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

Happy Friday! We’ve got another day of baseball ahead of us after witnessing Shohei Ohtani have one of the greatest single days in baseball history yesterday. He went 6-6 with 3 homers, 5 extra-base hits, 2 steals, 4 runs, and 10 RBIs while creating the 50/50 club and even getting to 51/51. 

If you played him on DraftKings, he scored you 81 points himself. Now the question will be, where does it end? Can he get to 55/55? In the meantime, we have another excellent slate to build more winning MLB DFS lineups.

We have a 12-game slate this evening that will be getting started at 7:05 PM ET on DraftKings and FanDuel. Shohei Ohtani is on the slate again, available for $7,100 if you think he can follow up his 81-point performance with another slate-winning performance. 

There are plenty of other options as well, so let’s jump right into today’s playbook and all of my favorite MLB DFS picks for the day!

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, September 20

There are quite a few quality pitchers on today's slate, but surprisingly, not very many that I am very excited about. While I usually have some honorable mentions, the four pitchers who made my favorites are my clear favorites today. 

On the offensive side, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves are far and away my favorite two teams to stack; some other lineups you could target today include the Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Guardians, St. Louis Cardinals, and Arizona Diamondbacks.

MLB Weather Today, 9/20

• Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red Sox

There is rain most of the day. I would likely avoid this game. 

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

• Gerrit Cole vs. Oakland Athletics
• Jacob deGrom vs. Seattle Mariners
• Joe Musgrove vs. Chicago White Sox
• Charlie Morton vs. Miami Marlins

Best Odds For A Win

• Gerrit Cole vs. Oakland Athletics
• Charlie Morton vs. Miami Marlins
• Joe Musgrove vs. Chicago White Sox
• Michael Wacha vs. San Francisco Giants

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Joe Musgrove, San Diego Padres

Joe Musgrove would be my favorite pitcher on the slate, even if he were the top-priced pitcher. He has 3 gems and 2 duds over his last 5 starts, but the 3 gems have been incredible. Those 3 combined are 19 innings with 25 strikeouts without a single run given up. 

Considering he is facing the Chicago White Sox today, I’d bet on it being another gem. He gives you a great strikeout upside with fantastic win probability and is the clear #1 for me today.  

Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

The Red Sox did what they usually do and beat up on Gerrit Cole, but that isn’t shying me away from him today. For some reason, Gerrit Cole struggles against the Red Sox badly, and I will not hold that start against him too much. 

In his previous 6 starts, he had a 1.31 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and a 31.2% strikeout rate with 43 strikeouts in 34.1 innings. I am going to keep judging him on those performances and throw out this Red Sox start. Against the Athletics today he should be able to bounce back and give us another great outing. 

Michael Wacha, Kansas City Royals

Michael Wacha might look boring compared to some pitchers around him, but he has been pitching incredibly for a long time. Over his last 19 starts, he has only given up more than 2 earned runs 3 times and more than 3 only once. He also had 7 or more strikeouts in 4 of his last 6 starts. 

The San Francisco Giants have the 2nd highest strikeout rate against right-handers over the last month at 27.8%, so Wacha has a great chance to get to that 7+ mark once again and should give great value at this price today.

Brant Hurter, Detroit Tigers

Brant Hurter has been a big part of the Tiger's success over the last 2 months. He joined the club in August and has piled up 38.2 innings with a 2.56 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, and a 25% strikeout rate. He has also picked up a win in each of his last 5 outings. He is coming off the best performance of his season, throwing 5.2 hitless innings with 8 strikeouts against the Orioles.  

He faces the Orioles again today, and while I am not betting him to throw the majority of a no-hitter again, I think he will have another solid performance. The Orioles offense looks dead right now, and this Tigers team looks unstoppable. 

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

• Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Kyle Freeland
• Houston Astros vs. Tyler Anderson
• Kansas City Royals vs. Mason Black
• Atlanta Braves vs. Valente Bellozo

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Hitters

Matt Olson, 1B Atlanta Braves

Don’t be fooled by Valente Bellozo’s 3.70 ERA, which will not hold, and he has some of the weakest stuff of any pitcher in baseball. The Braves should not have a problem keeping up their scoring from yesterday and putting up a ton of runs against this sad Marlins team. 

Matt Olson has 3 homers over his last 3 games, and over his previous 10, he is slashing .417/.523/.806 with 8 extra-base hits, 15 RBIs, and he has recorded a hit in all but one game. 

Max Muncy, 3B Los Angeles Dodgers

This Dodgers team scored 20 runs yesterday. Sure, that was mostly Shohei Ohtani but Max Muncy still went 2-3 with 2 walks and 4 runs scored. Kyle Freeland has been absolutely terrible on the road this season as well. 

Muncy isn’t as good against lefties, but he still has plenty of power against them. I am also not counting on Freeland lasting too long, which will then turn the game over to the Rockies' terrible bullpen, which will be even better for Max Muncy. 

Tommy Edman, SS/OF Los Angeles Dodgers

I don’t see many paths to not starting Tommy Edman against a lefty right now while he continues to be priced this low and hold SS eligibility. He is slashing .438/.441/.938 against lefties still this season. I have already given my love to the Dodgers today, but even if you aren’t stacking Dodgers (which you should be), Edman should still be in your lineup. 

Shohei Ohtani, 1B/OF Shohei Ohtani

I wasn’t planning on including Shohei Ohtani on this list because you all already know how good he is, but considering the Dodgers are one of my favorite stacks today, it seems crazy not to suggest considering paying this high price for Ohtani after he just scored 81 points in DraftKings. He isn’t going to score 81 again, but I don’t think he has plans to slow down any, even after hitting the 50/50 mark. 

Michael Harris, OF Atlanta Braves

I wasn’t lying when I said that the Braves and Dodgers were my favorite stacks today, and Michael Harris rounds out my exclusively Braves/Dodgers list of favorite plays. You could play any of the Braves outfielders today, but Harris is my favorite. 

He has hit 4 homers in his last 3 games and 6 over his last 9, including two multi-homer games. That is good for a 1.207 OPS over his last 9, and in a matchup like this, I don’t see him slowing down. 

Player Pool

• FanDuel
• DraftKings

$ Tier	SP	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	OF
High	Joe Musgrove $9,100	Will Smith $4,800	Matt Olson $5,200	Ketel Marte $6,000	Manny Machado $5,000	Bobby Witt $6,300	Shohei Ohtani $7,100
	Gerrit Cole $9,000	Salvador Perez $4,500		Jose Altuve $5,200		Trea Turner $5,900	Aaron Judge $6,900
		Austin Wells $4,500					Corbin Carroll $5,800
							Marcell Ozuna $5,300
							Fernando Tatis $5,200
Medium	Michael Wacha $8,200	Hunter Goodman $3,500	Freddie Freeman $4,800	Gleyber Torres $3,900	Eugenio Suárez $4,800	Willy Adames $4,600	Teoscar Hernández $4,900
		Kyle Higashioka $3,300	Josh Naylor $4,600		Max Muncy $4,000	Tommy Edman $4,100	Riley Greene $4,900
							Kerry Carpenter $4,300
							Jackson Chourio $4,300
							Michael Harris $4,200
							Parker Meadows $4,100
							Lane Thomas $4,100
Low	Brant Hurter $7,600	Gabriel Moreno $3,200	Triston Casas $3,800	Brendan Donovan $3,300	Donovan Solano $2,400	Masyn Winn $3,700	Jorge Soler $3,900
		Pedro Pagés $2,700	Rhys Hoskins $3,000	Enrique Hernández $2,400		Luisangel Acuña $3,300	Jesús Sánchez $3,500
							Ramón Laureano $3,500
							Pavin Smith $3,500
							Jasson Domínguez $3,400
							Mike Yastrzemski $3,200
							Garrett Mitchell $3,100
							Andy Pages $2,800

Stacks

Dodgers	Teoscar Hernández	Tommy Edman	Shohei Ohtani	Max Muncy	Freddie Freeman
DraftKings	4900	4100	7100	4000	4800
Fanduel	3600	3200	4700	3400	3500

Braves	Jorge Soler	Marcell Ozuna	Matt Olson	Michael Harris	Ramón Laureano
DraftKings	3900	5300	5200	4200	3500
Fanduel	3200	3800	3500	3000	2600

Royals	Bobby Witt	Hunter Renfroe	Salvador Perez	Michael Massey
DraftKings	6300	3100	4500	4300
Fanduel	4600	2600	3200	2900

Padres	Xander Bogaerts	Manny Machado	Jurickson Profar	Fernando Tatis	Donovan Solano
DraftKings	3800	5000	4000	5200	2400
Fanduel	2900	3500	3300	3700	2700

Yankees	Juan Soto	Gleyber Torres	Aaron Judge	Jasson Domínguez	Austin Wells
DraftKings	6400	3900	6900	3400	4500
Fanduel	4500	3000	4900	2700	3100