This article is part of our DFS MLB series.
Baseball is back in full swing following the All-Star break. We have an 11-game main slate to work with for contests set to kick off at 7:05 pm ET. There's one clear tier of top starting pitchers that is fairly deep, but things do fall off pretty quickly from there. There are some very good home run and offensive environments as well, including Yankee Stadium, Truist Park, Kauffman Stadium and Coors Field.
Pitchers
We have a group of four elite starting pitchers to work with. Chris Sale ($10,500) has some of the highest strikeout upside in the league and draws a matchup against a mediocre Reds lineup. The other positive is he should have a better-than-average chance of a win. Also in that elite tier is Logan Gilbert ($10,000). He doesn't have the same strikeout upside as the rest of the arms in that group, but he draws the Angels – a well-below-average lineup.
Landon Knack ($8,000) has struggled to pitch deep into games, but he's otherwise intriguing. He has the third-highest strikeout of all available pitchers on the slate and will face a Giants' lineup that has struck out at a 24.5 percent clip in the last 30 days.
Colin Rea ($7,400) isn't typically a player we associate with upside, but he's pitched shockingly well this season. He has a very respectable 23.5 percent strikeout rate across the last month and draws the Cubs, a team that has struck out the ninth-most among all teams in the same span.
Finally, Jon Gray ($7,000) is a relatively comfortable punt option. He has been a competent pitcher despite a low strikeout rate, but the real draw Tuesday is a combination of a matchup against the punchless White Sox and his price.
Top Hitters
Jose Quintana remains serviceable but has a home run problem. He's not a great option to stack against as a result, though in a matchup against some of the best home run hitters in the league and a great home run park I do want some Yankees in my lineup. Aaron Judge ($6,500) and Juan Soto ($6,600) are the obvious choices.
Jordan Hicks has started to fade a bit in recent weeks and has given up multiple home runs in two of his last four starts. Even with a depleted lineup, the Dodgers are always worth considering as a stack, but Freddie Freeman ($5,500) and Teoscar Hernandez ($5,000) are both good plays.
Value Bats
Ernie Clement ($2,900) remains stuck in the bottom third of the Blue Jays' lineup, which isn't ideal. However, everything else about his profile is intriguing. He has five extra-base hits and a .368 on-base percentage (OBP) across his last 10 games, good for 9.3 DraftKings points per game.
Flipping to the other side of the same game, Jose Berrios has also been prone to the long ball and the Rays are a great lineup from which to mine some value. Jose Siri ($3,500) is very hot, but Jose Caballero ($3,600) is also a cheaper option that should be in the lineup.
Stacks to Consider
Houston Astros vs. Oakland Athletics (Osvaldo Bido): Jose Altuve ($5,300), Yordan Alvarez ($5,500), Alex Bregman ($4,400)
We just saw the Athletics shut down the Astros on Monday night, but a matchup against Bido should be a different story. He has only 69 career innings in the majors as a 28-year-old and has a 10.2 percent walk rate, 5.22 ERA and 4.70 SIERA. That's enough for me to target Houston even in a less-than-ideal hitting environment.
Boston Red Sox vs. Colorado Rockies (Ty Blach): Jarren Duran ($6,000), Rob Refsnyder ($4,300), Rafael Devers ($6,300)
This is a fairly obvious stack as Boston gets the benefit of Coors Field. It's also likely to be popular given the offense we saw between the Rockies and Red Sox Monday night. What's less obvious is some of the potential value bats that can be mixed in, highlighted by Refsnyder and potentially even Connor Wong ($4,400). A matchup against Ty Blach is also ideal, as he has just an 11.9 percent strikeout rate for the season while also serving up 1.5 HR/9.
