There are a few top-flight pitchers to pick from tonight. However, my favorite is the cheapest of the five-figure hurlers. Part of the motivation for choosing him over the two more expensive starters is my disdain for the bargain arms tonight — a couple of whom in San Francisco should soak up quite a bit of ownership, but I’m going to advocate fading — and interest in a couple of middle-tier arms. The offensive options are highlighted by a three-man stack of road warriors. Admittedly, the road venue they’re hitting in isn’t a hitting paradise. The stack is complemented by thoroughly underpriced infielder as well as a pricey catcher who’s underperformed between bouts on the disabled list. The latter could be a low-owned difference maker at a popular position to punt.

Pitchers

Walker Buehler (LAD): $10,100 @ Cardinals
Buehler’s having an outstanding rookie season, and he’s closing the season in good form. He’s struck out five or more batters in eight of nine starts since the All-Star break, and allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of them. In all during that nine-start stretch, he’s totaled 53.1 innings, a 2.70 ERA (3.51 FIP, 3.02 xFIP, and 3.17 SIERA), 0.98 WHIP, 7.7% BB%, 30.1% K%, 50.0% GB%, and 11.4% SwStr%, according to FanGraphs. Those are ace-quality numbers. He faced the Cardinals less than a month ago on August 22, and he held them scoreless on three hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts. That recent performance could result in an ownership bump. I’ll sacrifice being contrarian for selecting the best bargain among the top arms on tonight’s slate. The Dodgers are -128 favorites, and the Cardinals have a team over/under total of 3.5 runs, per Pinnacle.