I'm sure there will be a bunch of Star Wars-themed stuff going on at MLB ballparks Monday, but that's not my concern. My concern is delivering DFS recommendations that help you find some DFS success. There are eight games on the schedule starting at 7:05 p.m. ET or later. Here are those recommendations I mentioned and, of course, live long and prosper.
Pitching
JR Ritchie, ATL at SEA ($9,600): Ritchie is sticking with Atlanta for now, even with Spencer Strider healthy. Now, his 2.92 ERA is paired with a 5.98 FIP, but it's only been two starts. Starts against Washington and Detroit, both average-to-above-average offenses, I will add. Ritchie has a career 2.38 ERA at Triple-A, and he debuted in MLB at 22 because he's considered a top pitching prospect. The Mariners' offense has been a bit below average this year, and their ballpark tends to be pitcher friendly as well.
Randy Vasquez, SDP at SFG ($9,000): Vasquez is intriguing to me right now. It's not so much his 2.94 ERA, though that is notable. No, it's the fact he's struck out 9.09 batters per nine innings. That doesn't make him a strikeout machine, but this is a guy who failed to average even 6.00 batters per nine innings over the last two seasons. Even if the strikeouts don't continue, the Giants are last in runs scored so I like this matchup.
Edward Cabrera, CHC vs. CIN ($8,900): Cabrera had a 3.53 ERA in his final season with the Marlins, and he has a 3.06 ERA in his first campaign as a Cub. I also like that he hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in a start yet. Sure, three runs in 5.0 innings isn't exactly a gem on the mound, but what I am driving at is that Cabrera has avoid disaster through six starts with a new team. The Reds are interesting, because they have a couple guys off to killer starts, but the rest of the team has scuffled enough they are just trying to avoid being in the bottom 10 in runs scored, and they are well down into the bottom five in team batting average (though obviously averages are still fluctuating a decent amount this time of the year).
Top Targets
Yes, the homers have lagged behind for Bobby Witt ($3,400) a bit, but in addition to that starting to turn around, he has a .281 average with nine doubles and 10 stolen bases. Even if he was just the shortstop who hit more than 40 doubles with over 30 steals each of the last two seasons that would suffice, but he's also clearly more than that. Tanner Bibee is a pitcher who has really struggled on the road the last couple of seasons. He had a 5.17 away ERA in 2025, and this year it's up to 7.90.
Right in line with his performance last year, Cody Bellinger ($3,200): has hit .275 with five homers and four stolen bases. He likes to face a righty, sure, but he loves Yankee Stadium. He has an OPS over .900 at home since putting on the pinstripes. It's early, but lefties have hit .361 against Shane Baz to start 2026, so it seems like a good time to roster Bellinger.
Bargain Bats
Well, my bargain bat plans really got derailed when the Rockies-Mets game at Coors Field got moved to 5:40 p.m. ET and thus out of this slate. Ah well, we must press on. Michael Busch ($2,700) had two hits and picked up four RBI on Sunday. It's still early enough in the season that sort of performance is a reminder of past performance. Yes, the southpaws has struggled for much of 2026, but he slugged .523 with 64 extra-base hits in 2025. Chase Petty is in line to start for the Reds. He had a 19.50 ERA in MLB last year, but that was only in 6.0 innings. What is more notable is that over the last two seasons he has a 6.03 ERA in Triple-A.
Last season, his first with the Padres, Gavin Sheets ($2,700): Had a career year. He hit .252 with 19 homers and 28 doubles in 145 contests. Sheets also had a .777 OPS versus righties, and this season his OPS in those matchups is .772. The projection is that righty Trevor McDonald will start for the Giants. He hasn't pitched much in MLB, but he has a career 5.22 ERA at Triple-A.
Stacks to Consider
Brewers at Cardinals (Kyle Leahy): Brice Turang ($4,100), Jake Bauers ($3,200), David Hamilton ($2,800)
After spending his MLB career as a reliever, the move to starting is going rather poorly for Leahy. Through six starts he has a 5.52 ERA. Even when he was a reliever, though, he struggled in get southpaws out. In his career, lefties have hit .289 against Leahy, so this is a three-lefty stack.
It is worth noting that Turang was a late scratch from the starting lineup due to an illness, just in case that lingers into Monday. If he plays, though, he's one of the best second basemen in baseball, and this year he has a .428 OBP with 13 extra-base hits and seven stolen bases. Bauers has five home runs and three stolen bases. He doesn't play against lefties much, and reasonably so with his track record, but last year he had a .769 OPS versus righties. Hamilton is a strong base-swiper with no power to speak of. In 232 career games, Hamilton has stolen 64 bases, and this year he has a .351 OBP as well.
Guardians at Royals (Michael Wacha): Jose Ramirez ($3,700), Chase DeLauter ($3,100), Daniel Schneemann ($3,000)
Wacha's 3.13 ERA this season is better than his career 3.87 number, but his 3.97 FIP is exactly in line with his career FIP. Additionally, he has a 6.61 ERA over his last three starts, though one of his first three starts was a strong outing against these same Guardians. In the end, however, Wacha is well-established as a fine pitcher, but not one to be concerned about. He does largely manage to avoid giving up homers, though, but all three of these guys can do damage without going yard.
Ramirez has six home runs this season, but he also had eight doubles and 13 stolen bases. He's had more than 30 doubles and 40 stolen bases each of the last two campaigns, so he is fully capable of delivering in a matchup with a pitcher who isn't homer prone. We're still learning who DeLauter is as an MLB player, but thus far the rookie has been really good. He's slashed .304/.392/.554 with eight doubles and a triple (in addition to six home runs). Schneemann has really taken off this year. He's posted a .298/.366/.524 slash line with seven doubles and two swiped bags.
Try our FanDuel MLB Lineup Optimizer to discover more expert recommendations, customize the player pool, set exposure percentage and mass-enter DFS lineups.
