We’re so back.
For the first time since Game 7 of last year’s World Series, we have real MLB baseball in our lives again, and it all gets started at 8:05 p.m. ET on Netflix. The Yankees will travel out to San Francisco to take on the Giants, meaning a pitcher’s duel between two of the best in the league: Max Fried and Logan Webb.
It also means at massive Showdown contest on DraftKings with a $50,000 top prize. How can you go about finding some value for your lineups? Let’s break down a couple of my favorite picks.
Set your DraftKings MLB DFS lineups here: MLB $150K Slugfest [$50K to 1st] (NYY @ SF)
OF Trent Grisham, New York Yankees, $6,400
Your guess is as good as mine for who will be leading off for the Yankees. I can see a case for Cody Bellinger ($8,600) and I can also see a case for Ben Rice ($7,800). That said, there’s no clear-cut option, which makes me think that Aaron Boone might just roll things back to 2025. If that’s the case, and Trent Grisham is atop New York’s batting order, his modest price tag suddenly becomes a steal.
Grisham is sort of the ideal leadoff man against right-handed pitchers, in my opinion. Not only does he possess enough pop to start the game with a bang, as evidenced by his 34 home runs and 91st percentile expected wOBA (.370) from last season, but he’s also got an elite eye, which helps him get on base ahead of Aaron Judge ($10,000). In fact, Grisham posted a 99th percentile chase rate (17.3%) in 2025 to go along with a 96th percentile walk rate (14.1%). He has his struggles with southpaws and was dreadfully bad during the Yankees’ last playoff run, but don’t let those narratives distract you from the fact that Grisham is undervalued on this Showdown slate.
1B/2B Luis Arraez, San Francisco Giants, $6,000
It is equally unclear who is going to leadoff for the Giants on Opening Night, especially considering the top two options — Arraez and Jung Hoo Lee ($6,600) — are both left-handed bats going into a matchup with Max Fried ($11,000). It’s an interesting first managerial choice for Tony Vitello. It also might give us some insight into how much Vitello cares about things like BvP.
It’s funny. I was going to type something like Arraez has “owned” Fried throughout their careers, but a .462/.533/.462 slash line in 13 at-bats is really the epitome of the fantasy quandary that is the veteran infielder. Arraez has six hits off the lefty — all singles. Personally, I don’t put too much stock into head-to-head matchups, but if those numbers are the reason Arraez leads off on Wednesday, they suddenly become very important. Speaking of small samples, Arraez just had four doubles and a pair of home runs in the WBC. The best managing Viello can do would be to let Arraez wear his Venezuela jersey under his San Francisco one.
