Today’s DFS picks start early at 11:35 a.m. ET. If you play that slate on DraftKings, it includes 11 games. FanDuel offers an identical slate.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/29)
- Framber Valdez has a tough matchup on the docket against the Chicago Cubs. His strikeouts have been erratic recently. He had only three strikeouts in each of his last two starts. Before that, he had games with 12, 11 and nine strikeouts. The most reliable aspect of Valdez’s game is the ground balls, with a 61.3% ground ball rate.
- Luis Castillo is not the pitcher he was earlier in his career, but he can still have success in the right matchups. The Rangers have been a surprisingly good matchup for pitchers all season. They have the third-worst home wRC+ in all of baseball at only 80.
- Another pitcher who is not the same caliber he once was is future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. His strikeout rate is down to 19.4%, but today he gets the White Sox, who strike out 23.8% of the time. Don’t be shocked if today is the day Verlander earns his first win of the season.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Atlanta Braves Projected Lineup (6/29)
Today’s DFS picks start early at 11:35 a.m. ET. If you play that slate on DraftKings, it includes 11 games. FanDuel offers an identical slate.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/29)
- Framber Valdez has a tough matchup on the docket against the Chicago Cubs. His strikeouts have been erratic recently. He had only three strikeouts in each of his last two starts. Before that, he had games with 12, 11 and nine strikeouts. The most reliable aspect of Valdez’s game is the ground balls, with a 61.3% ground ball rate.
- Luis Castillo is not the pitcher he was earlier in his career, but he can still have success in the right matchups. The Rangers have been a surprisingly good matchup for pitchers all season. They have the third-worst home wRC+ in all of baseball at only 80.
- Another pitcher who is not the same caliber he once was is future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. His strikeout rate is down to 19.4%, but today he gets the White Sox, who strike out 23.8% of the time. Don’t be shocked if today is the day Verlander earns his first win of the season.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Atlanta Braves Projected Lineup (6/29)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Ronald Acuna Jr. |
$6,400 |
$4,200 |
| 1B |
Matt Olson |
$5,100 |
$3,300 |
| OF |
Marcell Ozuna |
$4,000 |
$3,000 |
| 3B |
Austin Riley |
$4,100 |
$3,000 |
| C |
Sean Murphy |
$3,300 |
$2,800 |
| 2B |
Ozzie Albies |
$3,600 |
$2,700 |
| OF |
Eli White |
$3,000 |
$2,300 |
| OF |
Michael Harris |
$3,200 |
$2,500 |
| SS |
Nick Allen |
$2,300 |
$2,300 |
- Ranger Suarez is taking on the Atlanta Braves today. Given that he has a career-low 2.08 ERA with a correspondingly low 2.85 FIP, it’s probably surprising to see him as a pitcher to target. However, the Braves’ history against him can’t be ignored.
- Austin Riley is a good starting point for your DFS stack. He has gone 9-for-28 against Saurez in his career. Five of his hits have been extra-base hits, including two home runs. While he only has 12 home runs on the season, he is at or near the top 10 percentiles in average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate.
- This season, left-handed pitchers have been a struggle for switch-hitter Ozzie Albies. All six of his home runs have come against right-handed pitching. That may change today. In his career against Saurez, Albies has gone 7-for-25 with three home runs.
- Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson have nearly identical career numbers against Suarez. Each has seven hits; Ozuna in 25 at-bats and Olson in 27. Each has two doubles off Suarez, with Ozuna also hitting a home run.
Milwaukee Brewers Projected Lineup (6/29)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Sal Frelick |
$4,200 |
$3,100 |
| OF |
Jackson Chourio |
$4,900 |
$3,600 |
| OF |
Christian Yelich |
$5,000 |
$3,700 |
| C |
William Contreras |
$4,500 |
$3,000 |
| 2B |
Brice Turang |
$4,500 |
$3,100 |
| 1B |
Rhys Hoskins |
$3,800 |
$2,900 |
| OF/2B (FD) |
Isaac Collins |
$3,300 |
$2,600 |
| 3B/2B (FD) |
Caleb Durbin |
$3,100 |
$2,700 |
| SS/3B/2B (FD) |
Joey Ortiz |
$2,800 |
$2,500 |
- The Milwaukee Brewers have been one of baseball’s best offenses in June. They have a .753 OPS this month, which ranks seventh in baseball. They have an appealing matchup against Colorado Rockies starting pitcher German Marquez. There are only three pitchers with more hits allowed this season. What is somewhat shocking is that he has been worse on the road (6.90 ERA and 1.81 WHIP) than at Coors Field (4.32 ERA and 1.41 WHIP).
- Christian Yelich has been on a tear this month with a .952 OPS in June. He has been at his best all season when he is against a right-handed pitcher like Marquez. Against right-handed pitchers, he has a .909 OPS.
- Jackson Chourio continues to provide counting statistics. He leads the Brewers in runs (17), home runs (four) and stolen bases (four) in June.
- Cheaper options in the Brewers’ lineup are Rhys Hoskins and Caleb Durbin. Hoskins has struggled this month with a .160 batting average. However, he is still hitting fly balls 53.8% of the time with over a 30% hard hit rate. That means a home run is always in play. Just yesterday, he missed a grand slam by mere feet. Durbin has the second-highest OPS among qualified Brewers batters this month (.810). Three of his four home runs have come in the last month.
Core Studs
- Trevor Story has an impressive history against Eric Lauer. He has gone 8-for-22 against Lauer in his career. Those eight hits include two doubles and three home runs.
- The run Juan Soto has been on can’t be overstated. He has a 1.259 OPS in June, which is the highest of all qualified batters. Amazingly, he has been even hotter recently with six home runs in the past week.
- Will Smith takes on left-handed pitcher Kris Bubic today. Smith has a 1.104 OPS against left-handed pitchers.
Value Plays/Punts
- While Giancarlo Stanton has yet to hit a home run, it feels like an inevitability with the way he is impacting the ball. He still has a 95 miles per hour average (MPH) exit velocity and a 63% hard-hit rate.
- How about rookie Cam Smith? After taking a bit of time to get acclimated to the Majors, he is showing why the Astros felt confident in him to keep him up with fewer than 35 games in the Minors after trading for him. He has made his presence felt against the Cubs with home runs in each game so far this series.
- Don’t look now, but Ramon Laureano has been excellent this season against right-handed pitching. In only 99 at-bats against right-handed pitchers, he has 15 extra-base hits, including eight home runs. Today, he gets right-handed pitcher Taj Bradley.
Sunday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
Caleb Durbin’s June was mentioned above, but you can also use him on Underdog. He has cleared a combined 1.5 hits + runs + RBI in his last nine games and 10 of his last 11.
Another player who has been on a roll is Corey Seager. He has home runs in each of his last two games. That’s part of his streak of exceeding a combined 1.5 hits + runs + RBI in six of his last seven games, including each of the last four.
Chad Patrick’s season strikeout rate is 23.5%, which is essentially league average. However, his strikeout numbers have been higher recently. He has cleared 5.5 strikeouts in six of his last seven games. Today’s matchup is against a Rockies team with the highest strikeout rate in baseball at 26.8%.
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