The MLS season continues with Week 20 on Wednesday and a full slate of games beginning at 7:00 PM eastern time. We decided to focus on the early games with DraftKings contests that feature the four games played between 7 PM and 8 PM eastern time. With the exception of Houston’s favorable matchup against Minnesota United FC, the other three matches figure to be tightly contested. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for Wednesday’s MLS DraftKings daily fantasy leagues.
GK: Tyler Deric, Houston
Salary: $4,700
Houston and Minnesota are at opposite ends of the standings in the Western Conference with the Dynamo sitting in third place and Minnesota buried in dead last. Houston ended its winless drought with a 3-1 win over Montreal in its last match and will look to build on that victory against Minnesota on Wednesday night. Deric should be a lock to pick up the win.
D: Adolfo Machado, Houston
Salary: $3,000
The Dynamo are one of the higher scoring teams in the MLS. While they haven’t been the best defensively, they will have to make an effort to tighten things up at that end of the pitch if they want to challenge Sporting Kansas City and FC Dallas at the top of the Western Conference standings. A strong defensive performance against Minnesota would be a good start.
D: Leonardo, Houston
Salary: $2,900
Houston owns the most favorable matchup on the board for Wednesday’s early slate so it makes sense to double down with another strong value pick from the Dynamo roster. Machado and Leonardo will cost less than $6 million combined, which will free up even more salary cap space to spend big on our midfield and forward positions.
M: Romell Quioto, Houston
Salary: $8,400
Our fourth straight selection from Houston has as much to do with price point and potential as it does with the fact that they have a favorable matchup against Minnesota. Quioto has been one of the Dynamo’s most dynamic players this season and it makes sense to lock him in to our DraftKings lineup at this price.
M: Maximiliano Moralez, New York City FC
Salary: $7,900
Our first venture away from Houston’s roster is for one of the best attacking options from New York City FC. The potential is there for NYCFC and Toronto FC to end up in a high scoring battle and Moralez delivers excellent value at just under $8,000.
F: Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto FC
Salary: $12,000
While he will cost us a little more than David Villa, Giovinco is worth paying a little more as he has a tendency to play at a high level in bigger games. TFC will be in tough on the road so they need their star scorer to deliver. Villa has been outstanding this season so if you want to roll with him instead you can make an easy substitution and have a little more money left over for the final FLEX position.
F: Erick Torres, Houston
Salary: $8,300
Considering we are all-in with Houston players it only makes sense to include Torres in our picks. Torres has been the Dynamo’s top scorer from a fantasy perspective so far this season and he is available at a very reasonable $8.3 million price tag.
Houston has been one of the best teams in terms of MLS fantasy this season. They have scored 34 goals, which ties them for the most of any team in the Western Conference.
FLEX: Jack Elliott, Philadelphia
Salary: $2,900
After spending big on our midfield and forward positions, we found excellent value with Elliott at under $3K. Elliott has the potential to outplay his price tag and produce a solid fantasy score when Philadelphia takes on the Montreal Impact on Wednesday night. Make sure to lock him in as an excellent value fantasy play for this week’s action.
Philadelphia has been one of the weaker teams in the MLS this season as they enter the week in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. They have just 23 points in 18 games. That may be a bit surprising to some as Philadelphia actually has a +4 goal differential, which is the fifth-best number in the Western Conference.
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