Last Monday, MLB was off, and they are making up for it now and then some. Twenty-eight teams are on the DFS slate for Monday night, with the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET. Rarely do I get to write DFS articles with so many players to pore over. With that in mind, here are my MLB DFS lineup recommendations.
Pitching
George Kirby, SEA vs. CIN ($9,200): Kirby has been on a nice run, as over his last five starts he has a 3.09 ERA, and he's gone at least six innings in all of those outings. On the year he has a 3.76 ERA but he has a 3.32 FIP, which isn't surprising given his 4.08 K/BB rate and 0.90 HR/9 rate. This matchup could help him continue to lower that ERA and boost that K/BB ratio, as the Reds are in the bottom 10 in runs scored and the bottom five in strikeouts.
Nick Martinez, TAM at TOR ($8,400): With Dylan Cease pitching for the Blue Jays, this is set up to be quite the pitcher's duel. Martinez has a 2.65 ERA through 18 starts, including a 2.12 ERA on the road. While Martinez is doing it with a low strikeout rate, clearly he's shown that he can make that work over a significant stretch of time. The Blue Jays are 28th in runs scored, so Martinez will have less work to do in order to make this a pitcher's duel than Cease.
Kyle Leahy, STL at LAA ($7,900): In terms of saving salary, Leahy is an option who intrigues me. He has a 3.73 ERA on the year, but over his last five starts he has an 1.42 ERA. The Angels are average-ish in terms of scoring runs, but they are last in strikeouts. Leahy isn't a strikeout pitcher, but he may be able to get something out of this matchup.
Top Targets
It would appear that, for the second season in a row, Kyle Schwarber ($4,100) is going to finish with an OPS over 1.000 at home. He is, of course, also one of the premier power hitters in MLB, as he has 33 home runs through 96 games. Emmet Sheehan had his start pushed from Sunday to Monday, and it should be to Schwarber's benefit. The righty has a 5.05 ERA and 2.3 HR/9 rate on the road.
Fortunately, the foot issue that hit Brice Turang ($3,700) proved mild, and he played Sunday without any noticeable issue. He has a .358 OBP, and the second baseman also has 14 homers and 15 stolen bases. This year he's been worse against lefties but picked it up even further against righties, as he has a .915 OPS in those matchups. Freddy Peralta has proved one of many deleterious decisions for the Mets. Instead of bolstering the rotation, he has a 5.58 ERA and 1.8 HR/9 rate on the road.
Bargain Bats
The Pirates are lacking in promising young players, and now Esmerlyn Valdez ($3,500) is making a case to be part of that future core. Before this year, the 22-year-old hadn't played above Double-A, and now through 31 MLB games he's slashed .305/.373/.733 with 12 homers. He's also threatening to give the Pirates a promising right-handed bat, which they needed. The lefty Ryan Weathers is in his first season with the Yankees, and he has a 4.10 ERA and 1.5 HR/9 rate at home.
He's delivered less power this year, though he does still have 31 extra-base hits, but Michael Busch ($3,200) has a .370 OBP. The lefty also has an .829 OPS at home. Jack Flaherty has pitched better of late and he doesn't allow many homers, but he has a 4.48 ERA on the year and is right-handed. As such, I'd take a shot on Busch since he is at home.
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Stacks to Consider
Nationals at Rockies (Kyle Freeland): CJ Abrams ($4,300), Curtis Mead ($3,700), Dylan Crews ($3,400)
The Nationals are a top-tier offense as is, and now they get to travel to Coors Field. Freeland hasn't exactly had a robust career, given his career 4.73 ERA. However, this season his ERA has skyrocketed to 7.36. By the way, he has an 8.28 ERA on the road, so this is about execrable pitching, not elevation. Since Freeland is a southpaw, I did include a couple righties in this stack.
Abrams, of course, is left-handed. He's a shortstop who has hit .277 with 21 homers and 15 stolen bases as well. There are a couple reasons, aside from the Coors of it all, for this recommendation. First, Abrams has a .739 OPS against lefties in 2026, which isn't terrible. Second, since 2024, lefties have actually hit .300 against Freeland. Mead has come out of nowhere to emerge as the best right-handed bat the Nationals have. He has an .861 OPS with 17 homers, 16 doubles and six stolen bases in 83 games, and over the last three weeks he has an 1.134 OPS. Crews was supposed to be the right-handed masher for the Nats but that has yet to come to fruition. He has seven homers, six doubles and six swiped bags, though that is all in 50 games. One positive is that Crews has excelled against lefties, whom he has a .931 OPS against.
Diamondbacks vs. Athletics (Jeffrey Springs): Ketel Marte ($3,300), Geraldo Perdomo ($2,900), Nolan Arenado ($2,800)
Four times in his last five starts, Springs has allowed six earned runs. Seven times in his last nine starts he's allowed multiple homers. He's a lefty, and righties have hit 20 of the whopping 26 home runs he's allowed, so I have three Diamondbacks who hit right-handed for a stack.
The switch-hitting Marte is particularly good against lefties. Since 2024 he has a .981 OPS in those matchups. This year the second baseman has also been better at home where he has an .844 OPS. Perdomo has had a bit of a down year, but he has seven homers, three triples and 15 stolen bases. He is also a switch-hitter and he is a shortstop, so that's sufficient for this matchup for me. Arenado still has some power, having hit 13 homers and 18 doubles this year. While it's only two weeks, over the last aforementioned two weeks he has an 1.003 OPS as well.
