This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Last Thursday was busy for MLB, but it was also Opening Day. This Thursday is a bit more the norm, though. There are three games on the main DFS slate, with the first pitch at 1:05 p.m. ET. Now that we've had a week to get into the swing of things, here are my DFS lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Joe Ryan, MIN vs. HOU ($9,000): I was deciding between Ryan and Hunter Brown, his counterpart for the Astros, for my recommendation. Ultimately, as you can tell, I landed on the guy pitching at home. It's not because he has an 1.80 ERA after one start, though it was a good outing. Ryan was better than Brown last season, posting a 3.43 FIP with a remarkable 6.39 K/BB rate. Also, since 2023, lefties have only hit .216 against him. That's good, given that Houston's best hitter, Yordan Alvarez, is a southpaw.
Taijuan Walker, PHI vs. COL ($7,000): Walker is a gamble, because he's coming off a bad season, but the matchups Thursday are tricky. The Rockies, who finished 19th in runs scored last season, were the lowest-ranking team of these 10 in 2024. That's with home games at Coors Field, mind you. Walker gets both the best matchup of Thursday and gets to face the Rockies in Philadelphia, so this is a gamble worth taking.
Top Target
Yes, Jarren Duran ($5,700) already has a triple, and he's stolen a couple bases as well. Given that he hit 21 home runs last season, his power-derived extra-base hits (as opposed to the speed-derived ones) shall arrive in time. The more he faces righties, the better, as he had a .910 OPS against them last year. Charlie Morton, now 41, had a 4.19 ERA last year. Eventually, the wheels fall off every pitcher if they stick around long enough, and in his first start of the year Morton allowed seven hits and four runs in 3.1 innings.
Bargain Bat
It's been an encouraging start for Jackson Holliday ($3,900), making it a nice time to remember he's still only 21 and debuted as a popular choice for best prospect in baseball last year. In five games in 2025 he's posted an .874 OPS. Last year went well for Tanner Houck, but in 2023 he had a 5.01 ERA, and this season he allowed four runs, with two homers in the mix, in 5.2 innings in his first start.
Stack to Consider
Phillies vs. Rockies (Antonio Senzatela): Kyle Schwarber ($6,000), Bryce Harper ($5,500), Bryson Stott ($4,200)
Senzatela didn't allow a run in his first start, and he got incredibly lucky to make that happen. In 4.1 innings he didn't have a single strikeout, and he also walked two batters and gave up nine innings. This was against the Rays as well, not exactly the Phillies offensively. Parsing Senzatela as a pitcher at present is a smidge tricky because of his home park his entire career, but also because he made five starts over the prior two seasons. Well, he's finished a season with an ERA below 4.38 once, and finished with a FIP below 4.05 once. Given all that, I'll take three lefties from Philly against the right-handed hurler.
Schwarber fell two homers short of his third 40-homer season in a row last year, but he got up over 100 RBI for the second campaign in a row. The slugger has come out of the gate with gusto in 2025, having tallied three home runs already. Largely healthy, Harper had 30 home runs last year for the first time since 2021, which was also his last season with more than 40 doubles until last year. It's no surprise that Harper has embraced Philadelphia, because he absolutely mashes there. He's had an OPS over 1.000 at home in each of the prior two seasons. There was talk this offseason that Stott's elbow was bugging him last season, and to that end he has two doubles and a home run already this year. Even with his elbow concerns, the lefty stole more than 30 bases for the second season in a row.
