MLB DFS Playbook June 25: Top Plays for DraftKings and FanDuel
Published: Jun 25, 2023
It is time for Sunday baseball! We have a full day of games today with the main slate starting pretty early, so make sure to get your lineups set in time before the games get underway! We get a 9-game slate on DraftKings that will be starting at 1:35 PM EST, and then FanDuel has one extra game with it, including the Minnesota Twins vs Detroit Tigers game that is starting at 12:10 PM EST, making it a 10-game slate. One of the biggest games of the day is the pitcher's duel happening in the New York Yankees vs Texas Rangers matchup, with Gerrit Cole facing Nathan Eovaldi on the mound. The Cincinnati Reds win streak finally came to an end yesterday, falling to the Atlanta Braves 7-6 despite a 2-run 9th for the Reds, but we will see if they can bounce back today and continue their winning ways. Plenty of exciting games happening across the league, and a great chance to make some money today with your DFS lineups, whether you are playing cash games or gpp tournaments. Either way, the playbook is here to help you out, so let’s jump into it! 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 Playbook June 25
MLB Weather Updates
New York Mets vs Philadelphia Phillies: Scattered thunderstorms in the area, but should avoid the ballpark.
Texas Rangers vs New York Yankees: Light rain, shouldn't be an issue.
Seattle Mariners vs Baltimore Orioles: Scattered thunderstorms here as well, higher chance than the Mets vs Phillies game, but hopefully they also avoid the ballpark for the most part.
Atlanta Braves vs Cincinnati Reds: Thunderstorms this morning but they should be done well before game time.
DFS Lineup Construction Thoughts
While I am excited to watch the pitching matchup of Gerrit Cole and Nathan Eovaldi, I don’t want either in my DFS lineup today. The Texas Rangers are such a good lineup that I am worried about paying that much for a pitcher facing them, even Gerrit Cole. Nathan Eovaldi, on the other hand, had a big velocity drop in his last outing that worries me too much to take a chance on him today. Zack Wheeler is intriguing at the top end with great upside, but he also carries more risk than I want when paying that much for a pitcher so I am going a little farther down the list today with some of the middle-range pitchers who are fantastic and hold just as much upside as the high-end guys. On the offensive side, there are still some great offenses to target today despite a lot of quality pitchers being on the mound; some of my favorites to target today include the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Recommended DFS Starting Pitchers
Top Options for Strikeouts
Tyler Glasnow vs Kansas City Royals
Charlie Morton vs Cincinnati Reds
Best Odds for a Win
Yusei Kikuchi vs Oakland Athletics
Tyler Glasnow vs Kansas City Royals
Eury Perez vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Favorite Starters to Use for DFS Lineups
Dylan Cease sure looks like he is back to being the great version of Dylan Cease we saw most of last year. In his last 5 starts, he has 40 strikeouts in 26.2 innings, along with a 3.38 ERA. In his last two starts, he struck out 9 and then 10, and that was against two of the best offenses in the league in the Los Angeles Dodgers and then the Texas Rangers. The Red Sox offense has also slowed down a bit, averaging less than 3 runs a game over their last 4 games. I don’t see why we should expect another great outing out of Dylan Cease today, and his price makes him impossible for me to pass up. Update: Dylan Cease is NOT pitching for the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
George Kirby, Seattle Mariners
While his price is high on FanDuel, that is where I think his price should be. This means I am willing to pay for him on FanDuel still and on DraftKings, where you can get him at a discount; I am certainly taking him. He didn’t have the best outing his last time on the mound against the Yankees, giving up 3 earned runs over 7 innings and only striking out 4, it still wasn’t terrible, and it seemed to include some bad luck with the hits falling for the Yankees. He has been excellent all year and has shown the strikeout upside with 10 strikeouts in the previous outing against the Marlins.
Recommended DFS Hitters
Highest Expected Run Totals
Cincinnati Reds vs Charlie Morton
Toronto Blue Jays vs Luis Medina
Philadelphia Phillies vs Carlos Carrasco
Favorite Hitters to Use for DFS Lineups
Travis d’Arnaud, C Atlanta Braves
Travis d’Arnaud has been loving hitting in Cincinnati. In the first two games of the series, he had 6 hits and 2 home runs. I am expecting him to bring some more fireworks for the series finale with the Braves facing Levi Stoudt. Hopefully, he can make it three straight games with a home run in Cincinnati, but even if he doesn’t, I expect him to produce enough to be worth his price at the catcher position.
Luis Arraez is on an 8-game hitting streak over which he has an incredible 19 hits, and on top of the ridiculous number of hits, he also has two home runs. He is absolutely locked in at the plate, and even if you shouldn’t be betting on him to get another home run, the odds of him getting 3 or more hits in any given game right now are so high that he still provides ridiculous upside even without being a power hitter. He is having an incredible season, and now we get to start to question if he has any chance of being the first batter to hit .400 for a season since Ted Williams in 1941 (although Willard Brown and Artie Wilson both hit .400 after Ted Williams when they both did so in 1948 for the Kansas City Monarchs and the Birmingham Black Barons).
Isaac Paredes, 3B Tampa Bay Rays
It hasn’t mattered what handed pitcher Isaac Paredes is facing this season he is crushing everybody he faces. He has an .854 OPS on the season and has been crushing both lefties and righties. With that said, he still historically crushed lefties the most, so I am still going to get more excited when he gets a good matchup like today against Daniel Lynch. He is coming off a day of rest, and I expect both the Rays and Paredes to give Lynch a tough time today.
Michael Harris II, OF Atlanta Braves
I think it is safe to say that Michael Harris is back. After winning the NL Rookie of the Year last year, he had a painfully slow start to the 2023 season. However, so far in the month of June, he has slashed .375/.387/.611 and has 4 home runs and 3 stolen bases. He has looked locked in at the plate, and I want to get the final game of him getting to hit in Cincinnati, which is the best home run park in the league.
Player Pool
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