | FanDuel $9,900 | Yahoo $34
In an outlier performance, the Oakland Athletics hung five runs on RHP Justin Verlander last night, including a pair of longballs on the way to a 6-2 road victory. Tonight rookie RHP Hunter Brown and the Houston offense have a chance to hand the Athletics their 100th loss of the season. If the Astros do not take care of business, that means the A’s will secure the series sweep, as well as their third three-game winning streak of the season. TLDR: Keep picking on Oakland with opposing pitchers.
The projected lineup for the A’s should have five different hitters who have a 24.8% strikeout rate or higher against right-handed pitching this season. There are also four hitters with a .200 ISO or better, with Seth Brown, rookie Zack Gelof and catcher Shea Langeliers landing in both categories. Brown is at a career-high 141.1 innings this season, and while he has slowed down the last two games in tricky matchups against the Yankees and Padres, he still has the advantage in tonight’s tilt.
Main Slate Wild Card Pitching Target: RHP Mike Clevinger vs. Kansas City Royals — 3.6 implied runs
First Pitch: 7:40 p.m. ET
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $7,900 | FanDuel $8,900 | Yahoo $39
The Stokastic Top Pitchers Tool has RHP Mike Clevinger as a solid fantasy-point-per-dollar option on Wednesday’s mid-size featured slate. Two starts ago, the Tigers got to him in Chicago for eight runs, one round-tripper and four doubles. In his subsequent start, he went into Detroit and extracted a measure of payback with seven shutout innings. He has allowed three or fewer earned runs in six of his last eight starts, posting a 3.33 ERA, 3.30 FIP, .230 batting average against and 41 strikeouts in 46 frames across these eight outings.
Over the last 30 days, the Royals are averaging just over four runs per game, with slightly above-average strikeouts and below-average run production metrics. This is a lineup of haves and have-nots, so if Clevinger is able to mitigate MJ Melendez, Sal Perez and, of course, Bobby Witt Jr., he should be in line for a serviceable outing and potentially a quality start.
Early Slate Pitching Target: RHP Luis Castillo vs. Los Angeles Angels — 3.2 implied runs
First Pitch: 4:10 p.m. ET
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $10,800 | FanDuel $10,800 | Yahoo $52
On Tuesday, RHP Bryan Woo blanked the Angels for 5.2 innings, rolling up eight strikeouts in the process. The bullpen closed out the game, which ended in an 8-0 victory for Seattle. For the early slate, RHP Luis Castillo is the clear pitching option, which is no surprise considering he is currently second in the American League Cy Young Award race at +1000 and the only pitcher really close to frontrunner Gerrit Cole (-2500), per OddsShopper.com.
Los Angeles is unlikely to have Shohei Ohtani (oblique) back for this afternoon’s action, which means Castillo will be facing Mike Moustakas, Brandon Drury and Eduardo Escobar in the heart of the order. Don’t think too long about this selection, but do look for some differentiation with one-off hitters on this three-game slate.
MLB DFS Picks: Top Stacks
Main Slate Primary Target: New York Yankees at RHP Tanner Houck — 4.6 implied runs
First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET
Tuesday saw the Yankees win both games of the doubleheader in Boston. Tonight they will be taking on RHP Tanner Houck, who has struggled in his last two starts while also pitching more innings than he has since the 2019 season. Yesterday, everyone in the bullpen, outside of RHP Garrett Whitlock, saw action, though with Monday’s rainout, everyone had a day of inaction.
Left-handed power has been an issue for Houck this season, with a .274 ISO in 191 opposite-handed matchups. Of course, that is one thing missing from the New York repertoire, though this is still a good opportunity for the Yankees against Houck’s below-average strikeout stuff. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres are the main trio to target. Once way to find some differentiation from other Bronx backers would be to just go with a three-man stack. The other would be to leave one of these three out while adding in catcher Austin Wells or rookie Anthony Volpe from further down the batting order.
Main Slate Secondary Target: Arizona Diamondbacks at LHP Joey Lucchesi — 4.7 implied runs
First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET
The Mets have recalled LHP Joey Lucchesi from the minors to help shore up their depleted rotation for the last couple weeks of the season. Lucchesi is in his age-30 season, and he is five years removed from being an intriguing prospect for the San Diego Padres. Below-average strikeouts and above-average power are what has kept the journeyman down on the farm — and being very hittable when he has matriculated into The Show.
Christian Walker, Tommy Pham and switch-hitter Ketel Marte should be the main building blocks for Arizona stacks. Veteran Evan Longoria is a solid discount dandy with his long and illustrious track record against southpaws. Corbin Carroll does not have a lot of power in same-handed matchups, but he has plenty of contact upside, and the presumptive National League Rookie of the Year is always a threat to swipe bags when he is on base. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. can be sprinkled in as well to cost-average down Arizona stacks.
Early Slate Hitters
Clearly, going to the Coors Field Extravaganza is going to be the priority for most gamers taking part in this three-game slate. Look to one-offs such as Wilmer Flores, Mitch Haniger and J.D. Davis at home against LHP Logan Allen. On the other side of the Guardians-Giants matchup, Jose Ramirez and Ramon Laureano (thumb) are viable facing rookie LHP Kyle Harrison.
There are not many appealing Angels against Castillo this afternoon. However, the Mariners can be a secondary stack against RHP Jaime Barria and the Anaheim bullpen. Switch-hitting catcher Cal Raleigh is outstanding from the left side of the plate, plus leadoff man J.P. Crawford has the platoon advantage as well. Superstar Julio Rodriguez is matchup-proof, and veterans Teoscar Hernandez and Eugenio Suarez can be sprinkled in, along with Jarred Kelenic, who recently returned from his self-inflicted tantrum injury suffered when he fractured his left foot by kicking a water cooler in the dugout.
Other DFS and Sports Wagering Opportunities
Tonight LHP Eduardo Rodriguez will be facing the visiting Cincinnati Reds, who are not as daunting a matchup when they are away from the Great American Ballpark. This is an evening game but starting just before the main MLB DFS slate, so a lot of gamers are likely not looking at this opportunity in the sports wagering market.
Rodriguez has a total outs prop that is currently sitting at 17.5, with the over at -104, but looking at the True Odds feature on OddsShopper, we can see the -119 “true odds” of the veteran southpaw taking care of business and closing out the sixth inning indicates this line is inefficient by just over 7%.
In his last nine starts, Rodriguez has pitched six or more innings on half a dozen occasions, and he is fully capable of going to 100 pitches. The Reds are far better suited to face right-handed hitters, as the projected lineup has a paltry .302 wOBA, a .127 ISO, and 4.2% walk and 30.8% strikeout rates versus southpaws this season.
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Final Thoughts for Wednesday, September 13 | MLB DFS Picks
Boston and New York carry the highest precipitation risk for Wednesday, though it does seem that the biggest downside would be an in-game delay. As always, doublecheck current forecasts from your favorite DFS weather resources closer to first pitch.
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