MLB DFS Picks, Spotlight Pitchers & Top Stacks: Cole Ragans or Bust! (Sept. 17)

Tuesday brings a tantalizing 10-game featured slate with a 7:10 p.m. ET first pitch on DraftKings and FanDuel. Yahoo is locking at 6:35 p.m. ET and scooping up all 15 tilts for their largest contests. Today we’re exploring the MLB DFS projections with Stokastic’s industry-leading tools to uncover how to build MLB DFS stacks, identify top pitchers and craft optimal daily fantasy baseball lineups. Cole Ragans stands out as the lead pitcher, with Tylor Megill also having a favorable matchup. According to the Stokastic MLB DFS Top Stacks Tool, the Kansas City Royals and the Coors Field Extravaganza are key targets for MLB DFS picks.

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MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks | Sept. 17

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MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Pitchers

Main Slate Primary Pitching Target: LHP Cole Ragans (KC vs. DET)

Royals vs. Tigers – 3.6 implied runs
First Pitch: 7:40 p.m. ET
$9,800 at DraftKings
$10,400 at FanDuel
$49 at Yahoo

The Stokastic MLB DFS Top Pitchers tool likes the matchup for LHP Cole Ragans, who is facing the Detroit Tigers in his home ballpark. The Motor City Kitties popped off for seven runs last night, getting the series started with a victory.

Overall the Detroit lineup is filled with unproven or inconsistent youngsters, with a few capable veterans sprinkled in and, of course, Javier Baez and his six-year, $140 million contract looking on with complete disinterest from the dugout.

Over his last dozen games, Ragans has compiled a 3.31 ERA, 3.47 FIP and 3.73 xFIP. These tilts include games in New York against the Yankees, in Cleveland, in Houston, in Boston and in Coors Field. That is some tough competition, which also demonstrates how the 26-year-old has leveled up once again. In this span he also has 10.83 strikeouts per nine innings, a tick below his 10.96 per nine on the season, which is the fourth-best mark in the league among qualified starters. Enjoy!

Main Slate Wild Card Pitching Target: RHP Tylor Megill (NYM vs. WAS)

Mets vs. Nationals – 3.6 implied runs
First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET
$7,700 at DraftKings
$8,500 at FanDuel
$39 at Yahoo

There are a few pitchers in contention as secondary options tonight. These include RHP Zack Wheeler, who is having a Cy Young season but facing a tough Milwaukee squad.

Veteran RHPs Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Bassitt are squaring off in Texas, and their respective offenses are both struggling. Then there is RHP Griffin “Tomato” Canning at home against the historically bad White Sox in a real-life experiment of the Irresistible Force vs. the Immovable Object.

Ultimately it looks like RHP Tylor Megill has the best combination of salary and fantasy points per dollar in a matchup against Washington. The Nationals do have a few talented players in the lineup, though most are getting their first action in The Show. CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia are the most accomplished hitters, but everyone else has various question marks.

Megill has bounced up and down from the minors several times this season, though it looks like he will be in the rotation for the rest of the season. In his three appearances since being recalled, the 29-year-old hurler has compiled 15.1 innings, a 2.35 ERA, 1.80 FIP and 2.99 xFIP with 10.57 strikeouts per nine innings.

Last year, Megill saw his strikeouts drop from 9.7 per nine down to 7.5 while also posting a career-worst 4.13 walks per nine innings. It would seem that he has resolved most of those issues while looking like a pitcher to covet for DFS purposes when he has a good matchup.

Citi Field is a very favorable park for pitchers, and the Nationals have scored the seventh-fewest runs over the last 30 days with 3.88 per game. To their credit, the Washington hitters mostly limit strikeouts, but Joey Gallo and newcomer James Woods could give Megill four or five themselves.

MLB DFS Picks: Top Stacks

Main Slate Primary Target: Kansas City Royals

Royals vs. Tigers – 4.6 implied runs
First Pitch: 7:40 p.m. ET
Opposing Starter: RHP Casey Mize
DK Top Stack %: 4.2%
FD Top Stack %: 4.4%

The Stokastic MLB DFS Top Stacks Tool has a 25% probability that one of the teams in the Coors Field Extravaganza will be the highest-scoring fantasy option.

The Rockies will be at home for eight of their final 11 games, including the final week of the season. Giggity!

Yesterday RHP Reese Olson will be returned from the injured reserve, granting RHP Casey Mize and LHP Tarik Skubal an extra day of rest.

Mize missed two months with a hamstring injury, and last year he had Tommy John surgery. He is a talented pitcher who was the first overall selection in the 2018 MLB Draft.

He had only 10 innings in The Show in 2022 and missed the 2023 season while recovering from surgery. That, along with the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, leaves him with only 283.1 big league innings under his belt. In his three games back in the saddle, he has a 5.63 ERA and 5.36 FIP, with his 3.72 xFIP indicating he has been a little unlucky with four home runs in these 16 innings. He should be good for around 80 to 85 pitches, which means four or five innings, then it will be the beleaguered bullpen taking over.

The trio to target against right-handed pitchers are, of course, Bobby Witt Jr. (who crushed his 32nd home run of the season off Olson last night), veteran Salvador Perez and soon-to-be free agent Michael Massey, who excels with the platoon advantage. MJ Melendez also joins Massey in that category, giving us a solid core four. Hunter Renfroe and his light-tower power are always a fine option in stacks or as a one-off.

Main Slate Wild Card Target: Chicago White Sox

White Sox at Angels – 4.6 implied runs
First Pitch: 9:38 p.m. ET
Opposing Starter: RHP Griffin Canning
DK Top Stack %: 3.3%
FD Top Stack %: 3.6%

Tuesday is a more expansive player pool than we saw last night, so there will not be the same leverage with the White Sox as there was against LHP Reid Detmers.

Chicago has won three consecutive games, which is only the fourth time this season that has happened, with the 2024 high being a four-game winning streak back in early-May. The team needs to win six of the last 11 games to tie the 1962 New York Mets for the worst-ever record in a 162-game season.

Yoan Moncada (groin) is back in action, which is a boost to this lineup, bereft of even average hitters. Luis Robert Jr. is having a dreadful season, not even getting many serious inquiries during the July trade deadline. Gavin Sheets and Andrew Benintendi are better with the platoon advantage, with Andrew Vaugh currently the “best” hitter, earning cleanup duties.

So why this team? Well, that would be all because of Canning, who has ceded 25 runs in his last 34.2 innings, with per-nine-inning ratios of 6.23 strikeouts, 3.12 walks and 1.82 home runs.

There is no need to do a full ChiSox stack, but the salary savings provided by Robert, Benintendi, Sheets and Vaughn will go a long way on DraftKings to loading up on the Coors Field Extravaganza while also rostering a top pitcher.

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Final Thoughts for Tuesday, Sept. 17

There is a hint of rain in both Baltimore and Cincinnati, with those game only on the Yahoo featured slate. Before locking in your MLB DFS picks, make sure to visit the top MLB Weather Report page for the latest updates as game time nears.

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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