The weather is warming up, and the MLB action is intriguing Wednesday. There are nine games on the slate starting at 6:40 p.m. EDT or later. Don't let the NHL and NBA playoffs keep you from getting into the MLB DFS action! Here are my lineup recommendations.
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Pitching
Braxton Ashcraft, PIT at TEX ($9,800): Ashcraft has been overlooked as part of the Pirates' emerging rotation. Sure, he's not Paul Skenes, and he may not have the upside of Bubba Chandler, but Ashcraft had a 2.71 ERA last season as a rookie. Now, a lot of that was out of the bullpen, but as a full-time starter so far in 2026 he has a 3.86 K/BB rate and 1.80 FIP. The Rangers are struggling to keep out of the bottom 10 in runs scored, a reminder that they finished in the bottom third in 2025.
Casey Mize, DET vs. MIL ($9,100): Both of these offenses have run hot and cold early, but right now the Brewers are also lacking Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich. All in all, they haven't exactly struggled, but those are two big bats to be missing. Mize has seen his strikeouts tick up, and so far his HR/9 has been below 1.00. He has a 2.78 ERA through four starts, and last year he had a 3.68 ERA at home. That home ERA in 2025 gives me a bit more trust in Mize.
Eduardo Rodriguez, ARI vs. CWS ($): I do not believe in Rodriguez's 1.96 ERA through four starts. You know who agrees with me? Rodriguez's 4.21 FIP. That being said, this matchup is good enough I am willing to take a shot. The White Sox have picked things up, but picking things up only meant getting over the Mendoza Line as a team and threatening to get out of the bottom five in runs scored.
Top Targets
After last season's breakthrough, the only questions about Andy Pages ($3,900) were related to his lack of walks and questionable performance away from Dodgers Stadium. In 2026… okay, he still isn't taking walks, but he's hit .366 and slugged .598 so it's all good. Plus, his performance on the road has been decidedly better than last year. Tyler Mahle was surprisingly good last season, but he has a 7.23 ERA to start 2026. Last year he mostly kept lefties in check, but since 2024 righties have hit .274 against him.
It's not like Matt Olson ($3,700) hadn't long ago established his bona fides as a hitter, but he's come out of the gate on fire in 2026. He has six homers and 10 doubles, so he might end up with his second-ever campaign with 30 homers and 40 doubles. The first baseman also has a .359 OBP against righties since 2024. Righty Zack Littell has a 7.11 ERA this season, and in his career he's given up 1.52 homers per nine innings.
Bargain Bats
If the name of the game is getting on base, Bryan Reynolds ($3,500) is doing something right with a .386 OBP. He also has three homers and a triple, and last year he tallied 38 doubles. I wanted the switch-hitting Reynolds because Jack Leiter is hard to pin down, other than the fact he issues a lot of walks. In the past, righties hit him much better than lefties, but this season lefties have hit .324 against him.
Hey, Edouard Julien ($3,000) is a left-handed second baseman in line to play at Coors Field on Wednesday, and that's good enough for me. This pick is about position, venue, salary and matchup, as Walker Buehler has lost the ability to handle lefties. They have hit .299 against him since his return from 2023 Tommy John surgery, which plays a sizable role in Buehler's 5.05 ERA in that time.
Stacks to Consider
Padres at Rockies (Tomoyuki Sugano): Jackson Merrill ($3,800), Manny Machado ($3,600), Gavin Sheets ($3,100)
Sure, Sugano has a 3.92 ERA to start his Rockies tenure after having a 4.64 ERA with the Orioles last season. However, his FIP has gone up from 5.35 to 5.54, which is not surprising. The righty would have been better off staying in Japan instead of giving MLB a shot. Sugano can't strike anybody out and he has a career 1.92 HR/9 rate. That's with the fact he's pitched two home games since joining the Rockies. His HR/9 rate is primed to climb, and the Padres could help on that front.
If Merrill can stay healthy, he can get back to being the flawed counting-stats superstar he was as a rookie. To that end, he has three homers, four stolen bases, and six doubles through 22 games, which covers up the sin of a sub-.300 OBP from a DFS perspective. Righties have hit .273 against Sugano in his MLB career, so I was happy to grab power-hitting righty Machado for this stack. He's fallen just under 30 home runs in each of the last two seasons, but he's had over 30 doubles in both of those campaigns. Sheets is really racking up doubles out of the gate, as he already has nine. Coors Field is just as conducive to doubles as homers. Additionally, last year Sheets slugged .453 against right-handed pitchers.
Cubs vs. Phillies (Taijuan Walker): Nico Hoerner ($3,700), Dansby Swanson ($3,400), Pete Crow-Armstrong ($2,800)
Reportedly, Walker will pitch bulk innings after an opener takes the mound Wednesday, the hope presumably being that Walker won't look as terrible on the mound. Good luck with that, Phillies. Walker has a 9.16 ERA through four starts this year, and he has a 5.08 ERA over his time with Philadelphia. The righty has allowed over 2.0 homers per nine innings over the last three seasons for good measure. I only have one lefty in this stack, but righties happen to have hit .300 against Walker since 2024, and with an opener in the mix this could be a game where several pitchers are used. In that case, it's better to opt for righties.
Hoerner has been a viable DFS option in the past because he's a second baseman who hits for average and steals bases. Indeed, this year he's hit .326 with seven stolen bases. On top of that, though, he has four homers and seven doubles. I'm taking a shot on Swanson for one simple reason: He's a shortstop who has five home runs. Last year he hit 24 homers. If he goes yard against the homer-prone Walker, that's good enough for me. Crow-Armstrong is a lefty worth a shot, though, given that he had 30 homers, 30 doubles, and 30 stolen bases last season. His power is down this year, but he's swiped four bags, and last year he slugged .523 against righties.
