With a 12-game featured slate of offerings for tonight’s DFS contest on DraftKings, fantasy baseball players should have no shortage of high-quality options as they fill out their lineups. That’s doubly true given that tonight’s slate features some not-so-great pitchers.
But which team’s lineups should you be targeting? Here are my three favorite stacks for tonight’s contest.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $225K Knuckleball [$50K to 1st]
1. Philadelphia Phillies
1B Bryce Harper ($5,900)
SS Trea Turner ($5,800)
2B Bryson Stott ($4,200)
OF Nick Castellanos ($4,100)
Harper is expected to return tonight after missing the last week after getting hit in the elbow by a pitch against the Atlanta Braves, and he couldn’t ask for a kinder hurler to return against than Bowden Francis ($5,700), who has conceded an ugly .962 OPS to left-handed hitters this season. The fact that Francis has turned southpaws into something resembling Shohei Ohtani ($6,400) is the main reason why Stott makes this list in addition to Harper. Against righties, Stott has recorded a solid .266/.328/.399 slash line in 175 plate appearances, and his 76th percentile speed should make him a base-stealing asset against a pitcher who throws slower than average across the board.
Turner had two stolen bases in his most recent game, walking, doubling, and scoring a run (19 FPTS). The veteran shortstop has also produced his best hitting against fastballs this season, hitting .333 against the pitch, and Francis throws his fastball on more than 50% of his pitches. Castellanos, too, mashes fastballs, having posted his best expected slugging percentage and three of his five homers against the pitch, and he hits pulled fly balls at an above-average rate. That should make him a home run threat against a pitcher who has conceded 15 homers this season — the second-most in baseball — gives up loads of pulled fly balls — and pitches in the league’s 10th-most hitter friendly park for right-handers.
2. Atlanta Braves
OF Ronald Acuña Jr. ($6,200)
C Drake Baldwin ($4,300)
2B Ozzie Albies ($4,000)
OF Alex Verdugo ($3,600)
For the Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen ($8,000), the good is that he’s had three ace-level starts this season. The bad is that only one of those ace-level starts has come within the last month. The ugly is that he’s allowed four or more earned runs in each of his last four starts, including five in just five innings in a disaster against a previously slumping Pirates’ offense. That won’t do against Acuña, who has been absolutely mashing since returning from the torn ACL that cut his 2024 campaign short, nor will it against Baldwin, who has recorded a .902 OPS against righties and has become the preferred option in a platoon with veteran Sean Murphy ($4,000).
Albies doesn’t lace hard hits quite as often as Acuña or Baldwin do, but the Curaçaoan has been seeing the ball well in his last 10 games, slashing .286/.405/.429 across that span, and his OPS has been nearly 100 points higher against righties than lefties. He has also done his most damage against fastballs this season, and Gallen throws his four-seamer on nearly half of his pitches. Verdugo makes this list because he has been far, far better against righties than lefties. Plus, while one of his shortcomings is his 33rd percentile walk rate, Gallen has issued more free passes than any other NL pitcher.
3. Minnesota Twins
OF Byron Buxton ($5,700)
1B Ty France ($3,800)
SS Carlos Correa ($3,700)
2B/OF Willi Castro ($3,200)
The Twins’ lineup offers a lot of value, because with the exception of Buxton and Matt Wallner ($4,600), nobody on Minnesota’s offense costs more than $4,000. In part, that’s because the team has struggled offensively, posting the league’s 10th-lowest OPS this season, but that situation should be better with Buxton and Wallner both back in the lineup. Buxton has recorded 10 or more FPTS in each of the three games since returning from his injury, recording multiple hits in each one and stealing a pair of bases. That should serve him well against Osvaldo Bido ($6,000), who gave up six earned runs in 1.2 innings (-8.5 FPTS) in his most recent MLB start before getting demoted and putting up another stinker for Triple-A Las Vegas.
The Twins mostly make the stack because of how bad Bido has been, but it’s not just him; this season, the Athletics’ bullpen has the league’s worst ERA, and Sutter Health Park has generally been friendly to both the Athletics and opposing offenses. That should provide opportunities for France, who’s slashed .342/.390/.447 in his last 10 games (eight FPTS per game), Correa — who mashes the fastballs that Bido throws on nearly half of his pitches — and Castro, who’s recorded double-digit fantasy points in three of his last four games. Castro’s OPS is also nearly 100 points better against right-handed pitching.
