This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Happy Labor Day to all those in the United States, and here's hoping you can catch some baseball and enjoy the long weekend. Due to the holiday, we have baseball throughout the day, with the majority of games starting at 2:10 PM ET. That will be our focus in this article, and we have seven games to work with.
Pitchers
Typically, we list players in order of price, but we have to begin by pointing out that DK still hasn't fixed the price of Cole Ragans ($7,200). He's now topped 23 points in five of six games entering his Monday start against the White Sox. Given his recent form, Ragans should be on our radar in pretty much any matchup, but that's particularly true against a Chicago team that has an abysmal .302 wOBA with a 24 K% across the last 30 days.
Moving back up the price range, Logan Webb ($9,500) is an option for those looking to pay up for a bit more safety. He struggled against Atlanta in a recent start, but that's excusable. Otherwise, he's a consistent bet for mid-teens points, and a matchup against the Cubs gives him a slight advantage over Aaron Civale, who has similar skill and price but has to take on the Red Sox.
Merrill Kelly ($9,300) and Jose Berrios ($8,800) are both plays based on matchup. Kelly draws the Rockies in Arizona, while Berrios gets the A's. Berrios in particular has struggled of late, but the matchup suggests a bouceback should be on the way.
It may seem outlandish to suggest a Colorado pitcher in any context, but Peter Lambert ($5,200) should draw some interest from those looking for exceptionally cheap options. He's on the road and draws the Diamondbacks. In five road starts this season, Lambert has posted 18.9, 14.5, 1.5, 10.7 and 15.7 DK points. Three of those starts would be excellent at cost, one would be fine and would be a disaster. The Diamondbacks are a mediocre lineup as measured by wOBA and K%, so the matchup shouldn't cause too much trouble.
Top Hitters
Julio Rodriguez ($6,400) remains on fire and is priced accordingly. The Reds are throwing a bullpen game, so the exact matchups are unknown. However, I'll take Rodriguez in one of the better hitter's parks in the league without many questions.
George Springer ($4,600) has been disappointing overall this season, but he has shown the ability to rack up DK points in a number of different ways of late. He and the Blue Jays will draw a matchup against Ken Waldichuk, who has had very significant struggles in terms of both walks and homers this season.
Value Bats
With relatively cheap options to work with at pitcher, we can pay up a bit more than is typically the case with our value bats. That shifts our attention to Jose Abreu ($3,400), who has averaged 8.6 DK points in eight games since returning from the injured list. He also has a .174 ISO against LHP overall this season, and he squares off against homer-prone Andrew Heaney on Monday.
With only 14 pitchers taking the mound on the main slate, there aren't as many obvious places to attack. However, one is against Jesse Scholtens, who has the lowest strikeout rate among all the arms set to take the mound Monday. That makes Kansas City a more interesting team than is usually the case, and Drew Waters ($2,900) has some power upside at his price.
Stacks to Consider
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Oakland Athletics (Ken Waldichuk): George Springer ($4,600), Davis Schneider ($4,600), Vladimir Guerrero ($5,000)
We mentioned Waldichuk's struggles earlier in the article, but to put some numbers to it, he's served up 1.7 HR/9 and has only a 9.5 K-BB%. The Blue Jays are a quality lineup and the top of the order is relatively cheap, particularly given the value options available at pitcher. The primary downside is the Oakland Coliseum, but that's not enough to push us off of this stack.
Seattle Mariners vs. Cincinnati Reds (TBD): J.P. Crawford ($4,500), Julio Rodriguez ($6,400), Teoscar Hernandez ($4,600)
We talked about Rodriguez being on fire of late, but really it's been the entire Mariners' lineup. Across the last 30 days, the team has maintained a .374 wOBA and .215 ISO, good enough for second and third in the league respectively in those stats. As was noted, we don't know the exact matchup, but we do know the game will take place in Cincinnati -- among the best hitter's parks in the league.
