This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Thursday is an All-American day for MLB, with the two American League Game 4 matchups taking place. The first pitch of the night is at 6:08 p.m. ET. Will these series end? Or will at least one Game 5 occur? For now, onto my DFS lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Tanner Bibee, CLE at DET ($8,700): As a Tigers fan, it brings me no joy to say Bibee is the best option at pitcher Thursday. It's not just that he pitched 4.2 innings of shutout ball in Game 1, though that helps. Bibee had a 2.76 ERA on the road this season. Detroit did not get to this place through offensive firepower, as they finished the regular season with a .300 on-base percentage (OBP).
Top Target
It's not a hot take to say, "Hey, this Bobby Witt ($6,100) guy is pretty good." Even so, this is a particularly conducive circumstance for the Royals star. He had a 1.117 OPS at home this season, but also a 1.012 OPS versus his fellow righties. Gerrit Cole, while a top pitcher when in form, is a righty. He did not seem to be in top form in Game 1 of this series.
Bargain Bat
He only played in 82 games this season, but Parker Meadows ($4,100) still recorded nine homers, six triples and nine stolen bases. The lefty had a .780 OPS at home in 2024 and has hit consistently to start the postseason, with a hit in every game so far. While Tanner Bibee is the pitcher to go with Thursday, lefties did hit .263 against him. Only four teams are playing Thursday, so some overlap is kind of necessary.
Stack to Consider
Yankees at Royals (Michael Wacha): Juan Soto ($6,000), Jazz Chisholm ($4,800), Austin Wells ($3,900)
Wacha, like Cole, had a Game 1 to forget, allowing four hits and three earned runs in four innings of work. The righty had a 3.35 ERA this season, but a 3.65 FIP, and the fact Wacha is on his sixth team in six seasons is perhaps not a vote of confidence. The Yankees provide the stack option that interested me the most.
Soto was his usual stellar self against righties, posting a .999 OPS. However, even if the Royals try a lefty out of the bullpen, Soto had a .966 OPS against them for good measure. In his first season as a Yankee, he had a 1.017 OPS on the road as well. Over his time with the Marlins and the Yankees, Chisholm hit 24 home runs and stole 40 bases. He had a .787 OPS against righties, but since 2022, his OPS versus right-handed pitchers is .839. Wells is a good choice at catcher. Another lefty, he has a .771 OPS versus righties in his career and has slugged .435 on the road.
