Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks: Pirates vs. Cubs 6/13/25
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs
June 13, 2025 2:20 pm EDT
Major League Baseball presents Draftkings baseball fans with a National League matchup featuring the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs 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 today’s Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs matchup.
Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks
Captain-Paul Skenes, Starting Pitcher, Pittsburgh Pirates $13,000
On Friday afternoon, Major League Baseball presents the second game of a four-game National League series featuring the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs.
How are these two teams playing entering today’s MLB game? The Pittsburgh Pirates arrive at the second game of this four-game series with the Chicago Cubs playing good baseball. More specifically, the Pirates have won five of the team’s last six games played in the 2025 MLB regular season, including a dominant 10-3 win over the Miami Marlins three days ago.
Conversely, the Chicago Cubs are playing below average baseball entering this afternoon’s game. The Cubs have lost four of the team’s last seven games played in the 2025 MLB regular season, including a 6-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers last week.
Now that we have determined how both teams are currently playing let’s shift our focus to today’s contest. Talented starting pitcher Paul Skenes has certainly illustrated that he is a key member of the Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitching rotation this season. Having stated that, how has Skenes played from a statistical standpoint? Let’s review Paul Skene’s game data to answer that question.
Through 14 starts made for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season, starting pitcher Paul Skenes has compiled a 4-6 (won-loss record), a 1.88 ERA (Earned Run Average) and a 0.95 WHIP (walks, hits, inning pitched) which ranks third in MLB. It should also be noted that Skenes has tallied a massive 92 strikeouts (tenth in MLB) while allowing 19 walks in 91.1 innings pitched in 2025.
More recently, in the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies five days ago, Paul Skenes pitched exceptionally well. Let me be more specific. Skenes pitched 7.2 quality innings striking out seven Philadelphia Phillies batters while scattering two hits and one walk in the Pirates win over the Dodgers.
What did we learn from the data just presented? Clearly, Paul Skenes is pitching at a high-level entering today’s National League clash with the Chicago Cubs. For that specific reason, I am backing Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes at the captain position for this one game MLB Draftkings Showdown contest.
Flex plays I like in this MLB game (Draftkings price noted): Cade Horton, Starting Pitcher (Chicago Cubs) $10,600: Seiya Suzuki, Outfielder (Chicago Cubs) $8,200: Dansby Swanson, Shortstop (Chicago Cubs) $7,400.
