This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
It's the middle of the week, but the end of the MLB regular season is inching closer. We know when the playoff will begin, and when the World Series will kick off, but first things first. Wednesday there are nine MLB games starting at 7:05 p.m. EDT or later. Here are my lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Kevin Gausman, TOR at CLE ($11,000): Gausman has had a couple iffy starts recently, but this is a great chance for him to get things humming. Given that he has a 2.78 FIP and has struck out 5.21 batters for every walk, I'm confident in that. Plus, the Guardians are a bottom-five offense that is last in home runs by a wide margin, so they aren't exactly a candidate to light up any pitcher.
Nick Pivetta, BOS vs. KC ($8,500): I've seen a couple different names in terms of who will start for the Red Sox on Wednesday, but the RotoWire pitching grid has Pivetta, and so that is the name I'm going with. Regardless, it's really about the matchup. Kansas City is the only one of baseball's three clear worst offenses in action during this segment of the schedule Wednesday, so they are an obvious target, be it Pivetta or anybody else.
Mike Clevinger, CWS vs. NYY ($8,100): Clevinger's ability to keep lefties in check might not come into play too much against the Yankees, especially with Anthony Rizzo hurt, but his 2.10 ERA at home does stand out to me. So does the fact the Yankees are, well, a bad offense. They rank in the bottom 10 in runs scored and have a .231 batting average as a team.
Top Targets
Let's see, so Matt Olson ($4,400) has hit 39 home runs this season, and he has an 1.035 OPS versus righties. Quinn Priester has an 8.69 ERA, has allowed 2.29 homers per nine innings, and has let lefties hit .333 against him. Yeah, this matchup looks good to me.
If you see a player has hit 21 homers, as Yordan Alvarez ($4,300) has, you'd take that as good production. However, Alvarez has done that in a mere 68 games, a reminder of his career .593 slugging percentage. Few players match Alvarez's sheer power, and Jack Flaherty's struggles with lefties will come into play. The newly minted Oriole has allowed southpaws to hit .310 against him.
Bargain Bats
In his first season with Arizona, Lourdes Gurriel ($3,100) has been a righty who has performed better against righties, having slugged .491 in those matchups. Meanwhile, he's also posted a .500 slugging percentage in his new home park. Bobby Miller started his rookie campaign well, but over his last eight starts he has a 6.25 ERA. Also, while he's been strong against lefties his fellow righties have hit .290 against him.
If you're looking for more than doubles power, Andrew Benintendi ($2,600) isn't really the guy, but he has hit .276 and stolen 12 bases. He's also the only lefty of any note in a bad White Sox lineup. That matters Wednesday, though, because Luis Severino and his 7.74 ERA is slated to be on the mound, and lefties have hit .357 against him.
Stacks to Consider
Red Sox vs. Royals (Jordan Lyles): Rafael Devers ($3,500), Jarren Duran ($3,100), Triston Casas ($2,800)
Let's just say that just before I started writing up this stack I checked to see if Lyles had a negative career WAR. He doesn't, as through sheer tonnage of innings he's managed a 7.9 fWAR across 1,444.2 innings, but it felt plausible to me. Lyles has a career 5.20 ERA, a 6.24 ERA this season, and a 7.56 ERA on the road. Lefties have also hit .271 against him in 2023, so this is a three-southpaw stack.
Since 2021, Devers has a .924 OPS versus righties and a .903 OPS at home. He's likely to have his third 30-homer season, and also to slug over .500 for the fourth full MLB season in a row. Duran has slugged .505, though that's largely based on 33 doubles, as he only has eight homers. What he also has, though, is 23 steals. Oh, and a .959 OPS at home. Casas won't be running at all, but his keen batting eye and power bring plenty to the table. In his career he has an .845 OPS versus righties and an .846 OPS at Fenway Park.
Orioles vs. Astros (Cristian Javier): Anthony Santander ($3,300), Gunnar Henderson ($3,200), Ryan O'Hearn ($2,700)
Javier just can't get himself on track. Over his last seven starts he has an 8.16 ERA. On the season, he has a 5.29 ERA on the road, where he has allowed 1.8 homers per nine innings. While Javier has continued to keep righties in check, lefties have hit .278 against him, so therein lies his problem, and my stack.
Santander is a switch-hitter with power, with no real preference for facing lefties or righties. He does have a preference for Baltimore's ballpark, though, where he's slugged .501 since 2021. Henderson is a promising rookie, mostly because he's hit the league able to handle right-handed pitchers. He has an .873 OPS versus righties in his career, and this year that's helped him rack up 19 homers and five triples. O'Hearn has earned a surprise regular role for the Oriples based fully on be able to hit righties. He has an .846 OPS in those matchups, and he hasn't cooled down either. Over the last three weeks he has an .827 OPS.
