With today’s game between the Orioles and the White Sox being moved to 4:30 p.m. ET, tonight’s featured MLB DFS slate on DraftKings is a 12-gamer, with loads of All-Star players available for your lineups.
How can you possibly decide who to build around? Let’s dive in and explore my top picks for Friday evening.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: MLB $200K Rally Cap [$50K to 1st]
SP Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis Cardinals at Texas Rangers, $8,700
This feels like a slate where a lot of people will be utilizing Nick Pivetta ($9,800) and David Peterson ($9,000) in their lineups. I’ll pivot and go with Liberatore, who seems like he’s finally breaking out for the Cardinals. The former first-round pick has been spectacular so far in 2025, maintaining a 2.73 ERA and a 2.52 FIP across 59.1 innings of work. Heck, if you isolate the right-hander’s last eight outings, Liberatore owns a pristine 1.91 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. The strikeout rate isn’t noteworthy and the velocity is mid, but the results are commanding people’s attention.
It helps Liberatore’s case that he’ll be opposed by the Rangers on Friday night. No team is slumping as badly as Texas at the moment, as the Rangers have slashed .178/.245/.287 with a 51 wRC+ across the past two weeks. In that same span, Texas also possesses the league’s third-highest strikeout rate (26.1%). The club got Corey Seager ($5,100) back off the IL on Wednesday, which should raise the run scoring bar in the immediate, yet there’s simply not a lot to be excited about with this group.
OF Cody Bellinger, New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers, $5,000
Bellinger’s teammate is obviously getting all the headlines for New York’s recent success, but do not overlook the former NL MVP. Since the calendar flipped to May, Bellinger has been red-hot, slashing .318/.384/.568 with a .250 ISO and a 167 wRC+ in his 99 plate appearances. Yes, Bellinger has very clearly preferred hitting in the lefty-friendly confines of Yankee Stadium in 2025, but a revenge game narrative in Los Angeles is fun to think about for the 29-year-old.
Bellinger and the rest of the Yankees will be opposed by Tony Gonsolin ($7,500), who has conceded four earned runs in each of his past two starts, a span of time where the RHP has walked more batters (8) than he’s struck out (7). That’s a bad omen. So are Gonsolin’s struggles with LHBs. The 61 that Gonsolin has faced in 2025 have combined to hit .294 with a .400 OBP.
3B Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants at Miami Marlins, $4,000
Tonight feels like a good time to take a chance on the upside of Chapman, who is the cheapest he’s been on a slate since all the way back on Opening Day. As per usual, Chapman’s surface stats aren’t going to blow you away, but he does possess 96th percentile average exit velocity (94.1), an 88th percentile hard hit rate (51.1%) and an 82nd percentile expected wOBA (.365). The man is undoubtedly swinging the bat well and you don’t have to look too hard to find the ceiling.
The matchup is also incredible. Cal Quantrill ($5,200) has struggled all season long, entering Friday’s tilt in Miami with a 6.09 ERA in 44.1 innings. The biggest issue that Quantrill’s had in 2025? Getting out right-handed opponents. To wit, RHBs have combined to hit .384 with a .444 wOBA off the veteran starter. Woof. Heliot Ramos ($4,200) is another name to keep an eye on in this advantageous spot.
