Monday’s nine-game MLB slate gives us plenty of value to find and insert into MLB DFS lineups on FanDuel and DraftKings. Games start at 6:40 p.m. ET and conclude with three matchups at approximately 9:40 p.m. ET.
Follow me on X at Matt_MacKay_ for more MLB DFS recommendations, plus analysis and free picks, during the rest of the 2025 MLB season.
Monday’s Top MLB DFS Picks
Recommended Plays: DraftKings
DraftKings maximum salary is set at $50,000
Matthew Boyd (P – Chicago Cubs): $8,300
The Chicago Cubs will deploy Matthew Boyd as their starting pitcher on the road to face a struggling Philadelphia Phillies lineup tonight. The Phillies have lost five straight games, scoring one total run in four of these matchups.
Boyd has a 3.02 ERA and a 5-3 record for the Cubs in 2025. He’s logged at least 20.7 fantasy points in four of his past five starts, with the exception coming on the road against Cincinnati on May 23rd.
At $8.3K, Boyd is worth every bit of his top-five price against the slumping Phillies bats on Monday night.
Corbin Carroll (OF – Arizona Diamondbacks): $5,600
Corbin Carroll should be primed for a bounce-back spot against Emerson Hancock on Monday. Hancock has a 5.19 ERA and has surrendered six home runs across his last four starts.
Carroll has been quiet lately, finishing with 11 or fewer fantasy points in four straight games following his 39-point burst against Atlanta on June 3rd. However, the left-handed power hitter is due for a big game in a favorable matchup against Hancock tonight, so let’s invest accordingly.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a $5,600 salary for Carroll. This is a buy-low opportunity, despite being the eighth-most expensive hitter to acquire in DraftKings DFS contests.
Gavin Sheets (1B/OF – San Diego Padres): $3,600
Another hitter who is riding a current slump is San Diego’s Gavin Sheets. He’s much cheaper and a good roster plug at $3.6K salary.
Sheets has a .250 batting average with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs in 2025. However, he’s riding a three-game hitting slump, driving his salary down to a cheap commodity.
He’ll face Dodgers pitcher Dustin May, who has a 4.09 ERA this season. Sheets is a left-handed hitter facing a right-handed pitcher who has allowed at least one home run in six consecutive starts for Los Angeles.
Let’s pounce on this value and insert Sheets into lineups in a plus-matchup at home on Monday night’s late MLB slate.
Recommended Plays: FanDuel
FanDuel maximum salary is set at $35,000
Aaron Civale (P – Milwaukee Brewers): $6,500
Aaron Civale is one of the cheapest starting pitchers on Monday’s FanDuel DFS slate. Civale has a 5.19 ERA but has been solid in his last three starts for Milwaukee.
He’s coming off of a 24-point game against Boston and a season-best 31 point outing against Cincinnati on June 2nd, pitching 5.1 innings and allowing two earned runs with five strikeouts. There’s only one pitcher slot to fill in FanDuel DFS contests, unlike the two pitcher slots for DraftKings DFS.
I’ll take my chances with Civale facing a Braves lineup that is well below the league average in runs per game at 4.05.
Yandy Diaz (1B – Tampa Bay Rays): $3,100
Yandy Diaz is a volatile hitter but he just shredded the Miami Marlins on Sunday with three hits, two RBIs, and a home run. The Rays’ power-hitter broke 30 fantasy points for the third time in 2025 but he’s still priced at a cheap $3.1K salary.
Diaz faces Boston’s Brayan Bello, who has a 3.91 ERA. Bello hasn’t been bad this season but he’s surrendered six or more hits in four of his previous five starts entering tonight’s game at Fenway.
I doubt we get 30 points from Diaz again tonight but at $3.1K, 15-20 fantasy points is a realistic outcome to justify plugging Diaz into FanDuel DFS lineups on Monday.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1B – Cincinnati Reds): $2,700
Christian Encarnacion-Strand is red-hot at the plate right now. He’s helping the Reds bust out of their hitting slump, recording seven hits during their three-game series that just wrapped up against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Encarnacion-Strand has gone between 24.7 and 31.2 fantasy points in his last three games since returning to the Reds’ lineup. He’ll face Luis L. Ortiz on the road in Cleveland tonight, who has a 4.02 ERA and a 3-6 record.
Ortiz walks a ton of batters and has allowed six or more hits in four of 12 starts this season. $2.7K is way too cheap to pass on Encarnacion-Strand’s current form.
Matthew MacKay is a featured writer for BettingPros and FantasyPros. For more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @Matt_MacKay_.
