Cleveland Guardians @ New York Yankees

Total: 7.5

Moneyline: Yankees -152

The only series left going is Yankees and Guardians as all the other MLB Divisional series' ended in rather quick fashion. Jameson Taillon vs Aaron Civale is the pitching matchup we have lined up for this pivotal Game 5. 

Don't forget to check out the MLB lineups page before locking in MLB daily fantasy lineups. Plus, use the MLB daily projections, our MLB DFS Optimizer, and the rest of our MLB DFS lineup tools before setting your lineups. Now let's look at our MLB DFS top picks for Sunday, October 17. 

 

 

Captain/MVP

Jameson Taillon, New York Yankees

Taillon had a very mid-tier season, going 14-6 with a 4.01 ERA and 151 strikeouts across 177.1 innings of work. I like pitchers in showdown slates due to the fact that they have high floors and ceilings and Taillon is the best pitching option of the two. 

Aaron Civale, Cleveland Guardians

Civale provides you with an alternative option on the mound, but he is far less appealing as he has the tougher matchup and didn’t pitch all that great this season, so I could see him having a very quick leash tonight. 

Anthony Rizzo, New York Yankees

Rizzo is 5-10 (.500) with two home runs against Civale in his career. He had an .849 OPS at home this season, compared to .790 on the road and he averaged a full dk point more per game at home. There is a lot to like with Rizzo today. 

Utility

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

Judge had reverse splits this year, slashing .322/.436/.706 against righties, compared to .274/.388/.622 against lefties. He always brings massive upside to the table. 

Harrison Bader, New York Yankees

Yesterday for Bader I wrote “I love the fact that Bader has two dingers in his past three games and is a stolen base threat as well. Bader has always been a streaky hitter and it looks like he could be at the start of the hot streak right now. He is also super cheap.” He came through with another dinger as my favorite bat of the day and we are going to right back to the well today with him. 

Aaron Hicks, New York Yankees

The reason to play Hicks is the same reason as yesterday; he is one of the very few punt options in this game as he has an extremely cheap price tag and opens the door up for other plays. Not much of a reason outside of that. 

Andrés Giménez, Cleveland Guardians

Gimenez hasn’t had a great postseason, but he did have a big regular season, hitting .294 with 17 home runs and 21 steals. He will likely be lesser owned tonight due to the fact that he is cold, which could make him an interesting play. 

José Ramírez, Cleveland Guardians

J-Ram slashed .292/.358/.522 on the road this season, compared to .276/.356/.481 at home. He provides big time upside, but the price tag isn’t the easiest to make work. 

Josh Naylor, Cleveland Guardians

He slashed .283 /334/.522 against righties this season with 19 home runs, compared to .173/.276/.236 against lefties with one home run. He also slashed .285/.328/.511 on the road, compared to .227/.302/.387 at home. 

Gabriel Arias, Cleveland Guardians

Arias draws another start today and he intrigues me with his price. He will man first base and he is one of the cheapest starters. He will probably see lower ownership than the other plays in his price range.