One of the quirks of early-season baseball is the schedule. Between the actual weather, the threat of weather, and a slew of Opening Day festivities, we’re often left with some very odd slates. Tonight is a perfect example.
Two games. We have two MLB games on Thursday and they both get started past 9:30 p.m. ET. Go figure.
Still, DraftKings has MLB DFS contests. You can make lineups — and why wouldn’t you? Let’s find some values.
Set your DraftKings fantasy basketball lineups here: MLB $70K Relay Throw [$20K to 1st] (Night)
SP Ryne Nelson, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Atlanta Braves, $6,000
Someone had to be the “cheap” pitcher on this slate, so I’m not going to act as if Nelson’s been slighted by this price tag. That said, this is a quality MLB starter being valued at $6,000. You need to take a chance on his upside, regardless of the circumstance.
On the surface, Nelson underwhelmed in his first outing of 2026, fighting his control and the home run ball in a loss to the mighty Dodgers. However, Nelson was also throwing harder than he ever has before in that outing, averaging 96.4 mph with his fastball, and he finished with an above-average 12.0% swinging strike rate. That’s pretty encouraging. So is Nelson’s success from 2025. Across a career-high 154.0 innings of work, the right-hander posted a 3.39 ERA with a 3.73 FIP. The 28-year-old has already proven he can be a reliable piece of a rotation. Now we’ll get to see if there’s any more ceiling to unlock in his profile.
C Francisco Alvarez, New York Mets at San Francisco Giants, $3,400
There aren’t many Mets hitting at the moment, but the team’s backstop is red hot. Alvarez comes into Thursday slashing .231/.375/.538 with a .539 expected wOBA through his first 17 plate appearances of 2026. If that wasn’t enough to pique your interest, how about the fact that Alvarez and the rest of New York’s lineup will draw the left-handed Robbie Ray ($8,200) this evening?
Ray can be dominant when healthy, yet the veteran has also been susceptible to the home run ball throughout his career. To wit, the southpaw has surrendered at least 30 long balls in three of his past four “full” seasons. Alvarez can take advantage of this flaw. In 66 plate appearances against LHPs in 2025, Alvarez managed a .304 ISO and a 164 wRC+. He also hit five of his 11 long balls in 2024 off lefties. I’m sensing a pattern here.
3B Jose Fernandez, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Atlanta Braves, $2,500
Add Jose Fernandez’s name to the list of impressive MLB debuts we’ve already seen this season. The 22-year-old was phenomenal in his first taste of MLB action on Tuesday night, hitting a pair of home runs and driving in four in a 7-5 victory over the Tigers. Fernandez was less successful in game No. 2, being held hitless, but he remains difficult to ignore at this very modest price point.
This could also be a night where the Diamondbacks light up the scoreboard. I’m just not sure where my confidence level is at with Reynaldo Lopez ($7,000) at the moment. The RHP looked okay this past weekend against the Royals, yet Lopez missed almost all of 2025 with a serious shoulder issue, and he’s been fighting lowered velocity all spring long. The 32-year-old pitched to a 5.34 FIP in his first start of 2026, and I can envision some rocky times and regression on the horizon. Gabriel Moreno ($3,500) and Alek Thomas ($2,700) are other names to keep on eye on this evening, just as alternative cheap DFS assets in the middle of this Arizona batting order.
