If you are someone who likes to pay up for the top pitchers, today is your day. We are looking at MLB DFS slates jam-packed with top-tier pitching options. The DraftKings main slate begins at 7:05 p.m. ET and includes nine games. The FanDuel main slate only includes seven games. They do have additional slates, which include the two additional games featured on DraftKings, so we’ll include them in our MLB DFS picks.
Tuesday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Tuesday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (4/7)
- Recommending Tarik Skubal is never a bad thing. He had a bit of a disappointing start in his last outing because he only struck out three batters. Still, he was able to go seven innings with only a single earned run allowed. His strikeouts should return in this game with a matchup against the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are striking out 27.1% of the time as a team.
- Cam Schlittler has leaned into throwing three distinct fastballs nearly 90% of the time. The cutter has added two miles per hour (MPH) and looks to be another dominant pitch. Through two starts, he has 15 strikeouts and zero walks. Today, his matchup is against the Athletics, who are tied for the second-highest strikeout rate in baseball at 29.6%
- If you want to go with a bit of a cheaper option on this slate, look at Taj Bradley. He’s off to a strong start with 12 strikeouts to only four walks in 10 innings. His ERA is 0.87, which is clearly not sustainable. However, his underlying data still shows a pitcher with no worse than a mid-3.00s ERA and a strikeout per inning.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Baltimore Orioles Projected Lineup (4/7)
If you are someone who likes to pay up for the top pitchers, today is your day. We are looking at MLB DFS slates jam-packed with top-tier pitching options. The DraftKings main slate begins at 7:05 p.m. ET and includes nine games. The FanDuel main slate only includes seven games. They do have additional slates, which include the two additional games featured on DraftKings, so we’ll include them in our MLB DFS picks.
Tuesday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Tuesday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (4/7)
- Recommending Tarik Skubal is never a bad thing. He had a bit of a disappointing start in his last outing because he only struck out three batters. Still, he was able to go seven innings with only a single earned run allowed. His strikeouts should return in this game with a matchup against the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are striking out 27.1% of the time as a team.
- Cam Schlittler has leaned into throwing three distinct fastballs nearly 90% of the time. The cutter has added two miles per hour (MPH) and looks to be another dominant pitch. Through two starts, he has 15 strikeouts and zero walks. Today, his matchup is against the Athletics, who are tied for the second-highest strikeout rate in baseball at 29.6%
- If you want to go with a bit of a cheaper option on this slate, look at Taj Bradley. He’s off to a strong start with 12 strikeouts to only four walks in 10 innings. His ERA is 0.87, which is clearly not sustainable. However, his underlying data still shows a pitcher with no worse than a mid-3.00s ERA and a strikeout per inning.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Baltimore Orioles Projected Lineup (4/7)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Taylor Ward |
$4,600 |
$3,000 |
| SS |
Gunnar Henderson |
$5,600 |
$3,300 |
| 1B |
Pete Alonso |
$5,200 |
$3,200 |
| C |
Adley Rutschman |
$4,100 |
$2,600 |
| C |
Samuel Basallo |
$3,200 |
$2,600 |
| OF |
Dylan Beavers |
$2,600 |
$2,700 |
| 1B/3B |
Coby Mayo |
$2,700 |
$2,500 |
| OF |
Colton Cowser |
$3,100 |
$2,700 |
| 2B/3B/SS/OF |
Blaze Alexander |
$2,800 |
$2,500 |
- Shane Smith is taking on the Baltimore Orioles today. He has made two starts this season and has yet to make it beyond the third inning in either. His current ERA is 19.29. His underlying metrics are better, but they still point to struggles with an expected ERA of 5.13 and a FIP of 7.27. He’s only had eight whiffs this season on 126 pitches, so a lot of balls should be in play today.
- Baltimore’s offense has come out of the gates slowly, with only seven home runs in 10 games. The only player with multiple home runs in the offense is also the priciest option in Gunnar Henderson. Henderson has three home runs. One of which he hit yesterday.
- It hasn’t shown up yet with a hit over the fence, but Adley Rutschman has had a bit of a resurgence to begin the 2026 season. While Rutschman doesn’t have a home run, he does have four doubles and is generally hitting the ball harder. It’s a small sample size, but his average exit velocity is 93 MPH, which would be almost four MPH harder than last season.
- The cheapest option in the Baltimore lineup on DraftKings is Dylan Beavers, who also happens to be an interesting MLB DFS play. He didn’t start yesterday’s game, but is usually in the lineup against right-handed pitchers. He is still relatively inexperienced, but 10 of his 12 career extra-base hits have been against right-handed pitchers.
Houston Astros Projected Lineup (4/7)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| SS |
Jeremy Pena |
$5,200 |
$3,600 |
| OF |
Yordan Alvarez |
$6,500 |
$4,600 |
| 2B/OF |
Jose Altuve |
$5,500 |
$4,000 |
| SS/3B |
Carlos Correa |
$4,700 |
$3,500 |
| 1B |
Christian Walker |
$4,900 |
$3,800 |
| OF |
Joey Loperfido |
$3,800 |
$2,800 |
| OF |
Cam Smith |
$3,900 |
$3,100 |
| C |
Yainer Diaz |
$4,000 |
$2,900 |
| OF |
Jake Meyers |
$3,600 |
$2,900 |
- There will be a lot of exposure to the Astros lineup on this slate, but it’s with good reason — a matchup at Coors Field against Kyle Freeland. Freeland has begun his season with a couple of strong road starts, but we know how much more he struggles when at home. His home ERA in his career is 4.88, and his road ERA is 4.20. He also has a career OPS allowed against right-handed hitters of .808. The Astros are likely to start seven left-handed batters.
- The Astros’ player I’m making sure to have in my lineups is Christian Walker. He’s turned back the clock to start this season with top-10 percentile marks in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and barrel rate. It has translated to actual production, too, with six doubles and a pair of home runs to begin the season. If that doesn’t convince you, Walker is 13-for-41 with three doubles and three home runs against Freeland in his career.
- Typically, you want to avoid same-handed matchups with hitters in DFS games. It just doesn’t matter when Yordan Alvarez is locked in, though. He already has five extra-base hits, including three home runs off left-handed pitchers this season.
- Cam Smith struggled in 2025. Even when he was struggling, however, he was still succeeding against left-handed pitchers. He maintained an .805 OPS against left-handed pitchers, while his OPS against right-handed pitchers fell to .641. He’s off to a strong start in 2026 with hits in seven straight games, including three home runs in that span.
Core Studs
- Ronald Acuna Jr. has not gotten off to a good start. He is currently 7-for-40 with one double. While it hasn’t been much, his price has fallen just a bit. Take advantage of the discount for a player of his talent who should start hitting again soon.
- Make sure you are choosing the correct Max Muncy, as there are two on this slate. You want the Dodger, who has a nice history against Kevin Gausman. In his career against Gausman, he has gone 6-for-18 with a pair of doubles and three home runs.
- If there had been a third suggested lineup stack, it would have been the New York Yankees against Aaron Civale. The one player who stands out at his price point is Ben Rice. He’s on a nice little roll with five extra-base hits, including three home runs in April.
Value Plays/Punts
- Jorge Soler has an extensive history of success against Reynaldo Lopez – 13-for-22 with three doubles and four homers.
- Today is the perfect day to use Mickey Moniak. He has a home matchup versus a right-handed pitcher. In his 2025 resurgence, he had a home OPS of .946 versus a .680 OPS in road matchups. His OPS against right-handed pitchers was .857, but it fell to .598 against left-handed pitchers.
- Luke Raley has predictably cooled a bit after hitting home runs in his first three games of the season. The underlying data still looks strong with a 100th percentile barrel rate and 99th percentile expected slugging rate. A matchup with a struggling Nathan Eovaldi could get him back to hitting home runs.
Tuesday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
Injuries to the Cubs’ pitching staff are forcing the team to recall Javier Assad from the minor leagues for this start. He has made two minor league appearances this season.
In the first game, he recorded nine outs. In the second game, he recorded 12 outs. In that second game, he allowed 11 hits and three walks. It’s hard to see him being more successful at the Major League level.
The Boston Red Sox are striking out 27.8% of the time, which is among the five highest marks in baseball. With the way Jacob Misiorowski is pitching, that’s unlikely to come down. Through two starts, he has a 42.2% whiff rate and a 40% strikeout rate.
It took a few years longer than expected, but it appears Jordan Walker is ready to deliver on all the prospect pedigree. His hard-hit rates and exit velocities are back in the top five percentiles in the league.
The most appealing of his Underdog offerings is total bases, but playing him to exceed his hits + runs + RBIs number could also be in play.
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | SoundCloud | TuneIn
