MLB DFS Playbook September 15: Top Plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Published: Sep 15, 2023
We made it to Friday! We are getting to the final two weeks of the baseball season! With that, some important matchups are happening as teams are fighting to extend their season into October. The Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles square up as both are fighting to win the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays will try to keep their playoff hopes alive against the Boston Red Sox, and the Seattle Mariners have to face the Los Angeles Dodgers as they try to hold on to their wild card spot and keep themselves in the battle for the AL West, and the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Chicago Cubs as both try to claim NL wildcard spots. Lots of exciting baseball and plenty of great players to target to help us build some winning MLB DFS lineups, whether you are playing cash games or gpp tournaments, so let’s dive into today’s playbook! Be sure to check in with our MLB DFS Tools, with the daily MLB projections, MLB DFS rostership projections, and our MLB DFS Lineup Generator when building those lineups today to help you decide which players you should be targeting!
MLB DFS Playbook September 15
MLB Weather Updates
Looks like a clear day all the way across the slate today!
DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts
There are a lot of quality pitchers to target today. Outside of my favorites, I have plenty of honorable mentions that I wouldn’t oppose starting today, including Justin Steele, Zach Eflin, Hunter Greene, Jose Berrios, Griffin Canning, Bobby Miller, Jon Gray, and Wade Miley. There are also some very untrustworthy pitchers taking the mound at the bottom end, giving us plenty of offenses worth targeting today as well, with some of my favorites including the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, and Minnesota Twins.
Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers
Top Options for Strikeouts
Logan Webb vs Colorado Rockies
Aaron Nola vs St. Louis Cardinals
Justin Steele vs Arizona Diamondbacks
Hunter Greene vs New York Mets
George Kirby vs Los Angeles Dodgers
Best Odds for a Win
Logan Webb vs Colorado Rockies
Seth Lugo vs Oakland Athletics
Cristian Javier vs Kansas City Royals
Wade Miley vs Washington Nationals
Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups
Tarik Skubal has officially pitched himself into “Ace” status for me. He has been great all season and continues to get better. Over his last 5 starts, he has racked up 39 strikeouts through 30 innings with a 2.70 ERA and 0.90 WHIP. He has 3 wins and 3 quality starts over that stretch, only falling one run shy in one start and one inning short in his last start when he went only 5 innings, but he struck out 9 and only gave up 2 hits against the Chicago White Sox. I expect continued dominance today against the Los Angeles Angels.
Seth Lugo this season has only struggled against good teams, but when he plays lower-end offenses, he dominates. He should have no problem shutting down the Oakland Athletics today and has some sneaky good strikeout upside today as well. I think he is easy to overlook because he is 33, and he starts against good offenses where he struggles to keep his overall numbers not as great, but against bad teams, Lugo has been fantastic and incredibly consistent.
Recommended DFS Hitters
Highest Expected Run Totals
San Francisco Giants vs Chase Anderson
Houston Astros vs Zack Greinke
Colorado Rockies vs Logan Webb
Minnesota Twins vs Jesse Scholtens
San Diego Padres vs Sean Newcomb
Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups
Spencer Torkelson, 1B Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are going to have yet another season under .500, but they have a lot to be excited about, and high up that list is the emergence of Spencer Torkelson. The 24-year-old took a little while longer to develop than we might have expected as he was coming up from college, but he has taken some huge strides this season. Over his last 11 games, he has slashed .341/.396/.682, along with 4 homers, and I expect more of the same from him today against Griffin Canning and the Los Angeles Angels.
Noelvi Marte, 3B Cincinnati Reds
Noelvi Marte hasn’t been starting every day, but I think he should get the start today against the lefty David Peterson. Over his last 10 starts, Marte has slashed .394/.444/.545, along with a homer and a steal. Marte is going to be a big part of this young Reds core going into next year, and his price remains way too low for the quality of hitting that he is already showing.
Trea Turner, SS Philadelphia Phillies
If you were hung up on Trea Turner having a slow start to the season, you should be fully over that by now. He has been other-worldly recently and is now just two homers shy of his career-high and has posted his second career 25-25 season. Since the beginning of August, over his last 35 games, Treat has hit 16 homers. Over his last 14 games, he has 11 multi-hit games and 11 homers, along with 19 runs, 24 RBIs, and 4 stolen bases. That would be an insane month of production for someone, and he has done it in two weeks of games.
Brandon Nimmo, OF New York Mets
If you want stable production, you look to Brandon Nimmo. Despite the embarrassment of a season that the Mets have had, Nimmo has continued to produce at the plate. He has already set a career-high in homers at 23, shattering his previous high of 17 back in 2018, and in what is only the 19th highest-scoring offense so far this season, he has still managed 81 runs and 60 RBIs. He currently has a 1.081 OPS over his last 15 games, and while I am a fan of Hunter Greene, I don’t see why we wouldn’t expect Nimmo to return quality value yet again today.
Player Pool
| $ Tier | SP | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High |  Justin Steele  $11,000 |  Pete Alonso $4,200 |  Jose Altuve $4,200 |  Rafael Devers $3,900 |  Trea Turner $4,100 |  Julio Rodríguez $4,500 |
 Zach Eflin $10,300 | Yordan Alvarez $4,100 | |||||
 Mookie Betts $4,400 | ||||||
| Medium |  Tarik Skubal $9,800 | Spencer Torkelson $3,400 |  Brandon Lowe $3,300 | Isaac Paredes $3,000 |  Xander Bogaerts $3,000 | Brandon Nimmo $3,200 |
 Seth Lugo $9,500 | Seiya Suzuki $3,500 | |||||
| Bobby Miller $9,100 |  Mike Yastrzemski $3,500 | |||||
| Low |  Hunter Greene $8,700 | Christian Encarnacion-Strand $2,700 |  Edouard Julien $2,800 | Ceddanne Rafaela $2,600 | Noelvi Marte $2,400 | Matt Vierling $2,700 |
 Wade Miley $7,000 | Robbie Grossman $2,700 | |||||
| Luke Raley $2,900 |
Stacks
| Rays | Luke Raley | Randy Arozarena | Brandon Lowe | Isaac Paredes | Josh Lowe |
 DraftKings | 3400 | 5200 | 4400 | 4200 | 4000 |
| Fanduel | 2900 | 3500 | 3300 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Twins | Royce Lewis | Jorge Polanco | Max Kepler | Edouard Julien |
| DraftKings | 4900 | 4500 | 3800 | 3700 |
| Fanduel | 3700 | 3200 | 2900 | 2800 |
| Tigers | Spencer Torkelson | Kerry Carpenter | Matt Vierling |
| DraftKings | 4700 | 4600 | 3900 |
| Fanduel | 3400 | 2900 | 2700 |
| Cubs | Dansby Swanson | Seiya Suzuki | Cody Bellinger | Ian Happ | Yan Gomes |
| DraftKings | 5400 | 4300 | 6400 | 4900 | 3500 |
| Fanduel | 3600 | 3500 | 4600 | 3500 | 3000 |
| Reds | Spencer Steer | Jonathan India | Noelvi Marte | Nick Senzel | Christian Encarnacion-Strand |
| DraftKings | 5100 | 4600 | 3400 | 3000 | 3600 |
| Fanduel | 3200 | 3300 | 2400 | 2500 | 2700 |
Player News
Daulton Varsho picked up three hits, three RBI and a homer in a win over the Angels on Thursday.
Varsho has only played in seven games this year, but they’ve been seven good ones. He’s homered three times already, and his slugging percentage is a remarkable — and entirely unsustainable — .727 over 22 at-bats. Varsho has been a mediocre offensive player in his two seasons with the Blue Jays, but it’s possible at the age of 28 he’s having a breakout campaign. Far from a guarantee, but possible.
Taylor Ward hit a two-run homer in a loss to the Blue Jays on Thursday.
Ward, 31, gave the Angels a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer off Chris Bassitt in the first inning. He’s now gone deep in two of his last three games, and it ‘improves’ his slash to .181/.224/.391. Ward has been one of the most hot/cold players players in the sport over the last few years, so fantasy managers who can afford to make some roster moves may want to look at Ward while the going is good.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. picked up three hits and scored twice in an 8-5 win over the Angels on Thursday.
Guerrero also drew a walk. It gives the first baseman multiple hits in back-to-back games, and it’s the third time in May that he’s reached that mark. That’s helped raise his average from .268 to .295, and the only thing fantasy managers can be disappointed with is his .432 slugging percentage. That number should continue to climb as the season unfolds, but Vladdy Jr. has had some inconsistent seasons when it comes to power production.
Chad Green picked up his first save of 2025 with a scoreless ninth against the Angels on Thursday.
Green got the save after Jeff Hoffman worked in back-to-back games — and struggled — in the first two contests against the Angels. He struck out two and looked the part while needing just nine pitches to get through the inning. Hoffman should remain the closer, but Green is on his tail if the struggles were to continue.
Chris Bassitt allowed five runs — four earned — while working six-plus innings against the Angels on Thursday while picking up a win.
Bassitt allowed three runs over the first two innings on a pair of homers, but settled down over his next four frames. He came out to work the seventh, but ended up being charged for two more runs after leaving the contest. The 36-year-old veteran has forged a 3.35 ERA and outstanding 49/8 K/BB ratio over the first quarter of the season, but this wasn’t him at his best. He’ll get the Rays next week if the rotation order stays the same for Toronto.
José Soriano allowed three runs over five innings while not factoring in the decision Thursday against the Blue Jays.
Soriano left with a 4-3 lead, but it was erased quickly after his departure. The 26-year-old was not exactly dominant in his outing with eight hits allowed and four free passes, but he did strike out six to help balance things out a smidgen. Soriano takes an even ERA of 4.00 into a scheduled start against the Padres in San Diego on Tuesday. There should be better options for that one.