This article is part of our DFS MLB series.
Top DFS Pitching and Team Stacking Strategies for DraftKings
In this article, I'm going to take a deeper dive into pitching and team stacking options. Let's take a look at our optimizer's rankings of the pitchers for the DraftKings main slate, sorted by projected fantasy points.
We have a couple of true ace pitchers taking the mound tonight in Freddy Peralta and Logan Webb, with the latter being one of the pitchers we've highlighted. Webb is expected to be the highest rostered pitcher in GPPs tonight with a much improved strikeout rate this year in addition to being in his pitcher friendly home park. You could certainly go ahead and roster both pitchers in this game.
We've also highlighted David Festa, Michael Lorenzen and Kumar Rocker in our optimizer. Rocker is an option if you want to go with a contrarian value play as he showed his potential with 26.8 DK points in his last start, but he's best suited for GPPs. Andrew Heaney also ranks well in all the categories below and is a viable option in the mid-tier in the midst of a nice year thus far in his first season with the Pirates.
Here's how each pitcher ranks in key categories (stats are from 2025 season only):
*Ben Casparius and Bryse Wilson are not included as both will be on limited pitch counts
| Pitcher | Fantasy Points | FIP | K% | Opponent K% |
| Freddy Peralta | 1 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| David Festa | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Logan Webb | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Andrew Heaney | 4 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| Bowden Francis | 5 | 13 | 8 | 7 |
| Matthew Boyd | 6 | 7 | 9 | 6 |
| Michael Lorenzen | 7 | 8 | 11 | 1 |
| Eduardo Rodriguez | 8 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Taj Bradley | 9 | 11 | 5 | 12 |
| Kumar Rocker | 10 | 9 | 12 | 14 |
| JP Sears | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Jack Kochanowicz | 12 | 14 | 14 | 3 |
| Ryan Gusto | 13 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| German Marquez | 14 | 12 | 13 | 11 |
Analyzing Team Stack Rankings for Maximum DFS Impact
Here is how each team ranks in implied runs, home run rate and how popular we expect each team stack to be in GPPs:
| Team | Implied Runs | HR Rate | Stack Popularity |
| Twins | 6.2 | 12 | High |
| Royals | 5.7 | 16 | High |
| Diamondbacks | 5.6 | 5 | Medium |
| Angels | 5.2 | 2 | Medium |
| Cubs | 5.1 | 3 | Medium |
| Athletics | 5.0 | 4 | Low |
| Rangers | 4.9 | 6 | High |
| Dodgers | 4.9 | 1 | High |
| Astros | 4.5 | 10 | Medium |
| Blue Jays | 4.5 | 15 | High |
| Pirates | 4.2 | 13 | Medium |
| Giants | 3.8 | 7 | Low |
| Rays | 3.8 | 9 | Medium |
| Rockies | 3.2 | 14 | Low |
| Brewers | 3.0 | 8 | Low |
| White Sox | 2.7 | 11 | Low |
My primary team stack targets
Royals vs. RHP German Marquez (4.93 FIP) Key Pieces: Salvador Perez, Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt, Drew Waters
Twins vs. RHP Bryse Wilson (6.78 FIP, career 1.9 HR/9) Key Pieces: Edouard Julien, Trevor Larnach, Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, Ty France
Astros vs. RHP Bowden Francis (5.42 FIP, career 1.5 HR/9) Key Pieces: Yainer Diaz, Isaac Paredes, Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez
Rangers vs. LHP JP Sears (4.77 career FIP, 1.5 HR/9) Key Pieces: Jake Burger, Marcus Semien, Wyatt Langford, Adolis Garcia, Josh Jung
Key Matchups and Batter vs. Pitcher Insights for DFS Success
Notable hitter matchups against the opposing starter today:
- Eugenio Suarez: 2-for-5, 2 HR; .400 BA, 2.000 OPS
- Marcus Semien: 6-for-22, 2 HR; .273 BA, .905 OPS
- Yandy Diaz: 8-for 20; .400 BA, .928 OPS
