Welcome back! The 2026 MLB season kicks off Wednesday. It's not the proper Opening Day, of course. As is the custom of modern sports, the season is kicking off with an opening salvo. We have a single game, an interleague matchup between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants. Also, the game is on Netflix. The times they are a-changin', and so on.
The first pitch is at 8:05 p.m. EDT. This matchup coming to us from the Bay Area does mean the MLB season starts with single-game DFS contests on FanDuel. You have $60,000 in salary to divvy out to six players. One is your MVP, who will earn you 1.5 times the points, but at 1.5 times the salary. You can't roster pitchers, but this is quite the pitching matchup. It's Max Fried for the Yankees and Logan Webb for the Giants.
Of course, this is literally the first game of the season. There have been spring training games, and some of these players were active in the World Baseball Classic. However, ultimately, track record is going to be what matters the most for me. Here is the lineup I landed on.
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MVP
Jazz Chisholm, NYY at SFG ($17,700): Logan Webb is a righty who keeps the ball in the park. As such, my mind turned to left-handed Yankees who don't rely on home runs to deliver statistically. Oh, and in terms of why I was looking for Yankees, the one high-level bat the Giants have, in my opinion, is Rafael Devers. He, like Max Fried, is left-handed. Chisholm did hit 31 homers last season, but he also had 15 doubles and 31 stolen bases in 130 games. The year prior, he had 21 doubles, four triples, and 40 swiped bags. Chisholm, indeed, can do damage without hitting the ball out of the park.
Utility
Willy Adames, SFG vs. NYY ($10,200): Adames' DFS value tends to come from his power relative to the shortstop position. That means less in a single-game DFS situation where positions are not in the equation. Still, three times in his last four seasons Adames has hit at least 30 home runs. He's also run more the last couple years, as he's had double-digit stolen bases in each of the last two campaigns, his only such seasons in his career.
Ben Rice, NYY at SFG ($8,800): Last year was Rice's first full campaign with the Yankees. He hit 26 homers and four triples in 138 games. Rice is a lefty, and he had an .860 OPS versus righties. However, while Rice did not hit southpaws for average, he did not lose a lot of power in those matchups. He slugged .481 versus left-handed pitchers in 2025.
Heliot Ramos, SFG vs. NYY ($8,200): If Ramos looks more like the guy he was in 2024, that would be great. Lasts season he was fine against both lefties and righties. In 2024, though, Ramos struggled against righties but had an 1.189 OPS versus southpaw pitchers. Hey, this is the first day of the 2026 MLB season, and it's a single-game DFS situation. Why not take a shot on some 2024 magic from Ramos?
Trent Grisham, NYY at SFG ($7,600): With Grisham, I'm hoping he doesn't regress to his 2024 form. In fact, he's hoping that everything before the 2025 season bears little to no relevance. After three, frankly, poor seasons, Grisham had a .348 OBP and 34 home runs. He had an .869 OPS versus righties, but unlike a lot of southpaws for the Yankees he was better on the road. The former Padre had a .904 OPS in away games in 2025.
Austin Wells, NYY at SFG ($6,200): Here's one more lefty from the Yankees to square off with Webb. Wells is a catcher, and like Adames his positional value doesn't really exist in this scenario. However, closing out a single-game DFS roster with a guy who had 21 homers and 22 doubles in 126 games is good with me. Plus, should he face a left-handed reliever at any point, Wells hit .240 against southpaws last year.
