Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks: Royals vs. Orioles 10/2/24

On Wednesday afternoon, Major League Baseball presents Draftkings baseball fans with a playoff matchup between the Kansas City Royals and the Baltimore Orioles. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a DFS perspective.

Before we dive into the Kansas City Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings 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 afternoon’s Kansas City Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles matchup.

Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks

Captain-Seth Lugo, Starting Pitcher, Kansas City Royals $11,600

On Wednesday afternoon, Major League Baseball presents the second game of an American League Wild Card playoff series featuring the Kansas City Royals and the Baltimore Orioles.

How are these two teams playing entering today’s MLB playoff Game? The Kansas City Royals arrive at the second Game of this American League Wild Card series with the Baltimore Orioles playing rather good baseball. More specifically, the Royals won five of the team’s last six Games played this season, including a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves three days ago.

Similar to the Kansas City Royals, the Baltimore Orioles have been playing quality baseball recently. Let me be more specific. The Orioles won five of the team’s last seven games played in the regular season, including a dominating 10-1 victory over the New York Yankees last week.

It should be noted that the Kansas City Royals won the opening game of this American League Wild Card playoff series defeating the Baltimore Orioles 1-0.

Now that we have identified how both of these Major League Baseball teams are currently playing let’s shift our focus to tomorrow’s American League Wild Card game. In my opinion, Kansas City pitcher Seth Lugo has established himself as one of the best pitchers in the Kansas City Royals starting rotation this season. Having stated that, how has Lugo been playing from a statistical standpoint in 2024? Let’s review Seth Lugo’s game data from the 2024 MLB regular season to answer that question.

In the 33 Games that Seth Lugo pitched for the Kansas City Royals in the 2024 MLB regular season, Lugo posted a 3.00 ERA (Earned Run Average), 1.09 WHIP (walks, hits, inning pitched) and added 181 strikeouts while allowing 48 walks.

More recently, in the San Francisco Giants 2-0 shutout win over the Kansas City Royals ten days ago, Kansas City starting pitcher Seth Lugo certainly pitched at a high level. More specifically, Lugo pitched seven quality innings striking out five San Francisco batters while scattering three hits and allowing zero walks in the Giants victory over the Royals.

Looking closer at the data just presented, in the Giants 2-0 win over the Royals just noted, Lugo compiled a whopping 20.1 Draftkings points.

In my opinion, Seth Lugo is the most likely player to post the most fantasy points in this afternoon’s MLB playoff game. For that specific reason, I am backing Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo at the captain position for this Draftkings MLB Showdown contest.

Flex plays I like (Draftkings price noted): Zach Eflin, Starting Pitcher, (Baltimore Orioles) $11,000: Gunnar Henderson, Shortstop (Baltimore Orioles) $9,600: Bobby Witt Jr., Shortstop (Kansas City Royals) $9,800.