This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Thursday was a breezy day on the MLB schedule, with only six games on the docket. Everybody is taking the field Friday, but with 11 of those games happening in the evening DFS slate. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. ET. There are 22 teams in the mix. Here are my DFS recommendations.
Pitching
Jordan Montgomery, TEX vs. OAK ($9,400): Montgomery is coming off a poor start, but you know what is the cure for what ails you as a pitcher? Facing the Athletics. Oakland is last in runs scored, team OPS, win percentage, you name it. Montgomery has made 27 starts across his time with the Cardinals and Rangers and has a 3.46 ERA, so I totally trust him in this matchup.
Griffin Canning, LAA vs. CLE ($8,800): Canning had his start moved back a day, but that just means extra rest against the same matchup. He has a 3.52 ERA over his last six starts, though he's allowed four homers in that time, as home runs have long been his issue. However, hitting homers is not the Guardians' strength, as they rank last on that front.
Yusei Kikuchi, TOR vs. KC ($8,200): Kikuchi has never made it work over a full MLB season, but he has a 2.50 ERA over his last nine starts. What the lefty has consistently done, though, is handle his fellow left-handers. Since 2021, Kikuchi has held southpaws to a mere .181 average. The Royals have a lot of lefties in their preferred lineup, which won't be able to confidently take the field Friday. Of course, even the optimized lineup for Kansas City is poor, as it ranks in the bottom five in runs scored.
Top Targets
Finger crossed Christian Yelich ($5,400) can get his game revved up again. On the season he's slashed .274/.363/.436 with 17 homers and 27 stolen bases. He's in line to be at Yankee Stadium on Friday, a park that plays well to lefties, and he's going to get a shot against Luis Severino as well. Severino has a 6.17 FIP and has allowed southpaws to hit a whopping .335 against him.
It's been a strange season for Pete Alonso ($4,900). His average has dipped all the way down to .224, and yet he's hit 42 home runs and slugged .528. Notably, Citi Field has been unkind to the slugger, but he's slashed .245/.351/.578 on the road. Somehow, Dallas Keuchel strung together two good starts before getting rocked, but I just don't trust him. He has a 6.23 ERA over the last three seasons and has allowed righties to hit .305 against him.
Bargain Bats
Ensconced away in Denver, Ezequiel Tovar ($4,000) has been something of a poor man's Anthony Volpe. The shortstop has a sub-.300 OBP, but he's tallied 15 homers, three triples and 10 stolen bases. For DFS players, that makes him intriguing at his salary. Kyle Harrison has made three MLB starts, and while he's tallied a ton of strikeouts, he also has a 5.93 FIP. That comes after he had a 4.66 ERA at Triple-A.
Few players offer less on the base paths than Wilmer Flores ($3,900), and he's a designated hitter for a reason, but he has power. This year he's hit .284 and notched 21 home runs in 107 games. He's also racked up a .916 OPS against southpaws in 2023. Ty Blach will be facing his former team, but I don't expect it to go well. Since joining the Rockies he has a 5.03 ERA and has let righties hit .331 against him.
Stacks to Consider
Padres at Astros (Hunter Brown): Juan Soto ($5,500), Manny Machado ($5,200), Xander Bogaerts ($4,700)
On the road, Brown has been a mediocre pitcher as a rookie. At home, he's been straight-up bad. This season he has a 5.56 ERA in Houston, which just won't cut it. While he's a righty, notably right-handers have hit .279 against him, so I have two right-handers in this stack.
Soto may be a southpaw, but I wanted to include him as well. He has a .937 OPS versus righties and a .984 OPS on the road. His .398 OBP is so impressive but also would be a career low. Machado has been one of the disappointments of the Padres, but he's still hit 26 homeruns. The issue is that he's been worse than usual against his fellow righties. I'm holding out hope in this matchup, given that he slugged over .500 in each of the prior two seasons. Bogaerts has hit .272 with 16 homers and 14 swiped bags. He's also posted an .811 OPS over the last three weeks.
Dodgers at Nationals (MacKenzie Gore): Mookie Betts ($6,700), Will Smith ($5,600), James Outman ($3,700)
Gore has gotten a lot of MLB reps this season and hasn't been a disaster. For a young pitcher, sometimes that is all a rebuilding team is looking for. However, for DFS purposes, I see a lefty with a 4.66 FIP who has allowed 1.63 homers per nine innings. The Dodgers are one of the few teams that played Thursday, but I won't avoid stacking these three because of that.
Betts has an OPS over 1.000 across the last three weeks, an OPS over 1.000 against lefties and, um, an OPS over 1.000 all in all. Throw in some of the most-impressive counting stats out there and Betts has been arguably the DFS MVP (and maybe the NL MVP for good measure). Smith is a catcher who has hit .273 with 17 homers. He's also posted an .858 OPS versus southpaws for good measure. Outman has a .361 OBP with 18 homers and 14 swiped bags. The centerfielder is a southpaw, but he has a .741 OPS against lefties, which is decent, and Gore has allowed lefties to hit .308 against him. I will note that Betts fouled a ball off his foot Thursday, but he stayed in the game until it was in hand for the Dodgers. There's a chance he won't play Friday – it is the Nationals after all – but there isn't really another righty to slide into this stack with J.D. Martinez on the IL. Chris Taylor ($3,300) would be your best bet in a pinch, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Orioles at Red Sox (Tanner Houck): Gunnar Henderson ($5,400), Cedric Mullins ($4,700), Ryan O'Hearn ($3,300)
These are tough circumstances for Houck. He has a 5.40 ERA at home (surely endearing him to Boston fans), but he's also got issues with lefties. Southpaws have hit .281 against Houck, and the Orioles have a lineup that can take advantage of that.
As a rookie, Henderson is on the verge of a season with 20 homers, 20 doubles and 10 stolen bases. That's impressive, as is his .862 OPS versus right-handed pitchers. Injuries have kept Mullins from getting into any real groove, but he's still tallied 13 homers and 16 swiped bags in 93 games. His .782 OPS against righties is joined by an .823 OPS on the road. I don't know if anybody was imagining O'Hearn earning the bigger slice of a platoon split at first base for the Orioles, but he's done just that by performing well against righties. He has a .303 average all in all, with an .819 OPS versus righties and an .893 OPS on the road.
