This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
It's a holiday weekend. You may have heard about it. As such, Sunday's MLB schedule is a little different than usual. For DFS purposes on DraftKings, the contest block making up the bulk of the day consists of eight afternoon games with the first starting at 12:10 p.m. EDT. With that locked in, here are my lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Kyle Bradish, BAL at CWS ($8,800): Bradish didn't start pitching in the Baltimore rotation until May due to injury, and he's only gone at least five innings in two of his four starts as he eases into action. That being said, he's posted a 2.41 ERA and has only allowed more than one run once when he gave up...two. If Bradish doesn't go at least five innings against the White Sox, I'll be surprised. This team is remarkably bad offensively and are more than 30 runs behind the rest of the league in runs scored.
Bryan Woo, SEA at WAS ($8,600): Spoiler alert: Woo won't have a 0.57 ERA when the season ends, but to do that through three starts is still impressive. Washington is one of the best base-stealing teams in MLB while not being very good at anything else sitting bottom-six in offense and bottom-eight in homers.
Top Targets
Credit where it's due, Garrett Crochet has been absolutely cooking for the White Sox as the team's only bright spot after his rough start to the season. That being said, let's not forget that he struggled to a 6.37 ERA from his first six starts and has been homer-prone like a lot of young pitchers with big fastballs. Adley Rutschman ($5,700) has recorded an .842 OPS against lefties during his career with a 1.139 in 2024. Crochet and Rutschman could both become stars, though the latter is decidedly ahead on that path.
I was briefly worried about Corey Seager ($5,300), yet he's gone on to produce an 1.066 OPS the last three weeks. In truth, his issues have been mostly against his fellow southpaws and his .867 OPS against righties is a bit low. Pablo Lopez has been incredible when it comes to avoiding walks and his strikeout numbers are still decent, though his homers are up and he's managed a 4.72 ERA through 10 starts.
Bargain Bats
After tearing up Triple-A (1.146 OPS), the Dodgers called up Andy Pages ($3,900). He's impressed enough at this level where he grabbed the starting spot in center field and banished James Outman to the Phantom Zone. Or maybe he's in the minors - I haven't checked. The Reds are giving Andrew Abbott some extra rest, and now the expectation is Brent Suter will operate as the opener on Sunday. My guess is that Nick Martinez would follow to pitch the bulk of the innings. Both are left-handed, so I went with the righty Pages as my recommendation.
He's only played in a handful of games due to injury and only five since getting healthy, so I'll defer to what Brandon Lowe ($3,400) did last season where he slugged .478 against righties and registered an .800 home OPS along with 20 of his 21 homers. The Royals have enjoyed a few pleasant surprises this year, but Michael Wacha isn't one of them as he sits with a 4.45 ERA while lefties have hit .284 against.
Stacks to Consider
Atlanta at Pirates (Martin Perez): Marcell Ozuna ($5,800), Ozzie Albies ($5,400), Travis d'Arnaud ($4,000)
Perez had an outlier-of-all-outliers season for the Rangers in 2022. And after he turned back into a pumpkin the next year, the reigning World Series champs said farewell to the lefty with a career 4.45 ERA. Now with the Pirates, Perez is at 4.80 while giving up 1.49 homers per nine innings - including one in each of his last four starts. There were a couple easy stack picks, and then I found another name I liked with a southpaw on the mound.
Perez has had problems conceding home runs, and Ozuna has posted 15 of them across 49 games after 40 last season. He's also recorded an 1.096 OPS the last three weeks. The switch-hitting Albies prefers to face a southpaw as he holds an .888 OPS in those matchups since 2022 and an .804 road mark. With Orlando Arcia scuffling this season, I've closed out this stack with d'Arnaud as he doesn't have to fight for playing time with the injured Sean Murphy. He's also the catcher when lefties are pitching and he's produced a .944 OPS versus them the last three years.
Mariners at Nationals (Patrick Corbin): Julio Rodriguez ($5,000), Mitch Garver ($3,300), Ty France ($3,100)
The Mariners got themselves a glorious gift for the holiday weekend as Washington decided to give rookie pitcher Mitchell Parker an extra day of rest leaving them to face Corbin on Sunday. You know, the one with a 5.80 ERA the last four seasons who's struck out 5.30 batters and walked 3.48 per nine innings this year. Not to mention, the lefty who's let righties go .314 against the last couple years. So let's stack some right-handed Mariners!
We're all wondering where Rodriguez's power has gone (even with a homer Saturday) given his 32 homers and 37 doubles last year. He's stolen nine bases and his .718 OPS against lefties isn't terrible. It's not great, but Rodriguez's issues have mostly been versus righties. Garver has been bad against righties in 2024, though lists an .802 OPS versus lefties and a .938 since 2022. He's also a DH you can use as a catcher, which is nice for DFS purposes. France has also struggled (the norm for Seattle's lineup), yet has notched five home runs. He's batted .270 against lefties the last three seasons and I'll happily take him against Corbin at this salary.
