Happy Monday! Officially less than two weeks until the end of the season, and things are getting interesting! The Mariner's postseason hopes are starting to dwindle as they continue to drop games and are looking up at the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, needing to catch at least one of them to get to October. The NL Wild Card is really interesting as we have the Miami Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, and San Francisco Giants all in contention fighting for the final two spots. With all that excitement underway, we get a great 8-game main slate today on both DraftKings and FanDuel, getting underway at 7:05 PM EST. Today’s slate is highlighted by an NL East matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves, The Texas Rangers trying to keep their wildcard spot facing the Boston Red Sox, and the Seattle Mariners looking to chase them down getting to face the Oakland Athletics. 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 18

MLB Weather Updates

Looks like a clear day all the way across the slate today!

DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts

We have some great pitching options today. My favorites include my favorite from the top end as well as my favorite from some of the cheaper options, but some honorable mentions that I also like today include Justin Verlander, Michael Wacha, and Jordan Montgomery. On the offensive side, some of my favorite lineups to target include the San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago White Sox.

Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers

Top Options for Strikeouts

Freddy Peralta vs St. Louis Cardinals

Zack Wheeler vs Atlanta Braves

Jordan Montgomery vs Boston Red Sox

Kyle Wright vs Philadelphia Phillies

Bryan Woo vs Oakland Athletics

Best Odds for a Win

Michael Wacha vs Colorado Rockies

Lance Lynn vs Detroit Tigers

Freddy Peralta vs St. Louis Cardinals

Bryan Woo vs Oakland Athletics

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Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups

Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers

Freddy Peralta is the most expensive pitcher on today’s slate, but for good reason. Over his last 12 starts, he has hit double-digit strikeouts 5 times and made it to 9 strikeouts two other times. Over that stretch, he has 103 strikeouts through 70 innings to go along with a 2.70 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. Over that stretch, only Spencer Strider has more strikeouts with 104, but Peralta comes with a league-leading WHIP and the 6th-best ERA as well. He has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball over the two months or more, so he is well worth the price as the top pitcher.

Bryan Woo, Oakland Athletics

After a rough outing against the Cincinnati Reds, where he lost his control a bit, hitting 3 batters, walking another 3, and not recording a strikeout, he bounced back in a big way, striking out 8 against the Los Angeles Angels without giving up a run through 5.2 innings with 0 walks or hit batsmen. He now gets to face the Oakland Athletics and has an opportunity for another high-strikeout game while recording a much-needed win for the Seattle Mariners. 

Recommended DFS Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

Atlanta Braves vs Zack Wheeler

Milwaukee Brewers vs Adam Wainwright

Chicago White Sox vs Joan Adon

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Eduardo Rodriguez

Texas Rangers vs Kutter Crawford

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Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups

Bryce Harper, 1B Philadelphia Phillies

Bryce Harper looks ready for another big performance in October. He has been crushing the ball for quite a while now. Since August 1st, he has slashed .293/.415/.620 with 12 homers. That slash line is incredibly close to what he put up during his last MVP season in 2021, and he should be able to produce some fireworks today against Kyle Wright, who gave up 6 runs through 3 innings in his last outing against the Phillies.

Yoan Moncada, 3B Chicago White Sox

Over his last 20 starts, Yoan Moncada has only been held hitless 3 times. Over that stretch, he has slashed .338/.382/.563 with 4 homers. Considering before that stretch, he slashed .231/.275/.349 with 4 homers through 64 games, that is quite the turnaround. We’ve seen Moncada hit well across full seasons before, so I am going to believe that he will continue more of what he has done recently and not fall back into his struggles from the beginning of the season and last season.  

Xander Bogaerts, SS San Diego Padres

Xander Bogaerts is putting together an incredible September of hitting for the Padres. He only has one game without a hit this month and 7 multi-hit efforts, with 4 in his last 5 games. Over this month, he has slashed an amazing .436/.483/.727 with 3 homers, 7 doubles, and 3 steals. While the San Diego Padres season may be lost, Xander Bogaerts is at least giving them something to cheer for as he shows that he can still be worth that big contract they gave him going into this season.

Julio Rodriguez, OF Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are going to need some magic in September to finish this push to get to the postseason, and if it is going to happen, it will most likely be coming from Julio Rodriguez. He has continued to be amazing since his 17 hits in 4 games back in the middle of August. Since then, he has slashed .415/.444/.780 with 11 homers and 8 steals. He has 14 multi-hit games in that 26-game stretch, and I wouldn’t want to bet against him doing something special on any given night right now.

Player Pool

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Stacks

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