Top Tier

Corbin Burnes (MIL) – There is no reason to overthink things here. If you want to spend up at the pitcher position tonight, at least for one of your starters, why not go with the best. Burnes is one of the very options that has 45-50 DK fantasy point upside on a nightly basis, and while he will have the occasional off night, 25 points seems to be his baseline for most outings. When you are striking out 12.59 batters per nine innings and only walking 1.82, that level of production shouldn’t be a surprise and we don’t even need to worry about him pitching more than six innings in a game. It doesn’t get much better than a 2.34 ERA and when you consider he is sporting a 1.58 FIP, his season is even more impressive. And then we should add that Burnes is facing the Mets at home tonight. 

Robbie Ray (TOR) – Strikeouts are the best predictors of DFS production, and with that being said Ray’s performance this season is coming in just a tick below Burnes. The left-hander is coming off one of his worst starts of the year after allowing three runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings against Tampa Bay but the good news is that he only walked two batters. The strikeouts aren’t a surprise for Ray, but his transformation in the control department is startling this year; 4.34 per nine innings in 2019 to 2.27 this year. In five of his last seven starts, Ray has eclipsed the 32 DK point mark and there is a good chance he makes it since tonight against Minnesota. 

Mid-Tier

Lance Lynn (CWS) – Lynn isn’t exactly cheap tonight, but his price has come down from it’s peak earlier this season and he is one of the best options taking the mound tonight. All pitchers do come with risk, but Lynn does minimize it allowing just one earned run in six of his last 10 starts and no earned runs in a seventh. At this point in the season as Chicago is preparing for the playoffs, I wouldn’t expect to see Lynn go more than five or six innings tonight against Cleveland in what is a favorable matchup. Lynn strikes out more than 10 batters per nine innings and at this point in the season we can believe in his 2.47 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. 

Tyler Anderson (SEA) – This is very clearly a what have you done for me lately situation. I would take a repeat of six of Anderson’s last eight starts as he is finishing the season on a high note. The southpaw is coming off one of his best outings of the season as he allowed just one run over seven innings to pick up the victory against Oakland striking out seven batters. After a rough start to the season, Anderson has been strong throughout the second half with a 3.48 ERA and the Angels middling lineup shouldn’t offer much resistance either. 

Value Tier

Jon Gray (COL) – What happened on DK? Gray was at $8,200 for his last start against Washington, and while it wasn’t a great performance (four innings of two run ball while allowing five base runners and striking out five), it could have been worse. And it certainly wasn’t bad enough to cause his salary to drop by $2,200. That’s not to say it will be an easy go of it for Gray tonight at home against San Francisco, but the right-hander’s 3.79 ERA at home is better than his 4.59 mark on the road. After a 6.55 ERA in August, Gray bounced back 4.50 ERA over his three starts in September to this point. With a 1.33 WHIP, there will be traffic on the bases all night but he should be able to get us to around 15 fantasy points. 

Jordan Lyles (TEX) – While Baltimore does have some strong hitters, we are looking at you Cedric Mullins, they are also a team we feel comfortable targeting from a pitching perspective. At the same time, we have to remember there is a reason why Lyles is down in this tier after allowing five runs on eight hits and three walks in 3.2 innings of work in his last start. Prior to that, things had gone a lot better in Lyles’ three starts leading up to that implosion as he allowed four earned runs in 20.2 innings of work while striking out 17. The hope, and GPP dart throw, is that is returns to that level tonight.