Toronto impressively bounced back in Game 4 after suffering what appeared to be a potential gut punch in Game 3. Regardless of what happens in the remaining two or three games, Wednesday night will be the final game of the season in Los Angeles.
It's stating the obvious, but at this point in the season we're down to only showdown slates. The roster requirements are different than in a traditional MLB slate. There are six total roster spots to fill but without positional requirements. There's also a captain slot that earns 1.5X points but also has a corresponding increase in price. The starting pitchers are the most obvious Captain choices, they also cost the most and will make the rest of the roster difficult to fill. That makes the Captain slot more of an interesting and pivotal choice than it may appear on the surface.
Pitchers
We have a very interesting matchup on the mound, with Blake Snell ($17,400/$11,600) taking the hill for the Dodgers and Trey Yesavage ($15,600/$10,400) for the Jays. Aside from Game 1 of the World Series, Snell has been lights out this postseason. He's worked at least six innings in six of his last seven starts (dating back to the regular season) while striking out at least nine in five of those contests. Snell is rightfully the most expensive player on the slate and is an obvious Captain candidate.
Yesavage has predictably been boom or bust. He's alternated good and bad starts, illustrating the risk and reward of rostering him. Yesavage doesn't come at much of a discount, but he is still a fine option for these building very high-variance lineups or those who are building many lineups.
Hitters
There isn't much to take away from splits for Yesavage given his very limited sample, so hunting for value in the Dodgers' lineup will be the primary goal. Shohei Ohtani ($15,900/$10,600) is the obvious starting point despite his high price tag. Teoscar Hernandez ($12,300/$8,200) has been the other Dodgers' hitter to put together big performances and would be a peripheral Captain option.
Sticking in LA, we can return to our suspects in the middle of the order that have provided some solid value all series, highlighted by Max Muncy ($7,000) and Will Smith ($6,400).
Flipping things over to Toronto, the story is similar to Tuesday. The higher-variance play is to believe Snell will stumble or both pitchers will perform very well and then stack the Jays' lineup. Vladimir Guerrero ($14,400/$9,600) has been overshadowed by Ohtani this series, but he has been excellent and is likely to be relatively under-rostered while also offering some moderate savings.
The leadoff spot will also be worth watching, as George Springer's ($13,500/$9,000) status remains in question. Should Springer remain sidelined, Davis Schneider ($4,800) looks to be the potential leadoff hitter with a southpaw on the mound. Additionally, if Springer is out, Bo Bichette ($7,600) would become more intriguing. In that scenario, Bichette can serve as the DH, and the risk of being replaced for defensive purposes decreases. Alejandro Kirk ($6,800) is another favorite in the middle of Toronto's order.
