Greg Landry | @glandry on LineStar | @GP_Landry on Twitter

🚨 3rd Episode of the PreSnap Podcast is up! Joe and Chris Preview the AFC/NFC South for the upcoming NFL DFS season! 🚨

There is one month left in the MLB regular season. Week one of College Football is just about in the books. Week one of the NFL season is here with final cut downs taking place yesterday afternoon. It's certainly a great time of the year for sports and for DFS. This will be the last weekend MLB article of the season as many of you are likely to put all your attention into football on Saturday and Sunday for the foreseeable future (at least until NBA starts). I would encourage you to stick with baseball if you can, as most of our competition is also likely to be focused on football from now on which could lead to a lower quality of lineups out there for us to go up against.

Before we jump into today it's a good time to take a quick look at the current playoff picture. At this point in the season you want to try to focus on teams currently in the hunt as much as you can. It won't always be possible but the more we can build lineups around teams with something left to play for, the better off we will be in the long run. The Dodgers, Yankees, and Astros are all battling for best record in baseball and look poised to be the biggest threats to continue playing in late October. The NL Central, similar to last season, is the tightest race with the Cubs and Cardinals separated by just two games. The Twins are beginning to run away from the Indians as they've opened up a 4.5 game lead looking to capture the AL Central division title and the Braves are looking less and less likely to give up the NL East as they are now up by five games. The Wild Card races will be very interesting down the stretch. Cleveland currently holds a half game lead for the first AL Wild Card spot over the Rays and the Athletics who are currently tied for the second spot. Boston is still mathematically in the hunt but this is shaping up to be a very close three way battle for two spots. The National League Wild Card has the Nationals and Cubs with some separation over the Phillies who are currently 3.5 games out. However, the National League has several more teams that are still technically in the hunt with the Diamondbacks, Brewers, and Mets all tied at 69-66, four games back each. There's a lot of baseball left.

With that, it's Sunday so we have an early main slate today. On DraftKings, this is a ten game main slate. On FanDuel, this is an eight game main slate. Here are the match ups and Vegas lines:

Weather Outlook ⛅️

Quiet weather once again. Basically no threats of rain (a couple of spots of single digit percentages). Cooler temperatures and calm winds around most of the league. The only two spots with hot weather are in Texas (90 degrees) and Colorado (94 degrees) and both of those games are only on the DraftKings slate.

Stay up to date on all weather conditions and confirmed lineups as soon as they are released over in LineStar chat & on the Daily Dashboard!

Pitchers to Consider

Justin Verlander, HOU | DK: $12K, FD: $11.9K | RHP | vs. Toronto

Patrick Corbin is facing the Marlins and you get a nice discount on him compared to Verlander so I can absolutely understand the argument. But this isn't an overly difficult match up for Verlander either and his ceiling has simply been unmatched recently. Logic suggests most of the field will elect to save some salary and take the high upside Corbin against the Marlins. If that's going to leave to Verlander at significantly less ownership, I think it's something we need to consider. He's had 30 or more fantasy points (DraftKings scoring) in six of his last eight starts (one game over 40 FP). Compare that to Corbin who has had zero such starts during that same span. Prior to Verlander's last start where he was (wisely) pulled to give him some rest after just 5.1 innings with the Astros up 9-0, he had gone seven straight starts with double-digit strikeouts. He's second in the league (behind his teammate Gerrit Cole) with 243 strikeouts on the season. Again, I understand the appeal of taking a cheaper option against the weaker Marlins lineup, but find me a pitcher who has been more consistent or has had a better floor/ceiling combination this season than Verlander. There is still room for him to exceed value at this salary with how incredible he's pitched.

Michael Pineda, MIN | DK: $9.3K, FD: $9.5K | RHP | vs. Detroit

This one is obvious but it's also tough to pivot away from. I was hoping we might get a discount on FanDuel but he's actually more expensive over there, so no such luck. Either way, he's likely going to be worth the salary in a dream spot against the Tigers. We have to take Pineda's recent success with a grain of salt, as he's been extremely fortunate to have faced the White Sox (four times!), the Marlins, and the Royals in six of his last ten starts. During that span, he's had a 3.39 ERA (3.99 SIERA), 1.15 WHIP, 24.5% strikeouts, and 4.6% walks. His luck should continue tonight against a Detroit team that is dead last in the league against right-handed pitching including only a .126 ISO and a massive 25.2% strikeout rate. I'm going to be ready to jump off the Pineda train and jump on the bats against him once he faces a worthy opponent again. But until that happens, pitchers against Detroit has been a profitable strategy all season and it doesn't make sense to stop now.

Aaron Brooks, BAL | DK: $4.7K, FD: $6.1K | RHP | vs. Kansas City

After two abysmal starts against some difficult competition (Astros and Red Sox) Brooks is 2-0 in his last two starts pitching 11 innings and allowing just one earned run (total) with 10 strikeouts and only two walks. I realize two starts is a very small sample but he's trending in the right direction and his price on DraftKings is extremely appealing today. It's a positive match up against the Royals who are in the bottom five of the league against right-handed pitching with only a .296 wOBA and .156 ISO. If Brooks can get through five innings and put up anything close to the numbers he's had in his last two starts he'll provide an excellent ROI on his small price tag today on DraftKings. On FanDuel, a one pitcher site where he is $1400 more, he's a much tougher sell and we can do better.

Team Stacks to Target

Keep in mind, there’s no rule saying you *have* to roll out four and five man stacks. Sometimes mixing and matching two and three man stacks with some one-off hitters is the better route to take in order to give yourself more exposure to different offenses.

Coors Field & Globe Life Park Disclaimer: All teams in these hitter-friendly parks are "stackable" by default and won’t be highlighted in this section.

Oakland Athletics vs. J.A Happ (LHP), NYY

Happ pitched well enough in his last start to squash the rumors, at least temporarily, about him losing his spot in the rotation. I'd be more convinced if he hadn't faced a struggling Seattle offense. In August, he's been horrendous including a 7.30 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, and 11.1% walks. He's allowed a 42.4% hard contact rate which has resulted in a miserable 2.92 HR/9. Oakland has several bats that smash left-handed pitching and this is a great hitters park. Load up on the right-handed bats here. Happ has allowed a .369 wOBA and .229 ISO to righties over his last 20 starts.

New York Yankees vs. Sean Manaea (LHP), OAK

Manaea will be making his season debut today after spending the year on the IL recovering from a torn labrum. Oakland will look to get some innings under his belt the rest of the way so he can hopefully provide a lift to their rather sketchy starting rotation and make a run at the playoffs. He looked pretty good in his rehab starts but facing Triple-A competition and facing the Yankees in the Bronx are two completely different animals. While I believe he'll be an upgrade over a couple of the options currently available to Oakland (cough, Homer Bailey, cough) returning to the big leagues after missing as much time as he has is a challenge. Similar to Oakland, load up on the right handed bats here. In addition, I know it's a lefty/lefty match up, but it's really hard to ignore what Mike Ford has been doing with his opportunities. He has a ridiculous 1.685 wOBA+ISO and 4.86 FP/PA in 22 plate appearances against left-handed pitching.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Tyler Mahle (RHP), CIN

Mahle will be recalled to start game one of today's double-header. He's been brutal against the Cardinals in two starts this season. On April 27th, he went five innings allowing five earned runs and more walks (three) than strikeouts (two). His last start on July 19th before being sent down to the minors was also against St.Louis where he went 5.1 innings allowing four earned runs. A few of these guys are very affordable and may help you get some exposure to the Coors game. Paul DeJong has a .631 wOBA+ISO in his last 62 plate appearances against right-handed pitching. Dexter Fowler, at just $3.9K on DraftKings, owns a .665 wOBA+ISO in his last 20 games against right-handed pitching. Paul Goldschmidt is just $4.2K on DraftKings today as well.

One-Off Hitters

Here I’ll highlight players at [roughly] different price points (high, mid, low) that could be used as a ‘one-off’ piece in lineups -- or perhaps part of a two man mini-stack.

Anthony Santander, BAL | OF | DK: $4.3K, FD: $3K | vs. Danny Duffy, KC

There's still room for growth in Santander's salary, as he's shown the last several nights. He has double-digit fantasy performances in four of his last five games including two games with over 30 fantasy points. In his last 31 plate appearances against left-handed pitching he owns an outstanding .998 wOBA+ISO and 3.16 FP/PA. Keep buying low while you can.

Ian Desmond, COL | OF | DK: $4.5K, FD: N/A | vs. Steven Brault, PIT

He's in Coors so right off the bat he should already be standing out to you but there's more to it. This is too cheap for Desmond, at home, facing a lefty. He has a .386 wOBA, .287 ISO, and 2.24 FP/PA against left-handed pitching over his last 150 games. Brault, meanwhile, is allowing a .352 wOBA to right-handed batters over his last 20 starts. Throw this all together in the most friendly hitter's park in baseball and Desmond is set up for a nice ROI here.

Francisco Lindor, CLE| SS | DK: $4.4K, FD: $4.3K | vs. Charlie Morton, TB

Huge price decrease on DraftKings for Lindor today. He was $5.5K for last night's game and he's all the way down to $4.4K today on DraftKings. I realize Morton is not a great match up but an $1100 decline overnight is a steep drop, especially for a player like Lindor who has double-digit fantasy points in six of his last eight games. Don't focus on the history against Morton, it's only a 15 plate appearance sample size.

🚨 Get 3 Free Months of LineStar Premium 🚨

Get 3-months of LineStar Premium for new users to SuperDraft who deposit/play $10!

Terms: Partnership offers do NOT renew. See SuperDraft landing page for full terms and conditions. Must be a new user to SuperDraft and deposit and play a minimum of $10 to qualify. If you have an existing LineStar Premium subscription you get a Hat/Tee/Pen combo instead of the 3-months.

And be sure to subscribe to the PreSnap Podcast - more preseason shows on the way!

Let us know if you enjoyed the issue with a 👍 or 👎!