Monday, Oct. 5 resumes the expanded baseball playoffs with a two-game slate at 4:07 p.m. EST on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and SuperDraft. Before you lock in your MLB DFS lineups and MLB DFS picks, make sure to check out check out Awesemo’s DFS baseball MLB rankings and projections.
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Main-Slate MLB DFS Picks
Oakland Athletics vs. RHP Lance McCullers Jr.– 4.4 implied runs
Keep in mind the playoffs are now at neutral sites with the Astros and Athletics playing in Dodger Stadium. The Yankees and Rays are playing in Petco Park this afternoon. Tomorrow we will see these games reprised with the addition of the Marlins and Braves at Minute Maid Park and the Padres and Dodgers playing in Globe Life Park.
Houston last played on Wednesday, so everyone is fresh heading into this series. Keep in mind this round is a best of five series with the games scheduled on consecutive days. McCullers last took the mound on Sept. 26 in Texas against the Rangers.
Even with these teams staring down potentially five consecutive days of games, we should expect managers to still have a quick hook if their hurlers are in trouble with everyone well rested. McCullers has an elite ground ball rate of 59.3% against righties and a 53.0% rate against lefties since the beginning of the 2018 season. Same-handed hitters have still been able to get him for a 0.99 HR/9 when they can get the ball in the air, however. This is more about getting a timely extra base hit with runners in scoring position.
Marcus Semien is a steady producer against fellow righties, and he profiles well against McCullers. Khris Davis also traditionally has more power against same-handed hurlers, and while he has had a disappointing year-plus stretch, that has been a result of some injuries. The price is right, and even on a two-game slate his popularity is projecting to be somewhat suppressed today. Finally, we can look to Mark Canha as most gamers are going to flock to Jake Lamb for the cheap price tag and the lefty/righty matchup. Lamb has been in a two-year slump and is seeming like a trap with his boom/bust ways. Canha excels in righty/righty matchups, and he is locked in a with a .310/.462/.517 triple slash line over his last 10 games. Hopefully that carries over through the off days.
This looks like a great day for baseball with the temperature in the low-90s for this 1 o’clock local start.
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Tampa Bay Rays vs. RHP Gerrit Cole – 3.2 implied runs
With this being a two-game slate, the Rays are likely to be left out in the cold with their minuscule 3.2 implied run total. Keep in mind that this game is actually in Petco Park, not Tropicana Field. Cole has had a masterful season, logging 80.0 innings with a 2.81 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and an eye-popping 12.1 K/9 rate. The only knock against him is the 15 home runs, though he allowed just two in his final four starts.
The Yankees ace is not afraid to challenged lefties with an amazing 41.2% strikeout rate in the last two-plus seasons. However, that does come with the tradeoff of the occasional home run as evidenced by his 1.24 HR/9 in that same time frame.
On the two-game slates, particularly on the sites we have to roster a pair of pitcher, it is OK to take a few batters against your guys in my opinion. First up, literally, we have Yoshi Tsutsugo leading off. Though this is his first season in The Show, he was an accomplished hitter with power in the Japan League. At the top of the order, he has a good chance for at least four at bats.
Kevin Kiermaier is the other Tampa Bay batsman I am interested in for the platoon advantage and the discounted price tag. Again, we are looking for an extra base hit or even a home run here. It truly would be a shock to see Cole even put that many Rays on base.
Tomorrow we have a four-game slate, which should provide for a lot of fun and a larger player pool.
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