This article is part of our DFS MLB series.
We're down to the final two days of the regular season, and the majority of the teams have very little to play for. It'll be important to carefully check lineups before lock and ensure pitchers aren't unexpectedly shifted. Other hurlers may be on a workload restriction, so watching the news will be important. The main slate kicks off at 7:15 p.m. EDT with seven games. Let's jump in.
Pitchers
It's a subpar slate to find elite pitching particularly because the two highest-salaried pitchers are coming off the injured list. Reynaldo Lopez ($9,600) carries risk because he didn't go on a rehab assignment, but he's been out less than a month and Atlanta likely wouldn't start him if they didn't think he could pitch deep into the game with a looming doubleheader Monday crucial to their playoff hopes. The Royals offense has been sputtering, so the matchup shouldn't be an issue.
Jose Quintana ($8,200) isn't the most electrifying option, yet he's gotten the job done in September having posted no fewer than 19.9 DK points in his last four starts.
There are two risky selections with plenty of upside in the $7,000 range. The first is Andrew Heaney ($7,700). Anyone who's played fantasy baseball long enough knows his history as he's capable of looking like a Cy Young candidate one start and like he's never picked up a baseball before next time out. And a matchup against the Angels is intriguing. Albert Suarez ($7,500) doesn't offer quite the same upside
We're down to the final two days of the regular season, and the majority of the teams have very little to play for. It'll be important to carefully check lineups before lock and ensure pitchers aren't unexpectedly shifted. Other hurlers may be on a workload restriction, so watching the news will be important. The main slate kicks off at 7:15 p.m. EDT with seven games. Let's jump in.
Pitchers
It's a subpar slate to find elite pitching particularly because the two highest-salaried pitchers are coming off the injured list. Reynaldo Lopez ($9,600) carries risk because he didn't go on a rehab assignment, but he's been out less than a month and Atlanta likely wouldn't start him if they didn't think he could pitch deep into the game with a looming doubleheader Monday crucial to their playoff hopes. The Royals offense has been sputtering, so the matchup shouldn't be an issue.
Jose Quintana ($8,200) isn't the most electrifying option, yet he's gotten the job done in September having posted no fewer than 19.9 DK points in his last four starts.
There are two risky selections with plenty of upside in the $7,000 range. The first is Andrew Heaney ($7,700). Anyone who's played fantasy baseball long enough knows his history as he's capable of looking like a Cy Young candidate one start and like he's never picked up a baseball before next time out. And a matchup against the Angels is intriguing. Albert Suarez ($7,500) doesn't offer quite the same upside as Heaney, though he's also a boom-bust option against an ice-cold Twins lineup.
Joey Estes ($6,800) represents our punt play due to going up against the Mariners, who we've picked on all season. He holds a decent K-BB% relative to his cost (12.8%), but he's homer-prone. Seattle has a good park for Estes' skillset, so he could deliver a solid showing relative to salary.
Top Hitters
The Dodgers are the obvious team to use on this slate, though trying to fit them into the budget will be a significant challenge as nearly the entire lineup is valued up. Andy Pages ($4,200) is one of the few who checks in at a reasonable salary and worth considering.
Zebby Matthews has experienced a home run problem, but otherwise carries a solid skills profile. Using one-off power hitters is viable rather than stacking, so Anthony Santander ($5,300) makes for a good choice.
Value Bats
Justin Turner ($2,700) has been a favorite value target late in the year, and he's now both a regular in the Mariners lineup and hitting fifth in the order. He's averaged 7.8 DK points across his last 10 games and draws Joey Estes on Saturday, who's allowed 1.6 HR/9 this season.
It's been a couple weeks since the Angels have faced a lefty, but Jack Lopez ($2,000) hit second. He's been recently productive primarily based on a bloated BABIP, yet he'll open up plenty of salary cap for other spots and should offer some run-scoring potential.
Stacks to Consider
Mets at Brewers (Jared Koenig/Colin Rea): Jose Iglesias ($4,000), Brandon Nimmo ($4,400), Pete Alonso ($4,500)
We know the Mets will be playing a legitimate lineup as they cling to a playoff spot heading into a potentially deciding doubleheader against Atlanta on Monday. They should be able to score some runs Saturday against the combination of Colin Rea and Jared Koenig, the former who's given up multiple homers in four of his last 10 outings. Best of all, the top of the lineup comes in at a reasonable value.
Rangers at Angels (Griffin Canning): Marcus Semien ($4,800), Josh Smith ($4,000), Wyatt Langford ($4,300)
This is a risky stack for multiple reasons. Canning has terrible skills (1.6 HR/9, 8.6 K-BB%), yet he's boom-bust and thus capable of both excellent and awful efforts without much in between. The Rangers are rightfully giving their younger players key roles in the order to prepare for next year, but that also leads to more volatile results. This could go many different ways, but one of them is with Texas scoring lots of runs.
