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

Welcome to the Fantasy Alarm MLB DFS Playbook for Wednesday, April 9th! 

We have another action-packed day of day baseball with a 8-game main slate on DraftKings and a four game FanDuel that starting at 1:10 and 12:35 PM ET respectively. With a Wednesday full of baseball ahead, our expert analysis is here to guide you through 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 right 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! 

We will also have an MLB DFS Livestream every day! So tune in at 5 PM ET to watch Jon Impemba and James Grande break down today’s slate, give you last-minute advice, and answer any questions before locking in those lineups!

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: Wednesday, 4/9
 

• TEX vs. CHC - It won't be as cold as it's been in recent games with the afternoon start but there is expected to be rain in the area all day long. How much and how hard that rain falls will really determine how much, if any, of this game gets played. 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

There is absolutely no comfortable value on this slate. This forces our hands to spend up for pitching or make some tough choices in the mid-tier to build your lineups around on DraftKings. On FanDuel, you can just lock in the likes of Hunter Brown and go about your business. 

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Hunter Brown, Houston Astros

He's the top pitcher on the slate and in a great matchup against the Seattle Mariners. Brown took a big step in the right direction in the second half last season and has continued that through his first two starts of the 2025 season.

The Mariners do have some danger in their lineup with Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh but overall the lineup overall lacks too much danger and is prone to striking out.

Max Fried, New York Yankees

There's no question that the Tigers offense is improving but most of their better hitters come from the left-side of the plate and with the southpaw Freid on the mound today this is feeling like a good spot to get him going if looking to pivot down from Hunter Brown on DraftKings or double-spend up at starting pitching on this early main slate.

Tylor Megill, New York Mets

Facing the Marlins is going to be a popular pick today given the slate. We discussed Megill and his pitch count on the DFS preview show but I'm guessing with this being his third start he will be good to pitch around 90 pitches today with a successful outing.

 Through two starts this season he has allowed just one earned runs while striking out 10 over 10.1 innings.

Justin Verlander, San Francisco Giants

A point of stress on the DFS preview show this morning was the viability of using Justin Verlander today against the Cincinnati Reds.

Yes, Verlander did not look good against the Mariners in his last outing but he was solid against this same Reds team in his season debut.

The Reds offense is struggling something fierce and I'm more than wiling to give Verlander the benefit of the doubt here to get back to on track.

Dean Kremer, Baltimore Orioles

Kremer has a 6.52 ERA on the season but his xERA is 3.55 and his FIP is 3.58 so maybe he's just getting a bit unlucky with his early season matchups here. 

His price is very cheap on a slate with minimal pitching value and the Orioles offense is good enough that he could get a lead and maybe a win here today.

Again, there's only so much value on a shorter slate, so you need to throw some darts.

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

How do we ignore the amount of runs being scored in Sacramento, the new home of the Athletics. Stacking the A's, Dodgers and Cubs are likely the popular plays on this slate but weather and salary restrictions could force us to get a bit creative when it comes to actually filling out our MLB DFS lineups today.

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics

The man has hit six homers already this season and it's becoming pretty clear that the ballpark in Sacramento is, indeed, going to be a hitters haven this season as evidenced by the amount of offensive production in the two series played here already this year.

On the mound for the Padres today is Randy Vasquez who allowed some pretty impressive power numbers to left-handed hitters last season and that's where we are looking to make our money here on this eight game slate.

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers

Since we are spending down for Soderstrom at first base we can spend up in the outfield and my choice here is going to be Ohtani against Jake Irvin.

Last season Irvin struggled against lefties and Ohtani is not just any left-handed hitter as we know. With poor weather likely keeping us from the Cubs offense today, going with the Dodgers here in this matchup seems like the correct pivot when looking to spend up.

Gavin Sheets, San Diego Padres

Another cheap option in the lineup for the Padres today should be Gavin Sheets as he draws a great matchup against an extreme flyball pitcher in Osvaldo Bido.

Again, this ballpark in Sacramento is not a ballpark you want to be giving up flyballs and Bido has a near 70% flyball rate.

With the Padres dealing with some injuries we should see Sheets hitting in the middle of the order here this afternoon.

Jose Altuve, Houston Astros

Honestly, this is a pick due to the lack of talent at the position. Despite there being eight games on this slate, there aren't many good options at second base here today. 

Sure, we can look at Jazz Chisholm against Jack Flaherty or hope the weather holds out for Nico Hoerner but Altuve is swinging a hot bat and gets the OTHER Luis Castillo on the mound today for the Mariners in a spot that I think the Astros can put up runs.

Josh Jung, Texas Rangers

I know the weather is going to be less than ideal in this spot but assuming they just play through the rain with intermittent delays, this price tag is just too cheap for Jung who came off the IL yesterday and went 3-for-4 with a double, triple, one run and one RBI scored. 

He's historically hit left-handed pitching well and while Shota Imanaga isn't just your run of the mill southpaw, I'm still just betting the upside here at the price tag. 

Player Pool

• DraftKings
• FanDuel

$ Tier	SP	1B	2B	3B	SS	OF
High	Max Fried $9,200	Pete Alonso $3,900	Jazz Chisholm $3,800		Francisco Lindor $3,600	Aaron Judge $4,800
	Jack Flaherty $9,400				Dansby Swanson $3,300	Kyle Tucker $4,600
					Corey Seager $3,300	Juan Soto $4,200
						Oneil Cruz $3,700
Medium	Tylor Megill $9,100	Paul Goldschmidt $3,200	Nico Hoerner $3,100		Xavier Edwards $3,200	Lars Nootbaar $3,600
	Max Meyer $8,900	Michael Busch $3,000				Seiya Suzuki $3,600
						Ian Happ $3,400
Low		Spencer Torkelson $2,900	Brendan Donovan $2,800	Josh Jung $2,800	Masyn Winn $2,500	Bryan Reynolds $3,000
		Ben Rice $2,900		Matt Shaw $2,600		Jesse Winker $2,800
				Isiah Kiner-Falefa $2,700		$0
						Pete Crow-Armstrong $2,600
						Trent Grisham $2,600
						Alec Burleson $2,600

Stacks

Athletics	JJ Bleday	Lawrence Butler	Tyler Soderstrom	Brent Rooker
DraftKings	3800	5100	3900	5600
Fanduel	-	-	-	-

Astros	Jose Altuve	Victor Caratini	Christian Walker	Yordan Alvarez
DraftKings	5100	2200	4100	5500
Fanduel	-	-	-	-

Cubs	Michael Busch	Seiya Suzuki	Ian Happ	Kyle Tucker
DraftKings	4300	5000	4600	6300
Fanduel	3000	3600	3400	4600

Yankees	Paul Goldschmidt	Aaron Judge	Ben Rice	Austin Wells
DraftKings	4600	6400	-	4500
Fanduel	3200	4800	-	2800