DraftKings MLB DFS Cheat Sheet: Aug. 26 Picks And Stacks
By Sam Smith
August 26, 2026
Tonight's free DraftKings MLB DFS cheat sheet from Stokastic opens with a duel: MacKenzie Gore and Sean Burke, the top two projection and ownership rows for Aug. 26, face each other in Rangers at White Sox. The field will decide that game; I will decide the second slot and turn one Toronto row into a build below.
The Quick Answer
Eat the Gore chalk: 16.4 projected DraftKings points at 31.5% ownership. Differentiate the second slot with Elmer Rodriguez: 13.9 projected, 41.3% top-150 exposure, and No. 1 leverage at 31.3% with no top-five ownership row. Stack Minnesota, the top five-stack at 8.0% against J.T. Ginn, in one build and Toronto in the other, and get to the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani at 52.7% exposure. The full board and the Toronto entry are below.
Today's Board For Aug. 26
| Panel | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top Projections (Proj FP) | MacKenzie Gore 16.4 | Sean Burke 16.2 | Dustin May 14.7 | Connor Prielipp 14.1 | Elmer Rodriguez 13.9 |
| Highest Ownership (Own%) | MacKenzie Gore 31.5% | Sean Burke 24.5% | Connor Prielipp 23.7% | Shohei Ohtani 23.5% | Dustin May 20.7% |
| Top Values (Value) | Nathan Lukes 2.71 | Nolan Gorman 2.67 | Jesus Sanchez 2.61 | Luisangel Acuna 2.60 | Brett Bateman 2.58 |
| Top Exposures (Exp%) | Shohei Ohtani 52.7% | Byron Buxton 42.7% | Elmer Rodriguez 41.3% | Connor Prielipp 40.7% | Bobby Witt Jr. 36.0% |
| Leverage Plays (Lev%) | Elmer Rodriguez 31.3% | Shohei Ohtani 28.5% | Bobby Witt Jr. 24.4% | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 23.6% | Byron Buxton 22.7% |
| Top 5-Stacks (5-Stack%) | MIN 8.0% | TOR 7.3% | NYY 6.0% | LAD 4.0% | ATH 2.7% |
The value panel is really a Toronto panel: Nathan Lukes (2.71), Jesus Sanchez (2.61) and Brett Bateman (2.58) all bat for the Jays, who also own Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 23.6% leverage row and the No. 2 five-stack at 7.3% against Kansas City's Randy Dobnak. The Stokastic Sims play the slate tens of thousands of times; when one offense surfaces on three panels, that is conviction.
The Gore-Burke Duel And The Second Slot
DraftKings rosters two pitchers, so one game holding both top ownership rows is the slate's real decision, a bigger one than on FanDuel. The field's default build is Gore plus Burke. Mine is Gore plus Rodriguez: the Sims' 150 highest-ROI lineups hold him at 41.3% while the field leaves him outside the ownership top five, and he is the arm to confirm in your DraftKings pool before lock. One caution: Luisangel Acuna (2.60 value) bats for the White Sox against Gore, so he only enters my no-Gore builds.
Worked Example: Lukes' Row To A Lineup
Lukes' 2.71 value row becomes tonight's entry:
- Arms: Gore plus Rodriguez.
- Five Jays: Lukes, Sanchez, Bateman, Guerrero, and one more from the MLB DFS projections, ownership and stacks in the DataHub. Five bats from one team is the DraftKings cap, and correlation pays the run and the RBI together.
- Bring-back: Bobby Witt Jr., 36.0% exposure and 24.4% leverage, bats in the same Kansas City at Toronto game.
- Secondary: a two-bat Minnesota mini led by Byron Buxton's 42.7% exposure; the mirror build goes five Twins with an Ohtani pair behind it.
The cheat sheet is free every day. Code CHEAT takes 15% off the paid Stokastic MLB DFS weekly and monthly packages, where the full Sims, Ownership Projections and Boom/Bust tables behind these panels live.
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Where My Entries Land
The duel will decide the field's night; it does not have to decide mine. Gore yes, Burke no, Rodriguez in the second slot, five Jays doing the scoring, and if a late scratch shakes the arms, Dustin May at 20.7% is the pivot. 21+.
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