Welcome to the Fantasy Alarm MLB DFS Playbook for Thursday, September 18th! 

Happy Thursday! We have an early slate today, with the majority of games happening early. We get a 6-game main slate starting at 1:10 PM ET. An early slate doesn’t give you a lot of time to prepare, but that is why we are here to do the preparation for you! Our expert analysis is here to guide you through the top pitchers, value plays, and stackable offenses to target.

Whether chasing big GPP prizes or grinding cash games, we’ve got you covered with insights tailored to today’s matchups. Let’s jump right into the key plays and strategies to dominate the slate!

 

 

This season's MLB DFS picks and playbook will consist of a pitcher and hitter core players section with written analysis, player pool grid and core stacks section.

The core player section should be used as a starting point for all lineups, you may not be able to use all players in the same lineup, but those players should be the building blocks for you on a given night.

The player pool grid will feature both players from the core player section along with additional plays to help you build a complete lineup. The grid will be broken into top priced players, mid-priced players and value tier players.

The stacks section will bring you are favorite lineups stacks for the day and which players we would look to include in those stacks based on matchups and pricing.

Make sure you subscribe to the Fantasy Alarm YouTube channel so you never miss a show! Also, join the Fantasy Alarm Discord to get your DFS lineup questions answered by our MLB DFS team! Plus, as always, be sure to check in with our MLB DFS Tools, with the Daily MLB Projections, MLB DFS Rostership Projections, and our MLB DFS Lineup Generator when building those lineups today to help you decide which players you should be targeting.

 

MLB DFS Picks & MLB Playbook

MLB Weather: Thursday, 9/18

 

The weather looks all clear today.

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Let's get into today's core pitching plays for our DFS lineups

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

It is Tarik Skubal. He is about to win himself back-to-back Cy Youngs and is the best pitcher in baseball. Yes, the price is very high for him today, but he is also the only ace on today’s slate. All the other top pitchers today, in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Max Fried, and Hunter Greene, are not on the main slate, which leaves us with Skubal, and I think you have to bite the bullet and pay the price for him today. 

Luis Castillo, Seattle Mariners

Luis Castillo has looked a lot better through the second half of the season. He is coming off of back-to-back quality starts, giving up only 1 earned run through 6 innings in both games and striking out 11 batters total. You would rather have him at home, but Kauffman at least suppresses home runs well, which has really been Castillo’s biggest issue, so I trust him to pitch well again today against the Royals. 

Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins

I get that it is Coors Field, but this price feels way too low for Alacantara even in Colorado. I think he can provide great value even in a tough place to pitch, and I am willing to take the risk that Alcantara can outpitch Coors at this price. He has been really showing the strikeouts recently, and this Coors offense is not good enough to scare me away from a good pitcher, even when they are at home.  

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Let's check out today's core plays to build our lineups around.

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox lineup finally started to look like it might be waking up yesterday. It was only 5 runs in 10 innings, but they had 10 hits, and they stranded a lot of base runners, so it could have easily been more. Going against J.T. Ginn today, I think they really break through and score a lot more runs. I really like going after the heart of their lineup with Trevor Story, Jarren Duran, Alex Bregman, Masataka Yoshida, and Nathaniel Lowe. 

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners finally lost their winning streak yesterday at 10. They really need to bounce back and get back to winning right away, though, as they dropped back behind the Astros with that loss, and I think they will be able to do so today against Stephen Kolek. I believe Kolek has gotten a bit lucky with some recent run prevention, and I like the Mariners to attack him today, with my favorites being Randy Arozarena, Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor, Cal Raleigh, and Jorge Polanco. If you need to save some money, though, I also like going deeper in their lineup with J.P. Crawford and Dominic Canzone. 

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays offense just continuously produces, and I like them today getting to play in Steinbrenner Field. Shane Baz has had a weird second half. He has been getting a ton of strikeouts, but he also has a 7.42 ERA and 1.65 WHIP. He has a 6.28 ERA at home (compared to 4.05 on the road), and I don’t trust him to be able to keep this Blue Jays offense off the board today. I think you can go anywhere in this Blue Jays lineup, but some of the best options are Vladimir Guerrero, Daulton Varsho, George Springer, Nathan Lukes, and Addison Barger. 

 

 

 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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