This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Wednesday is often get-away day for MLB, which means a lot of afternoon baseball. In fact, the evening slate consists of only five games. You don't need to get your DFS lineups in before 1 p.m. EDT on a workday, though. First pitch is at 6:45 p.m. Here are my lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Adrian Houser, NYM vs. DET ($8,200): With Tuesday's game rained out, Houser is in line to start Wednesday now. This is his first season with the Mets, but last season he had a 3.99 FIP with the Brewers. Additionally, the righty has allowed a mere 0.92 home runs per nine innings. The Tigers have a fine pitching staff, but they finished in the bottom five in runs scored last year and didn't really upgrade their roster a ton.
Top Targets
Will Kyle Tucker ($3,600) have his third 25/25 season in a row? I like the odds of it happening. Tucker has an .857 OPS versus right-handed pitchers since 2022, and while Chris Bassitt had a 3.60 ERA in his first season with the Blue Jays, it masked a 4.27 FIP. He kept righties in check (.208 average), but lefties hit .265 against him.
In each of his last three seasons Bryan Reynolds ($3,600) has hit at least 24 home runs, but last season he also had five triples and 12 stolen bases. The switch hitter does well against both righties and lefties, but since 2022 he has an .857 OPS on the road. Mostly, though, I like having somebody going against former Pirate hurler Trevor Williams. He has a career 4.59 FIP and had a 5.98 FIP last season, his first with the Nationals. Williams also allowed 2.12 homers per nine innings in 2023.
Bargain Bats
Switch-hitting Ian Happ ($3,400) has tallied 60 extra-base hits in each of his last two campaigns. While he's not primed to hit for a ton of power, topping out at 25 homers in his best season, Happ had a .360 OBP in 2023. Cal Quantrill's first start as a Rockie was a disaster, even on the road in Arizona, but that isn't a surprise. He had a 5.24 ERA the season prior with Cleveland.
I wouldn't take too much from CJ Abrams ($3,200) having three stolen bases in four games…except for the fact he swiped 47 bags last season. The shortstop seems to have emerged as a dynamo on the base paths. He still needs more patience at the plate, and to be playable against lefties, but he has a .766 OPS against righties. Mitch Keller is right-handed, and in his first start he allowed seven hits, two walks, and four earned runs in 5.2 innings. As a reminder, he had a 4.21 ERA in 2023.
Stack to Consider
Dodgers vs. Giants (Kyle Harrison): Mookie Betts ($4,800), Teoscar Hernandez ($3,500), Chris Taylor ($2,500)
Harrison has a 3.00 ERA after one start, but with a 6.18 FIP owing to the fact he allowed six hits and two homers in six innings of work. Sure, that's one outing, but last year his 4.15 ERA was paired with a 5.53 FIP in seven starts. Harrison's career is in the early stages, but until he turns a corner, I certainly feel like tapping into arguably baseball's best lineup for a stack makes sense.
Betts has managed to outdo himself to start this season, which is remarkable given that he has an MVP to his name and had a .987 OPS last year. I'll buy into the full season of numbers from last year as more viable than continuing to hit homers at this rate (five in eight games), but that makes him an MVP candidate, just not peak Barry Bonds. Betts also has an OPS over 1.000 against lefties and at home since 2022. Hernandez has four home runs in seven games as well, though he continues to be seemingly incapable of taking a walk more than once in a (Dodger) blue moon. However, it is encouraging since Hernandez said he had issues at home in his one season with Seattle, where he had a .643 OPS. On the road he had an .830 OPS, so hopefully something along those lines will be where Hernandez lands. With a lefty on the mound (and Jason Heyward and James Outman having issues with health and performance respectively), I expect Taylor in the lineup. He had 15 homers and 16 stolen bases last year. Taylor also had a .795 OPS versus lefties and a .756 OPS at home.
