Thursday, May 26, has different featured slates with FanDuel electing to roll with 10 games starting at 6:40 p.m. ET while DraftKings is taking a different approach and going with nine games at the typical lock time of 7:05 p.m. ET. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks today for pitchers and stacks for DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy baseball lineups.
DraftKings & FanDuel MLB DFS Picks Today (5/26)
Top MLB DFS Stack of the Day: Colorado Rockies at LHP Patrick Corbin — 4.1 implied runs
This is a rare recommendation for the Rockies outside of Coors Field. Tonight, they draw a matchup against the ghost of Patrick Corbin, who has allowed five home runs in his last two starts, culminating in an 0-7 record with a 6.60 ERA and 1.69 WHIP. To his credit, he is still striking out nearly one hitter per inning, however, he is issuing a walk every other inning, so that feel-good stat does not help much, if at all.
While their numbers are somewhat inflated by their home field, Connor Joe (.194 ISO), Randall Grichuk (.193 ISO), C.J. Cron (.285 ISO) and Brendan Rodgers (.311 ISO) are all strong plays against southpaws with elite power production across the last two seasons. Differentiation can be found at the bottom of the order in Garrett Hampson (.183 ISO) and catcher Elias Diaz (.157 ISO), who can be employed as part of a “wraparound” stack.
Evening Slate: Minnesota Twins vs. LHP Daniel Lynch — 5.6 implied runs
Daniel Lynch is not a particularly efficient presence on the mound, averaging nearly 93 pitches over his last four appearances with just 4.1 innings completed per game. In this stretch, he has allowed only one home run, but the 11 walks are a major concern. This could lead to crooked numbers in a hurry if any of the Minnesota boppers can connect for an extra-base hit with runners on base.
Brandon Buxton, Kyle Garlick, Gary Sanchez, Carlos Correa and switch-hitting Jorge Polanco are all prime candidates for full stacks or as one-offs on all slates tonight. Since the beginning of last season, Lynch has been pitching while ahead in the count only 49.1% of the time. Despite their high strikeout rates, Sanchez and fellow catcher Ryan Jeffers both have double-digit walk rates against southpaws. Jeffers stands out as an easy way to plug the catcher requirement on DraftKings at $3,400, which is a significant discount compared to Sanchez ($4,700).
Late Slate: Los Angeles Dodgers at RHP Humberto Castellanos — 5.6 implied runs
DraftKings did an excellent job with the Los Angeles salaries rolling out the projected top-five hitters at $5,600 or higher. The Chase Field roof is scheduled to be closed tonight, but that should not be of much help to Humberto Castellanos, who has allowed multiple home runs in his last two starts. Over the last two seasons, Castellanos has made 14 starts and nine relief appearances spanning 81.1 innings. He has a 4.65 ERA, though he has been lucky as he has a 1.33 home-run-per-nine-innings rate with a dreadfully low 6.09 strikeouts per nine innings.
The focus tonight should be on the lefties first, as Castellanos is ceding a .217 ISO over the last two seasons to opposite-handed batsmen. Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy are the top two targets and we can hope that Edwin Rios draws a spot start with a right-handed hurler on the mound. Trea Turner, Mookie Betts, Justin Turner and Will Smith can be employed as one-offs or in full stacks on both the late and main slate contests.
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Best MLB DFS Pitchers Today
Top MLB DFS Target: RHP Frankie Montas vs. Texas Rangers — 3.6 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $9,000 | FanDuel $8,800
Frankie Montas left his last start in the second inning after being hit in his right hand with a batted ball. Since then, he completed a bullpen session with no issues and should be good to go for his typical 95- or 105-pitch workload. Montas does a nice job limiting hard contact (38.4%), with a solid groundball rate (42.7%) and above-average strikeouts (26.8%). Texas will look to get as many as five batters swinging the stick from the left side of the plate in an attempt to overwhelm Montas with the platoon advantage, but its potential options mostly strike out 25% of the time, which helps give a cushion to the pitcher.
Secondary MLB DFS Target: RHP Shohei Ohtani vs. Toronto Blue Jays — 3.4 implied runs
- DFS Salary: DraftKings $8,700 | FanDuel $9,900
This is far from an easy lineup, but Shohei Ohtani can hold his own against anyone. In four of his last five pitching appearances, Ohtani has logged a quality start, which is key for FanDuel hurlers. These came against Houston, Boston, Tampa Bay and Texas, which is impressive. In the lone outing that was not a quality start, he logged five innings with four strikeouts while allowing just two runs in a 9-5 victory over Cleveland. Lefties are generally tougher for Ohtani, and the Blue Jays are unlikely to have more than two in their lineup tonight — with one being Raimel Tapia, who typically bats ninth.
Additional Opportunities:
Outside of the DFS world, Montas is an intriguing option in the MLB player props market. Today he will be squaring off against the Rangers and he has an over/under on his strikeout prop of 5.5 while the Awesemo player projections have him with a nice 6.9 for this matchup. That gives him a 71% probability of reaching the over. Excluding his last start where he left in the second inning after taking a comebacker off his pitching hand, Montas has thrown six or more strikeouts in six-of-eight starts. In the two where he fell shy, he had five against Baltimore and four against Detroit.
Other Pitching Options:
- Tarik Skubal vs. Cleveland Guardians (weather risk)
- Martin Perez at Oakland Athletics (ground-baller should survive a righty-heavy lineup)
- Adam Wainwright vs. Milwaukee Brewers (the old man keeps chugging along)
- Eric Lauer at St. Louis Cardinals (above average strikeouts this season, facing a righty-heavy lineup)
- German Marquez at Washington Nationals (SP2 only)
One-Off Hitters:
- Javier Baez vs. LHP Konnor Pilkington
- Dalton Varsho vs. RHP Mitch White
- Yasmani Grandal vs. RHP Michael Wacha
- Sean Murphy vs. LHP Martin Perez
- Brad Miller at RHP Frankie Montas
Final MLB DFS Thoughts &Â MLB Weather Notes
Weather in the Midwest is going to be an issue with potential trouble spots in Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit and St. Louis. Then, as a bonus, Atlanta will have scattered showers, so all of these venues will need to be monitored leading up to their respective first pitches.
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