FanDuel MLB DFS Cheat Sheet: Aug. 23 Picks And Stacks
By Sam Smith
August 23, 2026
Today's free FanDuel MLB DFS cheat sheet from Stokastic is a Coors Field sheet: Cleveland at Colorado is the top 4-stack at 25.3%, ten points clear of every other game, and the Guardians also supply the board's top value and top exposure. The one real argument on Aug. 23 is the pitcher slot, and I'll settle it before turning Steven Kwan's row into the Coors build.
The Quick Answer
Stack Cleveland at Coors, then earn your edge at pitcher: Cristopher Sanchez leads the board at 35.89 projected FanDuel points but carries 42.1% ownership, while Nolan McLean projects just 4.63 points behind at less than half that (19.8%). Jose Ramirez is the sheet's conviction bat — 42.0% top-150 exposure against 28.9% ownership. The full board, the four-batter cap math, and the Kwan build are below.
Today's Board For Aug. 23
| Panel | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top Projections (Proj FP) | Cristopher Sanchez 35.89 | Nolan McLean 31.26 | Carlos Rodon 27.63 | Jake Bennett 27.24 | Jose Soriano 26.93 |
| Highest Ownership (Own%) | Cristopher Sanchez 42.1% | Jose Ramirez 28.9% | Jo Adell 20.3% | Nolan McLean 19.8% | Steven Kwan 18.1% |
| Top Values (Value) | Steven Kwan 4.56 | Jahmai Jones 4.44 | Esteury Ruiz 4.27 | Daulton Varsho 3.95 | Matthew Lugo 3.92 |
| Top Exposures (Exp%) | Jose Ramirez 42.0% | Jo Adell 32.7% | Cristopher Sanchez 32.0% | Ceddanne Rafaela 30.7% | Nolan McLean 30.7% |
| Leverage Plays (Lev%) | Esteury Ruiz 18.2% | Ceddanne Rafaela 17.6% | Cristian Javier 15.5% | Yordan Alvarez 13.1% | Jose Ramirez 13.1% |
| Top 4-Stacks | CLE vs COL 25.3% | MIA vs WSH 14.7% | HOU vs ATH 10.7% | BOS vs SF 10.0% | TB vs BAL 9.3% |
The Ramirez row is the sheet in miniature: 42.0% exposure minus 28.9% ownership is exactly the 13.1% leverage his fifth-place leverage line prints. On a one-pitcher site, that gap decides builds: every dollar you don't spend on Sanchez against St. Louis funds a Coors bat, and the Sims still roster Sanchez in 32.0% of their best lineups, ten points under his ownership. McLean against the White Sox is the printed pivot.
Stacks On A Four-Batter Cap
FanDuel caps you at four batters from one team, and Cleveland's 25.3% towers over Miami's second-place 14.7%; the Sims are treating Coors as the slate. Kwan (4.56 value, 18.1% ownership) and Ramirez are the spine; the correlation logic does the rest. The cap leaves four hitter slots free, and because FanDuel's flatter scoring pays a walk like a single, one-off leverage bats beat a forced second stack (the FanDuel vs. DraftKings breakdown covers why). Mine today: Esteury Ruiz, who tops the leverage panel at 18.2% and prints third in value (4.27), and Ceddanne Rafaela (17.6% leverage), the bridge to Boston's 10.0% stack against San Francisco.
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Worked Example: Kwan's Row To A Coors Build
Kwan's row (4.56 value, 18.1% ownership) becomes my Aug. 23 entry:
- Start him in every tournament build; the board's best points-per-dollar is also its cheapest door into Coors.
- Extend to the full Cleveland four-stack around Ramirez, the exposure leader.
- Pivot at pitcher: a chalky stack wants a contrarian arm, and McLean concedes only 4.63 projected points while cutting the slot's ownership from 42.1% to 19.8%.
- Fill from the leverage column, Ruiz and Rafaela ahead of Yordan Alvarez (13.1%), with the full MLB DFS projections, ownership and stacks in the DataHub sorting the order.
Every panel above comes from the Stokastic Sims playing this slate tens of thousands of times with correlation intact: Ownership Projections modeled as a distribution, the top-150 sim-ROI lineups becoming the exposure and leverage columns. The cheat sheet is free every day; code CHEAT takes 15% off your first week or month of the paid Stokastic MLB DFS packages, where the full Sims and Boom/Bust tables live.
The field will pay 42.1% for Sanchez; the Sims say the separation is four Guardians at Coors and the arm half as owned. 21+.
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