We’re closing out June with a fun one.
Tonight’s featured MLB slate on DraftKings has 12 games, 24 teams and a whole lot of aces taking the mound. What more could you want from a night of baseball? Well… I guess to wing $50,000. I can maybe help with that.
Here are my best values plays for this evening’s action on the diamond:
- Rays SP Griffin Jax ($6,700) vs. Royals
- Marlins OF Owen Caissie ($3,900) vs. Rockies
- Cubs SS Dansby Swanson ($3,500) vs. Padres
Set your DraftKings MLB DFS lineups here: MLB $175K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st]
SP Griffin Jax, Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals, $6,700
Let’s start with the bad. Jax’s ceiling as a fantasy asset is somewhat lowered by the fact that he’s a converted reliever and the Rays still appear to be monitoring his innings and pitch counts. Jax has yet to exceed five frames in any appearance in 2026. That said, Jax is directly on the heels of establishing new season-highs in batters faced (24) and pitches thrown (88) his last time out. That start also happened to be against the Royals, where Jax conceded zero earned runs and ended up striking out seven. Not too shabby.
Heck, Jax has been fantastic in his past four outings, maintaining a 0.90 ERA over 20.0 innings with a 26.6% strikeout rate. This isn’t completely out of the blue, either. Jax did struggle as a starter in his rookie campaign in 2021 with the Twins, but then he was a dominant late-inning reliever the next three years. He obviously has the stuff to get outs at this level. With a price tag below $7,000, I’ll take my chances that Jax can have back-to-back elite performances versus Kansas City.
OF Owen Caissie, Miami Marlins at Colorado Rockies, $3,900
Your interest in Caissie on this slate comes down to a single question: Do you think the young Canadian will be able to put a few balls in play? Caissie’s Baseball Savant page is a hilarious mix of deep reds and deeper blues. The 23-year-old does sport a 92nd percentile barrel rate (15.0%) and a 91st percentile expected wOBA on batted ball events (.456), yet a first percentile strikeout rate (38.5%) holds Caissie from consistently reaping the benefits of his ability.
With all that said, tonight’s matchup with Tanner Gordon ($6,000) at Coors Field has too much potential upside to overlook. Gordon will return from the IL to make his first start in a month, and if the first 35.1 innings of his season are any indication, the Marlins should score some runs this evening. Gordon specifically struggled with opposing LHBs, like Caissie, with those within the split combining to hit .362 with a massive .472 wOBA.
SS Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres, $3,500
Though he’s still batting below the Mendoza line for the season as a whole, Swanson is turning things around in recent weeks. In fact, over the past 14 days, the former first-overall pick is slashing .289/.340/.667 with four home runs, 18 RBI, and a 169 wRC+. The wildest part? Those 18 runs have been driven in from the nine-spot in the Cubs’ batting order.
Lineup positioning is a clear knock against Swanson’s DFS value, yet his price tag, recent form, and matchup supersede any concerns about optimizing plate appearance volume. On Tuesday, Chicago will face JP Sears ($6,800) at Wrigley Field with the wind expected to be blowing out. This will be just Sears’ second start of 2026. Why? Well, the southpaw had a 7.92 ERA in Triple-A before getting re-called to the majors. Sears also surrendered 92 home runs at the MLB level from 2022 to 2025 — the most of any pitcher. I get San Diego’s hesitancy.
