It’s Friday. That means a big ol’ MLB DFS slate on DraftKings.
There’s 12 games scheduled on the diamond this evening, which means you’re not short on options for your lineups. Allow me to help. Here are my three must-start picks for tonight’s action.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: MLB $200K Relay Throw [$50K to 1st]
SP Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins at Milwukee Brewers, $9,500
There are so many good pitchers on tonight’s slate that someone like Ryan might get lost in the shuffle. The right-hander continues to be one of the best arms no one talks about, as Ryan brings a 2.74 ERA and a 3.18 xERA into tonight’s tilt with the Brewers. On top of that, Ryan possesses a 30.3% strikeout rate that is the seventh-best qualified mark in baseball. There’s a very good reason that he’s only conceded a single earned run or fewer in six of his eight outings this season.
Still, the true elephant in the room is Milwaukee’s complete inability to score runs so far in May. In fact, the Brewers enter tonight’s action with a putrid and league-low 60 wRC+ in the month. It’s a span where Milwaukee is slashing .192/.264/.304 as a team. It almost hurts my eyes to look at the stats.
1B/OF Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels, $6,500
There are so many layers to this matchup. First and foremost, it is yet another meeting between Ohtani and his former employer, giving us the classic “revenge game” narrative on Rivalry Weekend. Ohtani is also directly on the heels of a two home run outburst in Thursday’s lopsided win over the Athletics, tying him with Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber for the most in baseball. This might not come as breaking news, but the man is pretty good.
Still, the most compelling aspect of Ohtani’s viability on Friday is the presence of Jack Kochanowicz ($5,000). Regular readers of this article will know that I love stacking against Kochanowicz, who combines a third percentile strikeout rate (12.9%) with a 19th percentile opponent hard hit rate (46.1%). The RHP has also played to type in terms of his splits, as he’s surrendered a .308 average and 2.31 home runs per nine to opposing LHBs in 2025. That’s a major red flag when facing the Dodgers.
OF Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers at Toronto Blue Jays, $4,400
I think it’s safe to say that Greene has officially broken out at the MLB level, yet the former fifth-overall pick still struggles with hitting LHPs. There’s no doubt about it, Greene is clearly at his best when in an opposite-hand matchup — which is exactly what he’ll get on Friday in the form of Bowden Francis ($5,700). In his 121 plate appearances against RHPs in 2025, Greene is slashing .304/.339/.583 with an impressive 159 wRC+.
Meanwhile, Francis has had his issues keeping opponents in the park. On the whole, the 12 home runs Francis has conceded in his eight starts are the third-most of any pitcher. He’s got a 13th percentile opponent barrel rate (12.0%) and a fifth percentile xERA (6.25). Left-handers have specifically accounted for nine of those longs balls, equating out to 3.12 per nine. Yikes.
