Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks: Cardinals vs. Rays 8/21/25
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Tampa Bay Rays
August 21, 2025 7:35 pm EDT
Major League Baseball presents Draftkings baseball fans with an interleague matchup featuring the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Tampa Bay Rays game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings MLB 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 Cardinals vs. Rays matchup.
Draftkings MLB DFS Picks
Captain-Sonny Gray, Starting Pitcher, St. Louis Cardinals $12,000
On Thursday night, Major League Baseball presents the opening game of a three-game National League series featuring the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Tampa Bay Rays.
How are these two teams playing entering this MLB game? The St. Louis Cardinals arrive at the first game of this three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays playing below average baseball. The Cardinals have lost six of the team’s last eight games played in the 2025 MLB regular season, including a 3-0 shutout loss to the Colorado Rockies last week.
Similar to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Tampa Bay Rays are playing subpar baseball entering this interleague game. Let me be more specific. The Rays have lost three of the team’s last four games played in the 2025 MLB regular season, including a 13-3 loss to the New York Yankees two days ago.
Now that we have ascertained how both of these teams are currently playing let’s shift our attention to tonight’s contest. Starting pitcher Sonny Gray has been a solid contributor for the St. Louis Cardinals starting pitching rotation this season. Having stated that, how has the talented pitcher performed from a statistical standpoint in 2025? Let’s review Gray’s relevant game data from the 2025 MLB regular season to answer that question.
Through 25 starts made in 2025, St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray holds a robust 11-6 (win-loss record), a 4.30 ERA (Earned Run Average) and a 1.19 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched) which ranks 25th in MLB. Additionally, Gray has compiled 155 strikeouts (15th in MLB) in 140.1 innings pitched this season.
What did we learn from the data just presented? Clearly, Sonny Gray can post a high number of DFS points on any given night. With that said, I fully expect that trend to continue in tonight’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays.
In my view, Sonny Gray is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this MLB game. With that said, I am rolling with St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray at the captain position for this one game MLB DFS slate.
Flex plays I like to play well in this MLB regular season contest (Draftkings price noted): Joe Boyle, Starting Pitcher (Tampa Bay Rays) $10,000: Lars Nootbaar, Outfielder (St. Louis Cardinals) $7,400.
