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

MLB DFS Playbook April 1 Logan Gilbert Seattle Mariners

Published: Apr 01, 2025

Welcome to the Fantasy Alarm MLB DFS Playbook for Tuesday, April 1st!

We’ve got no April Fools for you, just more baseball as we break down the 11-game main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel that starts at 7:05 EST. With one of the biggest slates of the season yet, we have plenty of action ahead; our expert analysis highlights the top pitchers, value plays, and stackable offenses to target.

Whether chasing big GPP prizes or grinding cash games, we've got you covered with insights tailored to today’s matchups. Let’s jump 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 are 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: Monday, 4/1

Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago White Sox

Some light rain throughout the day looks tame enough not to affect the game, but with so many other places to turn, it might not be worth the minor risk.

Cleveland Guardians vs. San Diego Padres

Some light rain is starting later in the evening, but it doesn’t look like it should be an issue.

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

We are at the back to the top of a lot of rotations today, with a lot of pitchers getting their second start of the season today. Don’t react too heavily to the first start of the season. If a pitcher didn’t quite have their stuff in their first start, that isn’t enough to turn me off them today if they are a pitcher I trust. We should be selecting pitchers today almost the same as if we didn’t have any stats from them yet.

Let's get into today's core pitching plays for our DFS lineups.

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners

Logan Gilbert is my pick to win the AL Cy Young this year. He looked incredibly sharp on opening day, throwing 7 innings, giving up only 2 hits, and striking out 8. Logan Gilbert has such an incredibly high floor along with his upside that at $9,000, he is an easy lock into my lineups as I would likely be doing the same even if he was above $10,000.

Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves

You aren’t going after very many pitchers against the Dodgers, but Chris Sale is the reigning Cy Young and Triple Crown winner. I don’t really care who he is facing and I will just happily take the discount you are getting because he faces the Dodgers.

He gave up 3 runs off 6 hits in 5 innings in his first start, but he still struck out 7 against a Padres offense that is about as scary as the Dodgers, so I am not too worried about the matchup here and think he could be even better than his first start.

Dustin May, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Atlanta Braves are not going to be this bad all season. That offense is very stacked, but the fact is, they are dead cold right now. They have scored 1 run in their last 3 games. They are still without Acuna, they are now without Profar, and I am going to take advantage of them looking lost right now.

Dustin May also has really good upside still. He has legit strikeout stuff, and we just haven’t gotten the chance to see him put it together yet because of injuries. I do think that the innings will be in question, and I trust the other 3 core plays more to potentially give 6 innings, but I still think we could see 5 innings out of May, and they could be really good with a good amount of strikeouts.

Casey Mize, Detroit Tigers

One of the only stats I care about in spring training for pitchers is strikeout rate, and Mize had a 33.3% strikeout rate in spring, almost double what his strikeout rate was in 102.1 innings last season. Now I am not saying he will strike out over 30% this season, but if he can keep his strikeout up in even the low 20% range, he could be a great pitcher this year.

Getting to face the Mariners in Seattle is always a decent place to land, so I am intrigued to see what Mize can do and think that as a cheap option he could put out a solid start and give us some strikeouts in this spot.

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Our first look at the stadium in Sacramento makes it look like it could be a bit of a launching pad. It was just one game and it was not top-end pitchers, but there were 31 hits, 21 runs, and 5 homers.

Luis Severino and Justin Steele will likely keep the damage a little lower, but I am still willing to take a shot at that stadium and get shares of both sides of that game. Some other lineups I like today include the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, and Tampa Bay Rays.

Let's check out today's core plays to build our lineups around.

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Josh Naylor, 1B Arizona Diamondbacks

I am really big on the Arizona Diamondbacks in this spot. We have the highest scoring offense from last season, in Yankee Stadium, facing Will Warren, who has really struggled with giving up homers so far in his career.

Josh Naylor is slashing .400/.500/.533 through his first 4 games as a Diamondback, and he hasn’t even hit a homer yet. I think there is a great chance we see his first homer today, and should help pile up a ton of runs in New York today.

Andres Gimenez, 2B Toronto Blue Jays

Andres Gimenez is loving playing in Toronto so far. He has hits in every game so far and 5 of his 6 hits are for extra bases with 3 homers and 2 doubles. He is batting cleanup for a strong Blue Jays lineup (at least strong top half) in a good stadium.

At this price, I am going to keep betting that Gimenez has found a home where he can be more of an offensive force and will continue to turn to him until he either slows down or the price comes up.

Eugenio Suarez, 3B Arizona Diamondbacks

Eugenio Suarez is tied for the league lead in home runs with Aaron Judge. He had his 5th 30+ homer season last year and continues to provide great offense for the Diamondbacks. I already talked about my love for the Diamondbacks and the homer potential for them today with Naylor, so there is no way I can’t take the league leader in homers in the same spot when he only costs $4,000.

Kyle Tucker, OF Chicago Cubs

Luis Severino had a solid first start as the Athletics' ace, throwing 6 innings of shutout ball, giving up only 3 hits with 6 strikeouts, though he did walk 4. That was in Seattle against the Mariners, though, and that is much different than going against the Cubs in Sacramento coming off a game where they scored 18 runs.

Kyle Tucker was a big part of the onslaught with 4 hits, including 2 doubles, a homer, 4 runs, and 3 RBIs. I am expecting a career year out of Tucker in Chicago and think he will be an MVP candidate. There is no shortage of great outfield options, but it is hard to ignore Kyle Tucker.

Player Pool

$ Tier	SP	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	OF
High	Logan Gilbert $9,000	William Contreras $4,500	Vladimir Guerrero $5,700	Ketel Marte $5,900	José Ramírez $5,900	Bobby Witt $6,100	Aaron Judge $6,300
	Chris Sale $8,800				Junior Caminero $5,100		Kyle Tucker $6,000
							Corbin Carroll $5,800
							Jackson Chourio $5,400
							Fernando Tatis $5,300
							Seiya Suzuki $5,000
Medium	Dustin May $8,100	Shea Langeliers $3,900	Josh Naylor $4,800	Brandon Lowe $4,500	Eugenio Suárez $4,000	Bo Bichette $4,700	Ian Happ $4,800
		Keibert Ruiz $3,600	Kyle Manzardo $4,100	Luis Rengifo $4,200	Manny Machado $4,700	Willy Adames $4,400	Taylor Ward $4,500
					Matt Chapman $4,500		Luis Robert $4,200
							Lars Nootbaar $4,000
Low	Casey Mize $7,500	Miguel Amaya $2,300	Michael Busch $3,900	Andrés Giménez $3,800	Matt Shaw $3,400	Masyn Winn $3,800	Pete Crow-Armstrong $3,800
			Andrew Vaughn $3,500	Nolan Gorman $3,400	Paul DeJong $2,500	Isiah Kiner-Falefa $2,700	Brendan Donovan $3,600
			Pavin Smith $3,000	Jonathan Aranda $2,800			Heliot Ramos $3,600
							MJ Melendez $3,300
							Jonny DeLuca $3,100