FanDuel MLB DFS Cheat Sheet For August 17: Projections, Ownership, And Stacks
By Sam Smith
August 17, 2026
The highest projection on today's board is not the pitcher the Sims are building on, and the highest-owned player never cracks the leverage panel. The August 17 sheet resolves in Kansas City.
The Quick Answer
I'm playing Blake Snell. He is second in projection at 33.54 but the top pitcher where a one-pitcher site pays you: 50.7% of top-150 sim-ROI lineups, tied with Bobby Witt Jr. for the board's highest exposure number, and +22.5% leverage at 27.5% ownership. Then I spend the bats on the Royals, because the panel that decides today is not the projection panel.
Today's August 17 FanDuel Board
Top three per panel from today's free sheet.
| Panel | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projections | Sanchez 37.10 | Snell 33.54 | Nolan McLean 30.50 |
| Ownership | Ohtani 37.6% | Snell 27.5% | Tucker 21.6% |
| Value | Ohtani 4.34 | Jensen 4.20 | Tucker 4.17 |
| Exposure | Witt Jr. 50.7% | Snell 50.7% | Ohtani 42.0% |
| Leverage | Witt Jr. 29.6% | Snell 22.5% | Jensen 22.3% |
| 4-Stacks | KC vs ATH 14.0% | BOS vs ARI 11.3% | PHI vs MIA 8.0% |
Read the leverage row twice. Witt Jr., Carter Jensen and Salvador Perez (18.8%) take three of its top five slots, all Royals, all in the game the Sims stack most.
The One Pitcher Slot
FanDuel rosters one pitcher, so that slot is a single point of failure rather than the two-arm hedge a DraftKings build gets. Which makes today's answer a strange one: Snell is starting at Coors Field. Cristopher Sanchez projects 3.56 higher at 37.10, at home against Miami, and still misses the exposure panel's top five. Sim ROI ranks what wins a top-150 pool, not what posts the best median, and it is siding with the Coors starter far harder than the field is.
Worked Example: The Royals Four-Stack
- Anchor Witt Jr. He lands in 50.7% of top-150 sim-ROI lineups on 20.4% ownership at 3.99 value, and his +29.6% is the board's widest leverage figure. That panel weighs optimal exposure against field ownership, so it will not subtract cleanly from the top-150 number.
- Add Jensen and Perez. Kansas City hosts the Athletics and right-hander Mason Barnett. Jensen is second in value (4.20) with 33.3% exposure and +22.3% leverage; Perez carries +18.8% and is the DH today, so both catchers fit. FanDuel caps you at four hitters from one team, and KC vs ATH tops the stack panel at 14.0%. Take the fourth seat once lineups drop, from whoever hits nearest Witt.
- Fill around it with one-offs. One pitcher plus a four-man cap opens more of these slots than a five-man DraftKings stack leaves. Byron Buxton is mine at 29.3% exposure and +17.0% leverage, a righty bat against Atlanta lefty Martín Pérez.
- Do not fade chalk on reflex. I'm not fading Shohei Ohtani: 37.6% owned, and the Sims still run him 42.0% at the board's top value, 4.34. He just never cracks the leverage top five. Kyle Tucker is my cut instead, 21.6% owned on 4.17 value and outside both top fives.
Every panel comes out of the Stokastic Sims, which simulate the slate tens of thousands of times rather than ranking players off a static projection: correlated outcomes inside a stack, ownership modeled as a distribution, exposure derived from sim ROI across the top-150 pool. That is how Sanchez leads projections and still misses the exposure top five. The full board sits in the MLB DFS projections, ownership and stacks in the DataHub. The sheet is free daily; code CHEAT takes 15% off the first week or month of the paid MLB packages behind it.
So I take the one pitcher the Sims want far more than the field does, then leave that field behind in Kansas City. Both sides of that game reached the stack panel: KC vs ATH 14.0%, ATH vs KC 7.3%. Confirm lineups before lock. 21+; play responsibly.
Stokastic MLB DFS packages, code CHEAT for 15% off your first week or month
Use code CHEAT
Get Started