Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks: Tigers vs. Guardians 10/12/24

Major League Baseball presents a playoff matchup between the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians. Let’s take a look at this MLB game from a Draftkings perspective.

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

Draftkings MLB Showdown Picks

Captain-Tarik Skubal, Starting Pitcher, Detroit Tigers $11,600

On Saturday afternoon, Major League Baseball presents the final Game of an American League Division playoff series featuring the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians.

How are these two teams playing entering this afternoon’s MLB playoff game? The Detroit Tigers arrive at the fifth game of this American League Division series with the Cleveland Guardians playing rather good baseball. More specifically, the Tigers have won ten of the team’s last 14 games played this season, including a 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros ten days ago.

In direct contrast to the Detroit Tigers, the Cleveland Guardians have been playing below average baseball recently. The Guardians lost six of the team’s last ten games played this season, including a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals last week.

It should be noted that the Cleveland Guardians won the fourth Game of this American League Division playoff series two days ago defeating the Detroit Tigers 5-4.

Now that we have identified how both of these American League teams are currently playing let’s shift our focus to today’s contest. Detroit pitcher Tarik Skubal has certainly pitched at a high level to this point in the 2024 MLB regular season. Having stated that, how has Skubal pitched from a statistical standpoint in 2024? Let’s review Tarik Skubal’s game data to answer that question.

In the 30 games that Tarik Skubal pitched for the Detroit Tigers in the 2024 MLB regular season, Skubal posted a robust 2.48 ERA (Earned Run Average), 0.94 WHIP (walks, hits, inning pitched) and added 221 strikeouts while allowing only 34 walks.

More recently, in the Detroit Tigers 3-0 shutout victory over the Cleveland Guardians four days ago, Tarik Skubal pitched rather well. More specifically, Skubal pitched seven quality innings striking out eight Cleveland batters while scattering three hits and no walks in the Tigers win over the Cleveland Guardians.

Looking closer at the data just presented, in the Tigers 3-0 win over the Guardians just noted, Skubal compiled a whopping 29.4 Draftkings points.

In my opinion, Tarik Skubal is the most likely player to post the most fantasy points in this afternoon’s MLB regular season Game. For that specific reason, I am rolling with Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal at the captain position for this Draftkings MLB Showdown contest.

Flex plays I like (Draftkings price noted): Matthew Boyd, Starting Pitcher (Cleveland Guardians) $11,200: Jose Ramirez, Third Baseman (Cleveland Guardians) $9,800: Matt Vierling, Third Baseman (Detroit Tigers) $7,600.