Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks: Twins vs. Guardians 9/16/24

Major League Baseball presents a matchup between the Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Guardians. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a Draftkings perspective.

Prior to discussing the Minnesota Twins vs. Cleveland Guardians game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings single game showdown contest.

Draftkings Single Game Showdown Contest Rules

You have $50,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team captain. The captain accumulates 1.5 times the standard fantasy points. Additionally, the captain is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.

The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard fantasy points. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your captain position if you hope to win a large field DFS GPP (guaranteed prize pool) showdown contest.

If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game showdown contest, I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.

*I recommend that all readers review the starting lineups for both teams prior to setting your DFS lineup for this one game slate.

Here are my Draftkings picks for this evening’s Minnesota Twins vs. Cleveland Guardians matchup.

Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks

On Monday night, Major League Baseball presents the opening game of a four game American League series between the Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Guardians.

How are these two American League teams playing entering tonight’s game? The Minnesota Twins arrive at the first game of this four-game MLB series playing below average baseball. More specifically, the Twins have lost six of the team’s last nine games played this season, including an embarrassing 11-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds last week.

In direct contrast to the Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Guardians have been playing rather good baseball recently. The Guardians have won five of the team’s last seven games played in the 2024 MLB regular season, including a 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays two days ago.

Now that we have determined how both of these Major League Baseball teams are currently playing let’s shift our focus to this evening’s contest. Minnesota pitcher Pablo Lopez has certainly established himself as a valuable member of the Minnesota Twins starting pitching rotation in 2024. Having stated that, how has Lopez been playing from a statistical standpoint?

In the 29 games that Pablo Lopez has pitched for the Minnesota Twins in the 2024 MLB regular season, Lopez has posted a 3.88 ERA (Earned Run Average), 1.13 WHIP (walks, hits, inning pitched) and added a whopping 183 strikeouts while allowing only 35 walks.

More recently, in the Minnesota Twins 10-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels six days ago, Minnesota hurler Pablo Lopez pitched rather well. Let me be more specific. Lopez pitched seven quality innings striking out ten Cleveland batters while scattering eight hits and one walk in the Twins victory over the Angels just mentioned. I expect Pablo Lopez to continue to pitch at a high level versus the Cleveland Guardians later today. It has to be said, those are the type of DFS numbers I need to see from a player that I select for the captain position.

For the reasons just noted, I am backing Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez at the captain position for this one game DFS MLB contest.

Flex plays I like to play well (Draftkings price noted): Matthew Boyd, Starting Pitcher (Detroit Tigers) $11,000: Royce Lewis, Third Baseman (Minnesota Twins) $9,000: Jose Ramirez, Third Baseman Cleveland Guardians) $9,800.