Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks: Tigers vs. Guardians 9/30/25

Major League Baseball presents Draftkings baseball fans with an American League playoff matchup featuring the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a DFS perspective.

Before we dive into the Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians 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 tomorrow afternoon’s Tigers vs. Guardians matchup.

Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks

Captain-Tarik Skubal, Starting Pitcher, Detroit Tigers $13,000

On Tuesday afternoon, Major League Baseball presents the opening game of a three-game American League playoff series featuring the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians.

How are these two teams playing entering tomorrow afternoon’s MLB playoff game? The Detroit Tigers arrive at the first game of this three-game series with the Cleveland Guardians playing below average baseball. Let me be more specific. The Tigers have lost ten of the team’s last 12 games played in the 2025 MLB regular season, including a 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox three days ago.

In direct contrast to the Detroit Tigers, the Cleveland Guardians arrive at the opening game of this American League series playing good baseball. The Guardians have won four of the team’s last six games played this season, including a 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers last week.

Now that we have determined how both of these teams are currently playing let’s shift our focus to tomorrow’s MLB playoff game. Starting pitcher Tarik Skubal has certainly been a standout performer for the Detroit Tigers starting pitching rotation this season. Having stated that, how has the talented pitcher performed from a statistical standpoint? Let’s review Skubal’s relevant game data from the 2025 MLB regular season to answer that question.

In the 31 starts that starting pitcher Tarik Skubal has made for the Detroit Tigers this season, Skubal has compiled a robust 13-6 (win-loss record), a 2.21 ERA (Earned Run Average), and a 0.89 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched) which ranks first in MLB. It should also be mentioned that Skubal has tallied a massive 241 strikeouts (second in MLB) while allowing only 33 walks in 195.1 innings pitched this season.

More recently, in the Detroit Tigers 6-0 shutout victory over the Chicago White Sox earlier this month, Tarik Skubal pitched seven quality innings scattering two hits and one walk. Additionally, Skubal struck out six White Sox batters in the game.

In my view, Tarik Skubal is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in tomorrow afternoon’s MLB game. With that said, I am rolling with Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal at the captain position for this one game MLB DFS slate.

Flex plays I like to play well in this MLB playoff game (Draftkings price noted): Gavin Williams, Starting Pitcher (Cleveland Guardians) $10,400: Jose Ramirez, Third Baseman (Cleveland Guardians) $9,400: Dillon Dingler, Catcher (Detroit Tigers) $6,200.