Rise and shine, MLB fans! The DFS slate for Thursday is an early one. There are seven games included, but the first starts at 12:35 p.m. ET. Here are my MLB DFS lineup recommendations. Hope you can get your lineups in before your day begins in earnest!
Pitching
Kyle Harrison, MIL vs. SDP ($8,800): Harrison is your classic post-hype sleeper. He was a vaunted prospect for the Giants, he's now technically on his third team, and he's still only 24. Now a Brewer, the lefty has a 2.41 ERA and 10.96 K/9 rate through seven starts in 2026. The Padres are only just below average in terms of runs scored, but they are in the bottom five in team OPS. Harrison's only real concern thus far is going deep into games, but as long as he pitches deeply enough to get a win Thursday I'm good with that.
Carmen Mlodzinski, PIT vs. COL ($6,300): Mlodzinski's 4.50 ERA would be a personal high, but his 2.84 FIP would be a personal low. His strikeouts are up a bit, and he remains excellent at avoiding homers, so I think he'll be fine. Plus, he's shown a preference for pitching in Pittsburgh where he has a 3.07 ERA since 2024. With the Rockies, it behooves you to remember they are average in runs scored and team home runs while playing home games at Coors Field.
Top Targets
A struggling righty is coming to pitch in Houston so, yeah, I'm rostering Yordan Alvarez ($6,400). He's hit .309 with 13 home runs, he has a career .575 slugging percentage, and prior to last season's injury-plagued campaign he had four 30-homer seasons in a row. Luis Castillo is the struggling righty in question. He has a 6.57 ERA, and he's given up 1.41 homers per nine innings.
It's all been there for the reigning AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz ($5,500) this season save for the incredible power. He has six homers and eight doubles, which isn't bad, but the impressive elements are the five stolen bases and the .418 OBP. Plus, the drop in power has been starker against his fellow lefties. Michael McGreevy has a 2.18 ERA this year, but he has a 3.75 FIP. I have enough of a pause not to stack against him, but the Athletics have a hitter-friendly park, and McGreevy has a 3.22 away ERA this year.
Bargain Bats
Sure, Ivan Herrera ($4,00) is a catcher who doesn't do much catching, but that's his roster spot for DFS purposes, and you need a catcher for your lineup. He has a career .377 OBP, and this year he also has 11 doubles already. Herrera has an .860 OPS on the road since 2024, and this isn't a run-of-the-mill road game. As noted, the Athletics' temporary home in Sacramento is particularly kind to hitters, and Jacob Lopez has an 1.17 K/BB ratio and 6.51 FIP.
Though the inaugural season for Brendan Donovan ($3,700) with the Mariners has been complicated by injury, he's a career .281 hitter who tallied more than 30 doubles in each of the prior to campaigns. When he's played, he's hit righties well, which tracks given that he has an .832 OPS versus right-handed pitchers the last three seasons. Mike Burrows is coming off a strong start, but he has a 5.04 ERA, and lefties have hit .323 against him. Yeah, I'll take Donovan in that scenario. By the way, for DFS roster purposes he is a third baseman on DraftKings.
Agree with these recommendations? Give them a spin with various combinations of other players in RotoWire's MLB DFS Lineup Optimizer.
Stack to Consider
Brewers vs. Padres (Griffin Canning): Brice Turang ($5,600), Jackson Chourio ($5,000), Christian Yelich ($4,900)
Sure, Canning's 6.75 ERA comes in only two starts, but that is still a poor ERA. Also, one must ask why a 30-year-old pitcher was starting his season in Triple-A. The answer, of course, is that he has a career 4.68 ERA. Well, that and the fact he's on working his way back from an Achilles injury in 2025, but that also makes Canning a 30-year-old coming off a serious injury with a career 4.68 ERA. I don't expect it to go all that well.
Turns out, you steal fewer bases when you are hitting for so much power. Turang still has swiped eight bags, but with six homers and a triple to his name, he's had less opportunity to run. Or, rather, less need to run. Turang has a .414 OBP, so he's spent plenty of time on the base paths. Chourio has been a 20/20 guy in both seasons of his career prior to this one, and he hasn't looked too rusty since returning from a long injury absence. While Chourio, like Canning, is a righty in an admittedly meager sample size, righties have hit .423 against Canning this season. Yelich is back from his latest injury absence. He's hit .291 to start this season and he has a triple after having none last year. Last season, though, Yelich had 29 home runs, his most since 2019, to go with 16 stolen bases.
