The wild card races are heating up, especially in the National League where it is anybody’s guess how things might turn out. As these last few series get underway this season, the opportunity for DFS players lie in some of these “meaningless” games where there is potential for high offensive output. The NL Cy Young race probably is already decided although we do get the unique opportunity to witness three of the top four candidates in action on the same night. Blake Snell, Zac Gallen and Spencer Strider were all favorites at different points in the season for the award although it seems to belong to Blake Snell at this point.

This is for the 9/19 4:05 PM PST classic slate on Draftkings.

Writer’s Record

48-25-1

Toronto Blue Jays ML (-117) @ New York Yankees

The Blue Jays are coming off a three game sweep of the Red Sox and will turn to Yusei Kikuchi in the first game of this series. Kikuchi has been pretty solid for Toronto, despite his last start against the Rangers. Clarke Schmidt starts for the Yankees and his performances have fallen off compared to where they were a few months ago. Schmidt has allowed too many hits lately and Toronto should be using these games to build momentum heading into the postseason.

DFS Pillar Plays

Blake Snell

Position: P

Salary: $10,600

The Cy Young odds continue to shift towards Blake Snell as he’s currently the favorite at -220 on DraftKings. Snell has been sensational all season long, but he’s started to distance himself from the other Cy Young candidates with his recent performances. Over Snell’s last eight starts, he has allowed only 12 runs and struck out 61 batters. The matchup is against the Rockies who have the third most amount of strikeouts among all clubs this year. Spencer Strider and Luis Castillo are the only pitchers priced above him but the matchup with the NL West’s bottom feeders lead me to look Snell’s way. In Snell’s previous start against the Rockies, he struck out 12 batters over seven innings.

Luis Robert Jr. 

Position: OF

Salary: $5,500 

The Nationals will be starting 24-year-old Jackson Rutledge in what will be only his second major league appearance. In his first start, which came against the Pirates, Rutledge allowed 10 hits and seven runs while not making it past the fourth inning. The White Sox will have a great opportunity to put some serious offense up and Luis Robert is the main man in the lineup. He homered on Monday and will have a good chance to do so again against the young right-hander.

Max Muncy

Position: 3B

Salary: $5,000

Max Muncy is having a season in the vein of Kyle Schwarber. Not quite to the extremes that Schwarber is, but close, as Muncy is barely over that Mendoza line with 35 homers to his name and only 40 singles. After a hit in Monday’s game, Muncy’s hit streak has been extended to nine consecutive games and he has scored a run in all nine of those games as well. The Tigers will be starting right-hander Alex Faedo in Tuesday’s game.

DFS Value Plays (<$3500 Salary)

Tim Anderson

Position: SS

Salary: $3,300

I’ll be starting Tim Anderson for the same reason Luis Robert Jr. will be heavily featured in DFS lineups. The Nats might, yet again, let their young starter eat it to see what he’s got in the tank and that just means a possible free hit for these White Sox veterans. While TA has had a season to forget, he’s put together a five game hit streak with seven hits in just his last two contests. 

Bo Naylor

Position: C

Salary: $3,200

Bo Naylor is only 23 and he should be the catcher for this Guardians team for a good while. His September has been his best month yet at the major league level. He has a hit in nine out of 12 games this month and he has an XBH in two straight games.

Jake Rogers

Position: C

Salary: $3,100

Rogers has four home runs in his last three games and a .939 OPS in September. He ranks 93rd percentile in sweet spot % over the entire year according to Baseball Savant. Rogers has a hit in six straight games and 10 total hits over that stretch.