Cleveland Guardians vs. Houston Astros
July 7, 2025 8:10 pm EDT
Major League Baseball presents FanDuel baseball fans with an American League matchup featuring the Cleveland Guardians and the Houston Astros. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Cleveland Guardians vs. Houston Astros game let’s review the rules for the FanDuel single game showdown contest.
FanDuel Single Game Contest Rules
Here are the FanDuel single game contest rules. You have $60,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team MVP. The MVP accumulates 1.5x times the standard FanDuel fantasy points value. Additionally, the MVP is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.
The remaining five players in your lineup will be flex plays. The five flex positions will receive the standard FanDuel points value. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your MVP position if you hope to win a large field GPP (guaranteed prize pool) FanDuel single game contest.
If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game contest, I highly recommend that you check out the FanDuel website for more details.
*It should be noted that FanDuel does not utilize the pitcher position in single game MLB contests. Having stated that, only batters are available for single game MLB lineups on the FanDuel platform.
Here are my FanDuel picks for this evening’s Guardians vs. Astros matchup.
FanDuel MLB DFS Picks
MVP-Jose Ramirez, Third Baseman, Cleveland Guardians $14,000
On Monday night, Major League Baseball presents the opening game of a three-game American League series featuring the Cleveland Guardians and the Houston Astros.
How are these two teams playing entering today’s MLB game? The Cleveland Guardians arrive at the first game of this three-game series with the Houston Astros playing below average baseball. The Guardians have lost ten of the team’s last 11 games played in the 2025 MLB regular season, including a 1-0 shutout loss to the Chicago Cubs four days ago.
Conversely, the Houston Astros arrive at this evening’s American League game playing quality baseball. More specifically, the Astros have won six of the team’s last seven games played this season, including a dominant 18-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last week.
Now that we have ascertained how both of these teams are currently playing let’s shift our focus to today’s contest. Veteran third baseman Jose Ramirez has been a solid contributor for the Cleveland Guardians this season. With that said, how has Ramirez performed from a statistical standpoint? Let’s examine Ramirez’s relevant game data from the 2025 MLB regular season to answer that question.
In the 85 games that Jose Ramirez has played for the Cleveland Guardians in the 2025 MLB regular season, Ramirez has compiled a robust .305 batting average (13th in MLB), 14 home runs, 41 walks, 39 RBIs (runs batted in), 43 runs scored, a .367 OBP (On-Base Percentage) and a .845 OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging) which ranks 25th in MLB.
Last month, in the Cleveland Guardians 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels, Jose Ramirez played rather well. In the Guardians victory over the Angels, Ramirez tallied two hits (one home run), one run scored, one RBI and two walks. It should also be mentioned that in the Guardians defeat of the Angels, Ramirez compiled a massive 27.7 FanDuel points.
In my view, Jose Ramirez is the most likely player to accumulate the most FanDuel points in this MLB game. For that specific reason, I am backing Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez at the MVP position for this one game MLB DFS slate.
Flex plays I like in this game (FanDuel price noted): Isaac Paredes, Third Baseman (Houston Astros) $13,400: Cam Smith, Outfielder, (Cleveland Guardians) $10,800.
