It’s a small four-game MLB DFS slate on Thursday, but let’s all dream big, as DraftKings has a contest with a $50,000 prize for first place.
Here are my top picks on the diamond for tonight’s action.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $150K Relay Throw [$50K to 1st]
PITCHER
Stud
Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, $8,800 – I continue to be perplexed by how Sale is priced on DraftKings. While he’s not Zack Wheeler ($10,500), Sale should never have a salary below $9,000 — no matter what the slate size is. Yes, the reigning NL Cy Young winner started the season a little slowly, but Sale’s numbers have completely normalized by this point, as the veteran southpaw enters Thursday with a 2.91 SIERA and a 29.8% strikeout rate. Heck, even if the “fancy” stats aren’t for you, just know that Sale’s averaging 25.9 FPTS over his last five starts. What more does he have to do to get some respect?
Value
Jacob Lopez, Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays, $7,400 – Lopez is on the heels of the best start of his career. Now, to be fair, he’s only made four of them, but tossing seven innings of one-run baseball against the Phillies is always impressive, especially when you do so with eight strikeouts. That last part might not be too much of an aberration, either, as Lopez struck out 38 in his 27.0 innings of work at Triple-A earlier this season. Lopez’s viability is also about matchup. The Jays return to Toronto from a six-game road trip this evening. A trip where they scored six total runs and batted .184 as a team. Woof.
INFIELD
Stud
CJ Abrams, Washington Nationals at Seattle Mariners, $5,400 – Abrams has been destroying right-handed pitching when healthy in 2025, with an .893 OPS and a .250 ISO in his 127 plate appearances within the split. On Thursday, that righty will be Emerson Hancock ($6,000), who has certainly had issues with effectiveness so far this season. In fact, Hancock owns a 5.95 ERA and a 5.60 xERA in his eight starts. He’s also surrendered 2.65 home runs per nine to opposing left-handed bats.
Stud
Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros, $4,400 – This is an amazing price for Lowe, who is red-hot at the moment, having racked up four home runs over his last seven games. Honestly, the hot hitting goes back even further than a week, as Lowe is slashing .291/.351/.593 with a .302 ISO in the month of May as a whole. Tonight, the good times should continue against Ryan Gusto ($6,400). The right-hander has struggled as a starter in 2025 and he’s served up a whopping 3.52 long balls per nine to opposing LHBs.
Value
Ernie Clement, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Athletics, $2,400 – If you’re fading the aforementioned Lopez on this slate, Clement makes for a very intriguing DFS asset, as he’s priced juuuuust over the bare minimum. The utility man has had virtually zero success against right-handed pitching in 2025, yet he is slashing .341/.412/.545 in his 52 plate appearances against southpaws. Clement also possesses a career 91.8% zone contact rate and 4.1% walk rate, so you at least know he’s going to put the ball in play.
OUTFIELD
Stud
James Wood, Washington Nationals at Seattle Mariners, $5,700 – We’ve simply reached the point where Wood is already one of the best hitters in the game — and I’m not just saying that because he’s managed to go deep in three of his last four contests. The sophomore phenom comes into this one sporting a 99th percentile hard hit rate (59.3%), a 98th percentile expected slugging percentage (.595) and a 96th percentile barrel rate (18.6%). There’s nothing else I have to say. Wood is amazing.
Value
Lawrence Butler, Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays, $4,100 – It was a quiet beginning to the season for Butler, but things have gotten really loud over his last 10 games. In that span, the outfielder is hitting .350 with a 1.095 OPS across 40 at-bats. In fact, prior to going hitless in Wednesday’s loss to the Astros, Butler had registered multiple-hit performances in three of his last four starts. Tonight, he’ll draw an opposite-hand matchup with Jose Berrios ($7,600), who owns an ugly 5.11 xERA and has conceded more home runs than any other pitcher dating back to 2024 (41). Needless to say, it’s a pretty enticing spot for DFS.
