Fantasy Baseball Picks: Top DraftKings MLB DFS Lineup Strategy for Rays vs. Yankees Showdown on October 3

Well, that escalated quickly. The Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Mariners are all battling for a Wild Card spot. After winning seven games in a row, it seemed that the Yankees playoff birth was safe. Unfortunately, they turned around and lost three of four, while the other AL contenders surged. While it’s do or die for the Yankees, game 162 is meaningless for the Rays, but so were their wins over the Yankees in games 160 and 161.

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Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees

Captain’s Picks

Aaron Judge ($16,500 CP) — Michael Wacha is a reverse splits pitcher. He has always struggled with right-handed batters and this season is no different — .356 wOBA, .217 ISO and a 45% hard contact rate. There are two right-handed batters that jump to the top of the list. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton’s stats are nearly identical against right-handed pitching. Judge has a .377 wOBA and .243 ISO and he’s been a better hitter on the road. Stanton has similar marks, but there is one difference. Judge has a .342 wOBA and .202 ISO during day games this season, but Stanton has struggled in day games — .291 wOBA, .110 ISO and a 84 wRC+.

Jameson Taillon ($14,700 CP) — If the Rays decide to rest some of their starters on the final day of the season in a meaningless game, then Taillon will easily become the best captain’s pick. A meaningless game with backups hacking with little regard for the result and more concern for the brevity of the game, could lead to a heroic double-digit strikeout performance for the starter in pinstripes. Taillon has been below average over the last two months, and on slate void of narratives he would be completely ignored. However, in a big game in New York, Taillon has a tremendous amount of upside.

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Value Plays

Gio Urshela ($6,400) — Over the last week, Urshela has a .402 wOBA. He is also on an 11-game hit streak, and even further back, he has hit safely in 16 of the last 17 games. Over that span, he has collected 21 hits, 10 runs and seven RBIs with a .387 wOBA. Urshela has been better against lefties, but Wacha’s reverse splits practically make the Rays starter a southpaw. Lastly, Urshela has been a significantly better hitter at Yankee Stadium — .345 wOBA and 120 wRC+.

Austin Meadows ($7,000) — If anyone is going to ruin the Yankees’ season, it’s going to be Austin Meadows. Jameson Taillon handles right- and left-handed batters the same, but he does allow more fly balls to left-handed batters. Meadows has taken advantage of this weakness in the past. In six at-bats against Taillon, Meadows has two home runs and a double. Meadows has hit safely in five of the last six games with two home runs and a triple.

Fades

Michael Wacha ($14,100 CP; $9,400) — In his last start, Wacha held the Astros hitless over five innings. In his start before that, he allowed six earned runs. Wacha has strikeout upside and his advanced metrics are favorable, but after 119 innings, he has a 5.26 ERA. His fancy numbers can say whatever they want, but in 22 starts, he has three wins — obviously, he’s not doing something right. The Yankees will be motivated and the hometown crowd will be fired up. It’s very likely that the bad Wacha shows up for this game.

The Outcome

The Rays just don’t have anything to play for and everything is on the line for Aaron Boone and the Yankees on Sunday afternoon. New York has gone from out of it, to comfortably in the playoffs, to back out of it, too many times to count over the last two months. Someone has to step up on Sunday and it could be the unlikely hero, Jameson Taillon.

Final Score: Yankees 4, Rays 3

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