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

Happy Monday! Week 1 of the NFL wraps up this evening, but we are still dialed in on the baseball season as we head down the home stretch. Will Shohei Ohtani reach 50/50? Will the Mets overtake the Braves? Who wins the AL East? Will there be a surprise team in the AL Wild Card? There are so many questions left to be answered, and we will continue building some winning MLB DFS lineups along the way. 

This evening, we have a smaller 6-game slate that will start at 7:05 PM ET on both DraftKings and FanDuel. There are many great matchups today with a bunch of good teams on today’s slate, and then the Chicago White Sox. This slate is void of top-tier pitching, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some great options for making some winning lineups today, so let's dive right into today’s playbook and all of my favorite MLB DFS picks for the day!

MLB DFS Picks & Daily Fantasy Playbook Today, September 9

There is not a single pitcher above $9,000 in today's MLB DFS projections. I still like the top two guys today, but with no aces on the slate it is also reasonable to take some shots on the more affordable options today. Outside of my favorites, some honorable mentions are Brayan Bello and Joey Cantillo. 

On the offensive side, we have a lot of good options with some quality offenses and no top-end pitching. My favorite lineups to target today include the Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Mets.

MLB Weather Today, 9/9

Everything is looking clear today.

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

• Carlos Rodon vs. Kansas City Royals
• David Festa vs. Los Angeles Angels
• Reid Detmers vs. Minnesota Twins
• Cade Povich vs. Boston Red Sox

Best Odds For A Win

• Carlos Rodon vs. Kansas City Royals
• Walker Buehler vs. Chicago Cubs
• Brayan Bello vs. Baltimore Orioles
• David Festa vs. Los Angeles Angels

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Carlos Rodon, New York Yankees

Carlos Rodon gets a tough matchup today going against the Kansas City Royals, but they have slowed down a bit lately, and Rodon is still the clear best pitcher on today’s slate with great strikeout upside, even against the Royals. 

He is coming off a season-high 11 strikeouts against the Texas Rangers in his last start, and he has been consistently good for over two months. When the best pitcher on the slate is this cheap, it makes him very appealing, especially with the upside he brings. 

David Festa, Minnesota Twins

If you take off the first two starts for David Festa, he has a 3.13 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and a 32.9% strikeout rate. That is an elite strikeout rate, and today faces the Los Angeles Angels, who have been arguably the worst team against righties since August with a .620 OPS and a 26.4% strikeout rate. 

I think he brings almost as much strikeout upside as Rodon does today, and he faces a much worse offense, so the potential of getting hit around is even less. I would put both of these top 2 in a lineup, but if you choose one, I might even lean toward Festa, with him being the cheaper option. 

Reid Detmers, Los Angeles Angels

This one comes with plenty of risk. We have seen Reid Detmers be really bad at times this season and found him sent down for a significant portion of the season, but he also still has a ton of upside, and we just saw that with 10 strikeouts and a quality start against the Dodgers in his first start back in the majors. 

Minnesota has a lot of lefty bats and has been doing much more damage against righties. They are pretty mediocre against left-handed pitching, and I think there is a great chance that Detmers can continue the dominance he showed during his last outing and give us another great start today. 

Cade Povich, Baltimore Orioles

We know how much the Red Sox have struggled against lefties all season, and I am still very content attacking them with left-handed pitchers. You will still run the risk of Tyler O’Neill, Connor Wong, or newly added Trevor Story getting to him as lefty killers, but even if those guys do some damage, Povich could still pile up a ton of strikeouts against the rest of the lineup. 

He destroyed the White Sox in his last outing, throwing 7.1 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. The Red Sox are a much bigger challenge than the White Sox, but I see no reason why he can’t still put together another solid outing and pile up some more strikeouts for today's MLB DFS picks.  

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Hitters

Highest Expected Run Totals 

• Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Kyle Hendricks
• Cleveland Guardians vs. Nick Nastrini
• Boston Red Sox vs. Cade Povich
• New York Yankees vs. Brady Singer

MLB DFS Lineups: Core MLB DFS Hitters

Josh Naylor, 1B Cleveland Guardians

Josh Naylor is quietly having an incredible season. He already has 100 RBIs, 29 homers, and 75 runs scored and has been a huge part of this strong Guardians offense all season long. 

The Dodgers were able to hold him to only one hit, but before that, he had a stretch of 6 games where he slashed .480/.500/.760 and now gets to face Nick Nastrini, who has given up a 1.026 OPS against lefties this season.

Andres Gimenez, 2B Cleveland Guardians

For a long time, Andres Gimenez was a crazy lefty-lefty killer, and you only wanted him against left-handed pitchers, but that has flipped this season, and he has been a much better hitter against righties. It hasn’t been the best season for him, but it has been way better over the second half. 

Over the last 10 games, he has shown speed and power with 3 homers and 3 steals. He has also slashed .317/.356/.585 over that stretch. I mentioned Nastrini’s struggles against lefties, so you should be all over these lefty Guardians in this matchup. 

Mark Vientos, 3B New York Mets

If you can afford him, Jose Ramirez is undoubtedly a great addition to the Guardians stack with those first two, but if not, Vientos is an excellent pivot today. He is 0-8 in the last two games, but in the 20 games before, he has slashed .341/.382/.646 with 7 homers, and he has been doing it against both lefties and righties lately. 

We usually like to stack lefties against Chris Bassitt for MLB DFS Picks, but he has been struggling against right-handers recently, too, and Vientos has proven recently that he has legitimate power against both sides. 

Francisco Lindor, SS New York Mets

Remember Bassitt vs. lefties (or switch hitters in this case)? Yeah, I'm sticking with that here, but beyond the matchup, Lindor has been one of the best options at SS for a while now. 

He has also been hitless over the last two games, but I don’t expect that to continue today. Before the last two games, he had one hitless game over a 29-game stretch. That is right; a 12-game hitting streak immediately followed up with a 16-game hitting steak. He also hit 8 homers over that stretch with a 1.032 OPS. 

Player Pool

• FanDuel
• DraftKings

$ Tier	SP	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	OF
High	Carlos Rodón $8,800	Will Smith $4,700	Vladimir Guerrero $5,400		José Ramírez $6,200	Gunnar Henderson $6,400	Juan Soto $6,500
	David Festa $8,600	Austin Wells $4,500	Freddie Freeman $5,300		Jazz Chisholm $5,200	Francisco Lindor $5,600	Mookie Betts $6,300
							Anthony Santander $6,000
							Tyler O'Neill $5,200
							Cody Bellinger $5,100
Medium	Reid Detmers $7,700	Connor Wong $3,900	Josh Naylor $4,300	Nico Hoerner $4,400	Max Muncy $4,800		Giancarlo Stanton $4,800
			J.D. Martinez $4,500	Andrés Giménez $4,100	Mark Vientos $4,600		Ian Happ $4,600
							Brandon Nimmo $4,500
							Steven Kwan $4,400
							George Springer $4,300
							Lane Thomas $4,000
Low	Cade Povich $6,800	Bo Naylor $3,000	Spencer Horwitz $3,900	Gavin Lux $3,800	Addison Barger $3,200	Trevor Story $3,600	Rob Refsnyder $3,700
		Miguel Amaya $2,700	Kyle Manzardo $2,700	Will Wagner $3,100	Romy González $3,000	Brayan Rocchio $2,600	Jesse Winker $3,500
							Pete Crow-Armstrong $3,500
							Will Brennan $3,100

Stacks

Guardians	Andrés Giménez	José Ramírez	Steven Kwan	Josh Naylor
DraftKings	4100	6200	4400	4300
Fanduel	3000	4000	3100	3500

Dodgers	Mookie Betts	Gavin Lux	Max Muncy	Freddie Freeman
DraftKings	6300	3800	4800	5300
Fanduel	4200	2700	3400	3400

Cubs	Michael Busch	Seiya Suzuki	Cody Bellinger	Isaac Paredes	Ian Happ
DraftKings	3800	4800	5100	4400	4600
Fanduel	2700	3100	3100	2800	3200

Mets	Mark Vientos	Francisco Lindor	Brandon Nimmo	Jesse Winker	Pete Alonso
DraftKings	4600	5600	4500	3500	4900
Fanduel	3300	3800	3200	3000	3200