We have eight games taking place for the MLB DFS main slate on Thursday. The best part about this slate? NO WEATHER CONCERNS! Boo ya! This slate has a lot of exploitable pitchers and hitters that shouldn't be priced as cheap as they are but are sitting at price tags we should exploit. Let's dive into some of my favorite bats of the day!

Top Tier

Shohei Ohtani (L), 1B/OF LAA - With 34 homers on the year, it’s hard not to look at Ohtani every single slate he’s available in. He’s belted 23 bombs against righties and has a .435 wOBA against them. He’s also already homered off of Kenta Maeda (R) during their respective careers. Maeda has struggled with lefties this year as they’ve notched a .770 OPS and .332 wOBA against him. Ohtani is a blowup game waiting to happen.

Mitch Haniger (R), OF SEA - Mitchy four-bags has been blasting off quite frequently in July as he’s belted five homers over his last 10 games. July has been his best month overall, as he’s slashed .304/.412/.589 with a .424 wOBA to boot. He’s hit left-handed pitching extremely well, batting .289 with 10 HR and a .387 wOBA. He’s 8-for-23 off of Sean Manaea (L) during their respective careers. You’ll likely get Haniger at low ownership due to his price point being so high, but that’s how you win tournaments!

Mid Tier

Brandon Lowe (L), 2B/OF TB - We want to attack Indians starter, Cal Quantrill (R), with left-handed bats as much as we can, so insert Lowe here. Lowe has hit four bombs and has an OPS north of 1.100 over his last 10 games and has crushed righties all year long. He’s hit 16 of his 21 bombs against RHP this year and has a .385 wOBA too. Quantrill has allowed an .820 OPS and .346 wOBA to LHH this season.

Jorge Polanco (B), 2B MIN - This is a strong second base position today headlined by the two guys in this pricing tier. Polanco is rollin’, homering in two straight games while hitting .361 with an 1.100 OPS. What’s making Polanco extra potent in the fantasy space right now is that he’s not only hitting for average and power, but stealing bases too. He has three steals over his last 10 games and is one SB away from double-digit home runs and steals. He has a .332 wOBA vs. LHP and righties have a .337 wOVA vs. Heaney.

Ozzie Albies (B), 2B ATL - When Albies is facing a left-handed pitcher, we have to take notice. He’s a notoriously good lefty masher and 2021 has been no different. He’s hitting .337 with six homers and has a .416 wOBA across 89 at-bats. Against lefties for his career, he has a .958 OPS, .241 ISO, and .402 wOBA. He faces Matt Moore (L) on Thursday and Moore has allowed RHH to bat .300 with a .970 OPS and .409 wOBA himself. This is the perfect match-up for Albies.

Value Tier

Kiké Hernández (R), 2B/OF BOS - Hard not to like Hernandez at this sub 4K price tag on DraftKings today. Hernandez has been hitting for a lot of power, belting three homers over his last two games and four over his last eight. Hernandez has crushed southpaws this season, belting eight of his 14 homers this year while posting a .375 wOBA to boot. Righties have a 34.5% hard-hit rate off of Montgomery this season and 10 of the 12 homers he’s allowed have come against RHH.

Gleyber Torres (R), SS NYY - I mean, the power just hasn’t been there this year, but suddenly...it’s back? He’s homered three times over his last four games while hitting in four straight. He’s hit in seven of eight overall, too. This has easily been his most powerful month, slugging .513 thus far. He hadn’t slugged better than .389 in any month this season. Tanner Houck () (R) has looked sharp thus far in 2021, but has been susceptible to RHH. RHH are batting .357 with an OPS north of .900.