The New York Yankees won last night to force a Game 6, which the Houston Astros will host. First pitch is slated for 8:08 p.m. EST.
This is shaping up to be a wonky single-game slate. Not only do our models project it to be a very close game -- 4.19-4.01 in favor of Houston -- both teams are using openers and going full bullpen game. Or at least that's the expectation, with Chad Green and Jose Urquidy the probable starters. So we may not have any hitters seeing a pitcher more than once.
Single-game contests are a different beast. You have $35,000 to fill out a five-man lineup. There are no positional requirements, but there are three utility spots, one All-Star slot, and an MVP position. The player you put in the MVP spot has his points multiplied by two while the All-Star position gets his points multiplied by 1.5. The three utility places are scored like normal.
Alex Bregman, Astros ($8,500)
As we touched on in the intro, with both squads expected to go the bullpen route from the jump, predicting hitter-pitcher matchups in this game is going to be a hassle outside of the first inning, and there's a very good chance no hitter sees any pitcher more than once.
With Chad Green likely to open for the Yankees (though that's not set in stone as of Saturday morning), Alex Bregman will have a tough righty-righty matchup in his first trip to the plate, but rolling with Bregman is a bet on talent. And there's a chance Bregman faces lefty J.A. Happ at some point, and he pummeled southpaws this year to the tune of a .473 wOBA and 50.7% hard-hit rate.
Bregman has at least 9.0 FanDuel points in three of five games in this series, backboned by drawing six walks in the five matchups.