Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks for Saturday, September 21st
Long-time grinder, stlcardinals84, is here to cover the bases for the upcoming MLB DFS slate. Whether you are looking for the top pitchers or the best stacks, Cards has you covered with an extensive deep dive into his favorite MLB DFS picks.
Happy Saturday, Grinders! We have our usual split slate Saturday going today, but both FanDuel and DraftKings have offered very minimal prize pools for the early slates. FanDuel has also split the early slate up into two very small slates. As such, we are simply going to focus the article today on the seven games occurring this evening, which has much larger prize pools on both sites.
We are at the point where we need to start considering motivation angles too, as more and more teams are being eliminated from playoff contention and might start shutting players down or giving pitchers lower pitch count limits. I will address some of these situations as we go through the analysis. Remember that you can always rely on our MLB DFS optimizer to help you with the process of building lineups.
Let’s see what this Saturday has in store for MLB DFS picks!
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Saturday Night Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings
A RELATIVELY BARREN TOP TIER
Carlos Rodon vs. A’s
Ronel Blanco vs. Angels
We have two pitchers at the top of the slate today, but they are two pitchers I tend to have limited DFS interest in most of the time. However, slate context matters, so maybe that changes today. Let’s start with a look at the 2024 data for both of them:
Rodon – 4.12 ERA, 4.06 xFIP, 27% K, 7% BB
Blanco – 2.88 ERA, 4.15 xFIP, 24% K, 10% BB
In terms of matchups today, Blanco does have the better one. He is facing an Angels team that ranks 28th in team wOBA and has the fifth highest strikeout rate in baseball over the past month. Meanwhile, Rodon has to face an A’s offense that has been surprisingly pesky. They rank above average in team wOBA but also have the eighth highest strikeout rate over that same time frame.
I am not enamored with either pitcher, but I will give the edge to Rodon simply because he has a higher strikeout rate and a lower walk rate than Blanco. I just can’t get excited about Blanco with his command issues.
To be clear, I do not believe that either guy is a must. You can absolutely go cheap at pitcher if you want, as the odds of a slate-breaking score aren’t significant from Rodon or Blanco. There is a ton of offense tonight that we might want to pay up for, so I have no issue eschewing the top tier. If I do choose one of them, however, it will be Rodon.
SECONDARY PITCHING OPTIONS
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