After a six-game afternoon slate of getaway games this Wednesday, Major League Baseball closes out the day with nine games on the main DFS fantasy baseball slate, which starts at 6:35 p.m. ET to include the wave of four games scheduled to start just before 7:00 p.m. ET. It will be a full slate that goes late into the night, since the Dodgers and Rockies begin at 10:10 p.m. ET on the West Coast. Let’s look at all 18 teams in the player pool and grab some nice MLB DFS picks for the evening slate.

For the most part, the weather looks like it will cooperate this Wednesday. There could be rain in Boston or Baltimore, but nothing that looks major enough to cause a postponement. The weather looks slightly favorable to hitters in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Chicago, with winds helping the pitchers a little bit in Kansas City. Make sure to consider the environment when making your MLB DFS picks.

Let’s dive into the nine-game Wednesday night slate and pick out some top studs and values for your MLB DFS lineups on DraftKings. This article was written before starting lineups were announced..

Make your DraftKings MLB DFS picks here: MLB $200K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st]

PITCHER

Stud

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres, $10,700 — On Wednesday night, Ohtani is the premium pay-up pitcher to target if you have the salary available. He has been absolutely dominant on the mound this season, and he also gets a great matchup as he takes on the Rockies in his home start on Wednesday. As always on DraftKings, when Ohtani is on the mound, he will not accrue points for his offensive production.

Ohtani worked five innings in his most recent start, earning 20.25 DraftKings points in a road win over the Padres. He was even better before that with 32.15 FPTS in his previous outing against the Giants. His last start was actually his shortest of the season, since he had worked at least six innings and produced at least 24 FPTS in each of his previous six starts. He had 7+ strikeouts in each of his previous five starts as well, and he’ll be in a good spot to get back on board the strikeout train on Wednesday, since he’ll be facing the Rockies, who have the fifth-highest K% in the majors this season. His strikeout rate has been much higher at Dodger Stadium (33.7%) than on the road (22.8%), so look for Shohei to put up plenty of Ks.

Ohtani comes into this matchup with an impressive 0.73 ERA in his eight starts this season, with a 9.9 K/9 and only a 0.84 WHIP. He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, and he’ll look to continue dominating on the mound this Wednesday night.

Value

Andrew Abbott, Reds at New York Mets, $6,500 — The Reds will give the ball to lefty Andrew Abbott for the series finale of their set at Citi Field. They won the first two games of the series by identical scores of 7-2 behind strong starts from Nick Lodolo and Chase Burns, and Abbott will look to keep the string going and also continue his own recent momentum. Abbott has allowed one earned run or fewer in four straight starts, spanning 22 innings and allowing just two earned runs on 14 hits while striking out 14. He has also struggled with his command, though, issuing 3+ walks in three of those four outings. He has worked around the traffic, though, and has 13+ FPTS in five straight.

At only $6,500, Abbott brings a very high ceiling, as he showed with 25.1 FPTS against the Astros in the last game he managed to work six innings. He has a 3.97 ERA and 4.72 FIP on the season, so there could be some regression coming for him if he doesn’t cut down on baserunners. However, he’s so affordable for this matchup against the struggling Mets lineup that even with that potential, he makes a great value play to balance out your spending this Wednesday with both a high ceiling and a relatively high floor.

INFIELD

Stud

SS Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds at New York Mets, $5,900 — Saving money with the Reds’ pitcher can help you spend up on one of the Reds’ best bats, Elly De La Cruz. The dual-threat, switch-hitting shortstop has been strong all season, averaging 10 FPTS per game. He has 12 homers and nine stolen bases, and his batting average is up to .284 with a .378 wOBA after hitting .264 with a .333 wOBA last year. De La Cruz is 22-for-67 (.328) over his last 16 games with a 59.1% hard-hit rate and 11.4% barrel rate. He has consistently found ways to contribute with 10+ FPTS in six of his last 12 games, and he should be in a good spot as the Mets use opener Huascar Brazoban ($4,000) and bulk reliever Jonah Tong ($5,800) to slow down the Reds this Wednesday night.

Value

1B Spencer Horwitz, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs, $3,300 — No starting pitcher on the entire schedule Wednesday has a higher HR/9 this year than Jameson Taillon ($6,800) of the Cubs, so finding some Pirates to put in your lineup is a great option in Wednesday’s MLB DFS picks. Horwitz is one option to consider who comes with a nice ceiling at a very affordable salary. He sometimes leads off against righties, but whether he’s high or low in the batting order, he has been productive enough to be a solid value play. He’s slashing .289/.390/.467 on the season but has been even better over his last 18 games with a .368/.441/.632 slash line. He has hit .368 with three homers and a .456 wOBA over that span while producing an impressive 9.0 FPTS per game over that 18-game stretch. Since Taillon has struggled with lefties, Horwitz is a great bargain way to get a hot bat in a good matchup at a reasonable salary.

OUTFIELD

Stud

Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs, $6,100 — Cruz is in that same matchup against Taillon and always brings a high ceiling since he can produce with both power and speed, much like De La Cruz. Cruz had three singles, an RBI, and a stolen base to post 20 FPTS on Tuesday and has a total of 40 FPTS in his last three contests. He has the highest hard-hit rate in the majors at 62.2%, and he has the second-highest average exit velocity behind only James Wood. Cruz’s Statcast numbers are dreamy across the board, and he has 14 hard-hit events in his last eight games, averaging 7.4 FPTS per contest. He seems to be especially locked in against his division rivals from Chicago this season, going 11-for-18 against the Cubs with six stolen bases and an average of 18 FPTS per contest.

Value

Ceddanne Rafaela, Boston Red Sox vs. Atlanta Braves, $3,300 — Sadly, Rafaela has lost his infield eligibility on DraftKings recently since he’s playing only in the outfield this season. While he isn’t quite as versatile as he was, he brings plenty of excellent value at under $3,500 and has moved up to hit second in the batting order recently, which could be a huge boost to his run production potential.

Rafaela has hit safely in eight of his last nine games with an at-bat, going 10-for-36 with five doubles, a home run and a stolen base. He’s averaging 8.0 FPTS per game over that stretch with a 43.3% hard-hit rate and his extra-base production is very encouraging out of the second spot in the lineup against Bryce Elder ($8,700) and the Braves on Wednesday night at Fenway.