As per usual, Sunday afternoon is chock-a-block with MLB games. There are 11 games included on the DFS docket, with the first kicking off (with pitches) at 1:35 p.m. ET. In order to try and make this a productive Sunday, here are some MLB DFS lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Noah Cameron, KAN vs. CWS ($8,000): Cameron had proved himself at the Triple-A level, so he got the call to make 24 starts for the Royals last season. The lefty had a 2.99 ERA, and after two starts this season he has an 1.69 ERA. It seems the White Sox's rebuild still has a bit of a ways to go. They are in the bottom five in runs scored to start 2026, which is where they finished in 2025.
Jameson Taillon, CHC vs. PIT ($7,800): Since 2024, Taillon has a 2.45 ERA at home. Truly, the confines of Wrigley Field are friendly to him. Sunday he's in line to start against the Pirates. Pittsburgh isn't likely to finish last in runs scored as it did last year, but also let's not forget it finished last in runs scored just one season ago. The Pirates could have scored 100 more runs last season and still finished in the bottom 10.
Adrian Houser, SFG at BAL ($7,00): Houser's strikeouts come few and far between, but he keeps the ball in the park. That helped him put up a 3.31 ERA last season, and his 3.97 ERA to start 2026 is paired with a 2.69 FIP. Is Baltimore, perhaps, not all that good offensively? It did finish 24th in runs scored last year, and it is trying to fight its way out of the bottom 10 to start off this season.
Top Targets
Sure, the strikeouts are still in the mix, but so is everything positive about James Wood ($3,600) as a player. After have more than 30 homers and 30 doubles last year, he has four of the former and five of the latter, and his average is up to .271. Given Brandon Woodruff's proclivity for injury, his slow start to the season is a concern. He has a 5.91 ERA through two starts.
While vaunted prospect JJ Wetherholt ($3,400) has looked like a guy getting his first taste of MLB action, there have been promising moments. The southpaw shortstop has a .359 OBP with one homer and three stolen bases. Brayan Bello has a 5.64 FIP through two starts this season. Now, he did have a 3.35 ERA last year, but with a 4.18 FIP and with a 6.70 K/9 rate.
Bargain Bats
After a slow start, Bryce Harper ($3,200) has an .850 OPS with three homers and four doubles on the campaign now. Being at home may be helping, as he has a .950 OPS in Philadelphia since 2024. On the flip side, in that same time frame the righty Zac Gallen has a 4.68 ERA on the road.
Third baseman Matt Chapman ($2,900) has a .310 average to come out of the gate. Last season the righty did struggle against lefties and hit righties well, but in 2024 he had an .816 OPS versus lefties, so it may have been a fluke. What was true in both seasons is that Chapman was more productive when he was away from San Francisco's ballpark. The Giants are in Baltimore on Sunday, and Cade Povich is drawing a start. The lefty has a career 5.15 ERA.
Stacks to Consider
Diamondbacks at Phillies (Andrew Painter): Corbin Carroll ($4,400), Ketel Marte ($3,100), Geraldo Perdomo ($2,800)
Painter's first MLB start, against the Nationals, went well. In his second start, against the Giants, he allowed four runs, nine hits and four walks in 4.0 innings while only striking out a single batter. There's a lot to find out about Painter as an MLB pitcher, or as a pitcher in general. Let's not forget that he missed all of 2023 and 2024 with injuries. This trio of Diamondbacks is as impressive as anything Painter has seen in his career to this point.
How does Carroll already have three triples? He really is a remarkable player. Also, he has an OPS over 1.000 this year and in every season of his career he's stolen more than 30 bases. Marte is off to a slow start, but he hit his second home run of the year Saturday. He's had at least 25 home runs in each of the last three seasons and is a career .280 hitter, so I think the second baseman will be fine. I like that both Perdomo and Marte are switch-hitters, as the right-handed Painter has allowed righties to hit .500 against him this season. Maybe one of those two will want to test him out. Either way, the shortstop Perdomo has three extra-base hits and three swiped bags.
Red Sox at Cardinals (Andre Pallante): Wilyer Abreu ($3,600), Willson Contreras ($3,000), Ceddanne Rafaela ($2,800)
I don't believe in Pallante's 1.80 ERA at all. That's not just because he has a 4.24 FIP and 0.71 K/BB rate. The righty has a career 6.24 K/9 rate, and he's spent a lot of his career pitching out of the bullpen. Last season as a full-time starter he had a 5.31 ERA. I do have two right-handed hitters in this stack, because righties have hit .267 against Pallante since 2024.
Abreu is the lefty in this stack, because he's started this season with a .364/.397/.636 slash line. Since 2024 he's slugged .503 against righties but also slugged .489 on the road. The former Cardinal Contreras has a .419 OBP in his first season with the Red Sox. While his power has lagged, he had 52 extra-base hits in 135 games last season. Rafaela doesn't walk at all, but he's hit .325 to start 2026, which balances things out a bit. He's still managed 15/15 seasons each of the last two campaigns, though, and he had 34 doubles last season as well.
Agree with these recommendations? Give them a spin with various combinations of other players in RotoWire's MLB DFS Lineup Optimizer.
