Happy Easter Sunday, welcome to the Fantasy Alarm MLB DFS Playbook for April 20th!

We’re diving into the action with a full slate on DraftKings and FanDuel, kicking off at 1:35 PM ET. With a packed day of baseball ahead, our expert analysis is here to guide you through the top pitchers, value plays, and stackable offenses to target.

Whether you’re hunting for GPP glory or locking in cash game success, we’ve got tailored insights to help you conquer today’s matchups. Let’s dive into the key plays and strategies to dominate the slate!

 

 

 

This season's MLB DFS picks and playbook will consist of a pitcher and hitter core players section with written analysis, player pool grid and core stacks section.

The core player section should be used as a starting point for all lineups, you may not be able to use all players in the same lineup, but those players should be the building blocks for you on a given night.

The player pool grid will feature both players from the core player section along with additional plays to help you build a complete lineup. The grid will be broken into top priced players, mid-priced players and value tier players.

The stacks section will bring you our favorite lineups stacks for the day and which players we would look to include in those stacks based on matchups and pricing.

There will also be a daily MLB DFS Show with a variety of hosts ranging from myself, Jon Impemba, Howard Bender, and James Grande. The MLB DFS Show will give you an initial outlook on the day's MLB DFS slate and should give you a good base for the start of your research each day! 

Make sure you subscribe to the Fantasy Alarm YouTube channel so you never miss a show! Also, join the Fantasy Alarm Discord to get your DFS lineup questions answered by our MLB DFS team! Plus, as always, be sure to check in with our MLB DFS Tools, with the Daily MLB Projections, MLB DFS Rostership Projections, and our MLB DFS Lineup Generator when building those lineups today to help you decide which players you should be targeting.

 

MLB DFS Picks & MLB Playbook

MLB Weather: Sunday, 4/20

Arizona Diamondbacks vs Chicago Cubs

  • Only game with some bad weather today. Rain is going arrive in the middle of the game and likely causes a delay and potentially a shortened game if these two teams decide to play some speed ball on Easter Sunday to get through five innings. Risky to use players here. 

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

We have a large field of elite pitchers here on Sunday with notable “aces” Tarik Skubal, Tyler Glasnow and Max Fried on the mound for their respective teams.

When it comes to the mid-tier and value, that's where the money is going to be made today as we look to target some pitchers in favorable matchups that are priced lower than they should be on today's slate.

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Have you been paying attention to this series? The Tigers starting pitching has dominated the Royals with Reese Olson, Jackson Jobe and Casey Mize all looking sharp in their outings against this struggling Royals lineup.

Things don't get easier for Kansas City as they now have to face the reigning American League Cy Young in Tarik Skubal.

On DraftKings, Skubal is the top priced starting pitcher today, coming off of back-to-back shutout performances where he struck out 15 over 13 innings against the Brewers and Yankees.

Skubal has topped out at 93 pitches this season, and was lifted after 91 pitches during his seven shutout innings against the Brewers so it doesn't seem that the Tigers are likely to let him go over the 100 pitch mark which may take a complete game out of the equation but if he mows down this lineup, its certainly in the range of outcomes. 

Jesus Luzardo, Philadelphia Phillies

The most popular pitcher on today's slate is this man right here. Luzardo is off to a strong start in his first season with the Phillies, going 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA while striking out 29 over 23.1 innings and if you are wondering if he's getting at all lucky, the underlying numbers suggest he isn't with an xERA of 2.89 and a 3.00 xFIP to go along with his 11.2 K/9.

His opponent today in the Miami Marlins are an interesting squad. Most of their “impact” hitters are from the left-side of the plate which would suggest an advantage for Luzardo here today but Miami ranks just 24th in team strikeout rate against left-handed pitching while also ranking second in team batting average.

Something is going to win out here, either Luzardo's stuff is too dominant for the Marlins or they are going to continue to find success against southpaws and Luzardo isn't going to pay off his salary or his ownership which could make fading him in tournaments a nice leverage play.

Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins

Win equity is probably my biggest concern with Joe Ryan as the Twins offense kinda sucks but he is a nice pivot from Luzardo for me today. 

Yes, the Atlanta Braves offense is certainly capable of putting up a big number, but right now they are still slumping, especially against right-handed pitching where they have the second-highest strikeout rate in baseball, just a .240 team batting average and an ISO of .148.

Jeffery Springs, Athletics

We talk about these lefty matchups against the Brewers often because of how lefty heavy their lineup is and the numbers this season have backed up those concerns with the Brewers hitting just .220 against southpaws as a team this year while ranking 29th in ISO and 26th in wOBA against left-handed pitching. Feels like a good spot to lock in Jeffery Springs.

Logan Allen, Cleveland Guardians

Listen, do I think Logan Allen is a good MLB pitcher? Eh, not really and the numbers during his MLB tenure kind of support that BUT he's NOT $5,600 on DraftKings bad.

Today he faces a Pirates team that is hitting .195 against left-handed pitching with a .107 IS0, .254 wOBA and a 30.3% strikeout rate.

Allen has also tossed 10.1 shutout innings over his last two starts with 10 strikeouts.

What exactly are we doing here?

 

 

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers

Dad power activated? Yes, I know narratives aren't real things….but aren't they? Ohtani is off the paternity list and expected to be in the lineup for the Dodgers today against the Rangers and Tyler Mahle. All kidding aside, when is it ever a bad idea to put Ohtani in your lineup?

Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners

Yes, J-Rod is off to yet another miserable start to the year, a trend that is now a few years running, but he should be able to right the ship today against the Blue Jays southpaw Lucas who looked good in his first few starts despite the underlying numbers suggesting he was getting lucky and then in his last start he got obliterated. 

The Mariners offense is in a good spot today to put up some runs and maybe we finally see Rodriguez put one in the seats.

Spencer Torkleson, Detroit Tigers

Uh, yeah, I'd say the 2020 1st overall pick is all the way back. After a troublesome 2024 year, Torkleson adjusted his swing mechanics this offseason and they are paying off in a big way with the powerful righty hitting .289 with seven homers and an OPS of 1.049 on the year.

He launched his fourth homers in seven games yesterday and now has nine RBI over his last four.

Michael Wacha is not someone I'm looking to shy away from and the Tigers are in a good spot to put some runs on the board here this afternoon.

Luke Keaschall, Minnesota Twins

I liked this kid when he was called up, he is a great contact hitter with some speed and so far he's 3-for-9 with two doubles, one stolen base, two RBI and a run scored through his first two games.

He is very cheap still and at a position that often lacks talent, so why not spend down and get this young prospect in a good matchup today against the Braves.

 

Player Pool