For the second consecutive night, there was a grand slam on Wednesday. In fact, there were three, including Daulton Varsho’s walk-off grand slam for the Toronto Blue Jays.
As a result, 921 DraftKings users who picked one of Tyler Stephenson, Varsho, and Nick Kurtz to hit a home run after opting into the Grand Slam Payout promotion received $271 in bonus bets.
The rules for the promotion are pretty simple: if a user opts in and places a home run bet on any player (minimum $5 stake) and that player hits a grand slam, they’ll earn a share of $250,000 in bonus bets. Both single bets and parlays count, though a parlay must have at most three legs. If no player hits a grand slam that day, the prize pool will increase by $250,000 each day. Thanks to last night’s three grand slams, the pool will remain at $250,000 for tonight’s action.
MLB Grand Slam Payout Picks
Willson Contreras, Boston Red Sox
It hasn’t been a very good season for the Red Sox as a whole, as they currently sit at the bottom of the AL East and already fired long-time manager Alex Cora, but Contreras has been a lone bright spot. The veteran first baseman, whom Boston signed in the offseason, ranks second on the team with an .824 OPS (minimum 100 plate appearances) and leads it with eight homers. Contreras is currently mired in a one-for-13 slump, but he did go deep on May 5, hitting a solo shot off of Framber Valdez.
Contreras will have an intriguing matchup tonight against a pitcher who’s been either bad or unlucky. Jesús Luzardo has a 2.95 FIP and ranks above the median in every single Statcast category, including the top quintile in eight different stats…but has just a 5.77 ERA after giving up a homer in each of his last two starts. The splits are heavily in Contreras’ favor: he’s posted a 1.035 OPS against lefties this season, going deep four times in just 46 plate appearances, and Luzardo has allowed an OPS 115 points higher to righties than lefties in his career.
As of late, Contreras had been hitting second, but Chad Tracy moved him back to fourth for last night’s game, dropping him behind Mickey Gasper and Wilyer Abreu. The change could make it more likely for Contreras to come up to bat with the bases loaded, as Abreu is the team’s best hitter overall and ranks second among qualifying hitters in OBP. Additionally, Gasper has a .500 OBP, though he’s only played three games after being activated from Triple-A Worcester and is likely to regress at some point. If leadoff hitter Jarren Duran, currently below the Mendoza Line, ever finds his stroke again, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario in which Duran, Gasper, and Abreu are on base ahead of Contreras. He’s had four grand slam opportunities so far this season.
Munetaka Murakami, White Sox
This one will probably be a pretty popular pick, but since the evening slate is stacked with pitchers who do an excellent job limiting the damage, I might as well go with arguably the best pure power hitter in baseball. Murakami has been a revelation this season, slugging 15 homers and posting a .900 OPS in his first MLB season after an illustrious career in Japan, and his 99th-percentile average exit velocity, 98th-percentile barrel rate, and 100th-percentile hard-hit rate make him a major threat to go deep every time he steps to the plate.
Murakami will be facing Kris Bubic, who’s regressed a little bit after posting a 2.55 ERA and making the All-Star team in 2025. While Bubic has still done a decent job limiting big flies, giving up just three this season, he still has a below-median barrel rate. Plus, he doesn’t throw very hard, and the knock on Murakami during his evaluation process was his struggles against high velocity. It’s a small sample size, but Murakami’s production hasn’t dipped against lefties, as he’s had an .875 OPS and four homers against them. Murakami has seen six left-handed sinkers (the pitch Bubic likes to throw to fellow southpaws) and has recorded a 1.050 xSLG on such pitches.
Additionally, Chicago’s entire lineup is hot right now. The White Sox have won 10 of their last 14 games and have the league’s sixth-highest OBP in May, so it’d be reasonable to expect Murakami to come to the plate with the bases loaded. He’s typically hit second, with fellow rookie Sam Antonacci (who owns a .383 OPS) hitting leadoff, and even the players who most frequently hit in the seventh, eighth, and ninth positions (Jarred Kelenic, Tristan Peters, and Drew Romo) get on base at least one-third of the time, though for Kelenic and Romo, that’s partially the result of a small sample size. Murakami has had two grand slam opportunities this season, going yard once and striking out once.
How to Play MLB Grand Slam Payout
- Opt in to receive your MLB Grand Slam Payout token in the Promotions page
- Place a Single, Parlay, or SGP bet on a player to hit a home run and if their home run is a grand slam, receive a share of $250,000 in Bonus Bets! (minimum $5 bet, maximum three legs for a parlay)
- If the player in your qualifying bet hits a grand slam you’ll win a share of $250,000 in Bonus Bets.
- If no grand slams are hit, the bonus prize pool will carry over to the next day the Promotion is offered.
For more information on this promo, click here!
