MLB DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups & Stacks Today: Friday Playbook

Happy Friday! The NFL season officially kicked off yesterday, but baseball season is still in full swing. The postseason picture is starting to clear up, but we still have plenty of time left for some shake-ups to happen and plenty of time for us to keep on building some winning MLB DFS lineups!

This evening, we have a massive 12-game slate that will be getting started at 7:05 PM ET on both DraftKings and FanDuel. There are a lot of exciting matchups with some aces taking the mound and it should be an exciting day of baseball. With 12 games, we will have endless options for building lineups today so let's jump right into today’s playbook and all of my favorite MLB DFS picks!

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, September 6

Regarding MLB DFS projections, the top end of pitching is incredible today. I think all of the top 8 pitchers today can be rostered quite comfortably, and that is likely where I am living and where all of my four favorite pitchers reside. If you need cheaper options today, Brandon Pfaadt, Kevin Gausman, Erick Fedde, Zebby Matthews, and Mitch Spence are all decent cheap pitchers to consider. 

On the offensive side, even with such a stacked top end of pitching,  a 12-game slate provides plenty of good matchups to target. Some of my favorite lineups today are the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, and Los Angeles Angels.

MLB Weather Today, 9/6

• Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves 

There will be some light rain this afternoon, but it should all clear up by game time. 

MLB DFS Optimizer & Lineup Generator Today

This Playbook is your ultimate resource for crafting amazing MLB DFS picks. Dive into our expert advice and recommendations, and don’t forget to check out today’s MLB DFS projections, MLB DFS ownership projections and our special MLB lineups page! 

You can easily mix all this info with the MLB DFS Lineup Generator, helping you lock in your Core Plays and create winning lineups quickly! Here’s a sample lineup for today’s games:

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Starting Pitchers

Top Options For Strikeouts

• Tarik Skubal vs. Oakland Athletics
• Cole Ragans vs. Minnesota Twins
• Zack Wheeler vs. Miami Marlins
• Michael King vs. San Francisco Giants

Best Odds For A Win

• Zack Wheeler vs. Miami Marlins
• Michael King vs. San Francisco Giants
• Tarik Skubal vs. Oakland Athletics
• Nick Pivetta vs. Chicago White Sox

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

At this point, Tarik Skubal is basically guaranteed to be the AL Cy Young winner; his season has been incredible. While he is the top-priced pitcher on a slate of a lot of really good pitchers, he deserves to be, and I am still taking him as the top guy. 

We have loved what the Oakland offense has been doing lately, but most of their damage has been against righties. Since August 1st, they have still been a bottom 5 offense against lefties with a .628 OPS, and even with decent strikeout numbers, that doesn’t matter with Skubal, who is a near-lock for 8 strikeouts in almost any matchup. 

Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies

Zack Wheeler might not be the NL Cy Young winner this season, but that is only because of Chris Sale. I am certain Wheeler will end up being the runner-up with another amazing season. He has thrown six straight quality starts with 44 strikeouts in 39 innings, a 1.62 ERA, and a 0.85 WHIP. 

Miami has actually been a reasonably adequate offense against righties since August 1st. Still, with a 23.2% strikeout rate and nobody that scares me in that lineup, I don’t expect them to do anything against Wheeler, who also feels like a near-lock for 8 strikeouts and a win in this matchup.  

Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals

The last few outings have been good, not great, for Ragans. He has only gone 5 innings or less in his last 3 starts and has given up 10 earned runs in 14 innings across those 3 starts. The walks have been the real struggle in driving up his pitch count and accounting for a lot of those runs. If he can limit the walks better against Minnesota, he should bounce back just fine. 

He faced Minnesota on August 14th and pitched 7 innings with 8 strikeouts, allowing only 1 run off a solo homer and no walks. I think we can expect this start to look closer to that than his last few starts. 

Nick Pivetta, Boston Red Sox

Nick Pivetta marks the end of the top-tier starting pitching for me today, which means he is the cheapest of the pitchers that I really like, and he still has lots of upside. He has had a stretch of tough matchups recently but has still been pitching reasonably well and getting decent strikeout numbers.

Today, facing the Chicago White Sox, his ceiling for MLB DFS picks is sky-high. He already has four 10-strikeout games this season, and there is a great chance he can chase that number again today, getting to face the White Sox for the first time this season. 

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

• Boston Red Sox vs. Davis Martin
• Texas Rangers vs. Samuel Aldegheri
• Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Matthew Boyd
• San Diego Padres vs. Mason Black

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Hitters

Yandy Diaz, 1B Tampa Bay Rays

Yandy Diaz has finally been flexing some power recently, with 3 homers in his last 7 games, along with four multi-hit games. He has been hitting quite well for a while, though with a .302/.367/.472 slash line since the beginning of August. 

Dean Kremer is the best pitcher on the Orioles team to attack right now, which provides some decent value for some of these Rays hitters. Yandy is an excellent option at the top of that lineup who can give some solid value at first today. 

Josh Jung, 3B Texas Rangers

Sam Aldegheri’s line doesn’t look too bad from his debut since 5 of the 7 runs he gave up were unearned. He didn’t look great, though, and while this Rangers offense has been struggling badly recently, I think the value here on Josh Jung is too good to pass up. 

Josh Jung has 5 multi-hit games over his last 7, along with 2 homers and a .429/.467/.643, he has also been a great lefty killer for his career with a .937 OPS vs. lefties. I don’t know if I want to attempt to stack too many Rangers with their recent struggles but a small stack or even Jung as a one-off could be a great move today. 

Francisco Lindor, SS New York Mets

The shortstop position is star-studded at the top, as usual. While all of the guys at the top end are great options, getting Lindor as the cheapest of the stars at the top makes him the best choice with how he is hitting lately and having a decent matchup. 

Lindor is on a 15-game hitting streak over which he has slashed .365/.403/.778 with 6 homers. He is also now 4 steals away from yet another 30-30 season which may be some extra motivation for him to push it on the base paths which can give you some extra value. 

Teoscar Hernandez, OF Los Angeles Dodgers

Matthew Boyd has had excellent results in his first 4 starts of the season, but he also hasn’t had to face the Dodgers. He has been near unhittable against lefties so far, but right-handers have had a little more luck against him, and I also don’t think he will continue to get this good of results. 

Teoscar crushes lefties. He has a .951 OPS against lefties this season, with 10 homers against them in just 150 plate appearances. Stacking Dodgers for MLB DFS picks is never a terrible idea, but even if you aren’t, you have to consider Teoscar as one of your outfields at his price in this matchup. 

Player Pool

• FanDuel
• DraftKings

$ Tier	SP	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	OF
High	Tarik Skubal $10,200		Vladimir Guerrero $5,500		José Ramírez $6,400	Bobby Witt $6,600	Mookie Betts $6,300
	Zack Wheeler $10,000		Matt Olson $5,000		Manny Machado $5,400	Gunnar Henderson $6,500	Jarren Duran $6,200
						Francisco Lindor $5,700	Yordan Alvarez $6,100
							Kyle Schwarber $5,900
							Teoscar Hernández $5,000
Medium	Michael King $9,800	Tyler Stephenson $4,400	Yandy Díaz $4,200	Jonathan India $4,700	Mark Vientos $4,600	Zach Neto $4,500	Julio Rodríguez $4,800
	Cole Ragans $9,400	J.T. Realmuto $4,300	Paul Goldschmidt $4,000	Xander Bogaerts $4,100	Josh Jung $4,200	Masyn Winn $4,200	Jackson Merrill $4,800
			Luke Raley $4,000	Bryson Stott $4,000	Junior Caminero $4,100		Brandon Nimmo $4,700
							Josh Lowe $4,500
							Kerry Carpenter $4,500
							Randy Arozarena $4,400
							Taylor Ward $4,300
							Parker Meadows $4,000
Low	Nick Pivetta $8,600	Jonah Heim $3,500	Ty France $3,100	Colt Keith $3,700	Noelvi Marte $3,300	Geraldo Perdomo $3,400	Jesse Winker $3,700
	Erick Fedde $7,700	Jake Rogers $3,200	Kyle Manzardo $2,700	Kody Clemens $3,300	Jace Jung $2,600	Orlando Arcia $3,200	Victor Robles $3,600
							Brandon Marsh $3,500
							Lars Nootbaar $3,300
							Mickey Moniak $3,100

Stacks

Dodgers	Mookie Betts	Will Smith	Teoscar Hernández	Tommy Edman	Freddie Freeman
DraftKings	6300	4000	5000	3700	5300
Fanduel	4100	5500	3600	2700	3400

Rangers	Adolis García	Josh Jung	Justin Foscue	Jonah Heim
DraftKings	4400	4200	2100	3500	-
Fanduel	3100	2900	2200	2700	-

Phillies	Trea Turner	Bryson Stott	Kyle Schwarber	Brandon Marsh	Bryce Harper
DraftKings	5800	4000	5900	3500	5400
Fanduel	3600	2800	4000	2900	3600

Mets	Mark Vientos	Francisco Lindor	Brandon Nimmo	Pete Alonso	J.D. Martinez
DraftKings	4600	5700	4700	5200	4600
Fanduel	3000	3800	3200	3200	3000

Padres	Xander Bogaerts	Manny Machado	Jackson Merrill	Jurickson Profar	Jake Cronenworth
DraftKings	4100	5400	4800	4300	4300
Fanduel	2900	3500	3500	3400	2900