We're down to one game this round! Philadelphia hosts Atlanta for Thursday's Game 4, and if the home team wins, we have our NLCS matchup. On FanDuel, for single-game contests you have a salary pool of $35,000 to spend on five players. Your MVP earns you double the points, while your Star earns you 1.5 times the points. Here's a lineup I landed on. First pitch is at 8:07 p.m. EDT. Good luck!
MVP
Austin Riley, ATL at PHI ($7,500): As with Game 1, we have Spencer Strider starting for Atlanta and Ranger Suarez starting for Philadelphia. The edge there goes to the Atlanta lineup, even if that didn't prove true in Game 1. Suarez had a 5.45 ERA at home this year and allowed righties to hit .278 against him. Riley, meanwhile, hit over 30 homers for the third season in a row, and he had a .941 OPS against lefties.
STAR
Ozzie Albies, ATL at PHI ($7,500): I'm doubling up on Atlanta hitters for these points-boosting spots. Albies is a switch hitter, but he had an 1.023 OPS against lefties, and Suarez is of course a lefty. On top of that, he had a .904 OPS on the road as well, while Suarez had a 5.45 ERA at home.
UTILITY
Kyle Schwarber, PHI vs. ATL ($7,000): What does Schwarber do? He swings for the fences. For the second year in a row the lefty slugger hit over 45 home runs. Since 2021 he's slugged .556 against right-handed pitchers as well. Strider is a very good pitcher, and he isn't homer prone, but you only have players on two teams to pick from. I'll take a shot with Schwarber, given that he only needs one good swing to do some damage.
Marcell Ozuna, ATL at PHI ($7,000): Ozuna was also a 40-homer hitter in 2023. While he hit .881 against righties, he also posted a robust .980 OPS versus lefties. Once Suarez is out of the game, Ozuna can still excel against a righty out of the bullpen, but he'll also get a look or two against the southpaw starter.
Nick Castellanos, PHI vs. ATL ($6,000): The way the salary pool shook out, and with my desire to balance things a bit with another Philly hitter, Castellanos made sense to round out this roster. He won't walk, but are you seeking walks for your single-game DFS lineups? Or would you rather have a guy who hit .272 with 29 homers, 106 RBI, and 11 stolen bases? Though he's a righty, like Strider, Castellanos had a .900 OPS at home.
