As with most Sundays, today’s featured MLB DFS slate has an early start time — 1:35 p.m. ET. The main slate on DraftKings features eight games. The FanDuel slate begins at that same time, but includes a ninth game between the Braves and Rockies. That game would certainly have offensive players to consider, but for the sake of keeping the slates similar, there will be no recommendations from that game below.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/3)
- If you believe in revenge-game narratives, Jesus Luzardo is even more appealing. He takes on the Miami Marlins. It’s not the revenge-game aspect that has me intrigued, but the fact that the Marlins have a .638 OPS against left-handed pitchers, the sixth-lowest mark in baseball. Luzardo has been a bit inconsistent to begin the season, but he is coming off his best start, where he struck out eight batters over seven scoreless innings.
- Depending on what metric you prefer, you could make the case that Matthew Boyd has been the most unlucky pitcher in baseball. He has a 7.00 ERA, but only a 1.81 FIP, 2.36 expected FIP and 4.16 expected ERA. Boyd has been incredibly unlucky with a .435 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) and only a 44% strand rate.
- The cheapest options on this slate are unappealing due to matchups or general ineffectiveness. Braxton Ashcraft‘s DraftKings price is the most affordable on either slate. Ashcraft has a 28% strikeout rate, and the Reds have one of the five-worst strikeout rates.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Milwaukee Brewers Projected Lineup (5/3)
As with most Sundays, today’s featured MLB DFS slate has an early start time — 1:35 p.m. ET. The main slate on DraftKings features eight games. The FanDuel slate begins at that same time, but includes a ninth game between the Braves and Rockies. That game would certainly have offensive players to consider, but for the sake of keeping the slates similar, there will be no recommendations from that game below.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/3)
- If you believe in revenge-game narratives, Jesus Luzardo is even more appealing. He takes on the Miami Marlins. It’s not the revenge-game aspect that has me intrigued, but the fact that the Marlins have a .638 OPS against left-handed pitchers, the sixth-lowest mark in baseball. Luzardo has been a bit inconsistent to begin the season, but he is coming off his best start, where he struck out eight batters over seven scoreless innings.
- Depending on what metric you prefer, you could make the case that Matthew Boyd has been the most unlucky pitcher in baseball. He has a 7.00 ERA, but only a 1.81 FIP, 2.36 expected FIP and 4.16 expected ERA. Boyd has been incredibly unlucky with a .435 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) and only a 44% strand rate.
- The cheapest options on this slate are unappealing due to matchups or general ineffectiveness. Braxton Ashcraft‘s DraftKings price is the most affordable on either slate. Ashcraft has a 28% strikeout rate, and the Reds have one of the five-worst strikeout rates.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Milwaukee Brewers Projected Lineup (5/3)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Garrett Mitchell |
$3,700 |
$3,100 |
| 2B |
Brice Turang |
$5,600 |
$3,900 |
| C |
William Contreras |
$4,300 |
$2,900 |
| 1B/OF(FD) |
Jake Bauers |
$4,700 |
$3,200 |
| 3B/2B/SS (FD) |
Luis Rengifo |
$2,900 |
$2,500 |
| 1B/3B/OF (FD) |
Tyler Black |
$2,700 |
$2,300 |
| OF |
Sal Frelick |
$3,000 |
$2,700 |
| OF |
Blake Perkins |
$2,500 |
$2,300 |
| 3B/SS (DK)/2B/SS (FD) |
David Hamilton |
$3,300 |
$2,700 |
- The Milwaukee Brewers have been a bottom-five offense in hitting home runs. Yet, they are sixth in runs scored. They have a matchup today against Zack Littell. Among pitchers with at least 20 innings, he has the league’s highest expected ERA (8.25) and FIP (9.06).
- There was offseason speculation that Brice Turang‘s power breakout in 2025 wasn’t real. He has 13 extra-base hits already this season with a .916 OPS to prove the doubters wrong. His power is supported by top-10 percentile marks in expected slugging rate, hard-hit rate and average exit velocity.
- Jake Bauers has been forced into a full-time role with injuries to Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn. Bauers has stepped up in a big way, especially against right-handed pitchers, with an .881 OPS.
- Tyler Black is trying to ensure that he is too important offensively to be sent back to Triple-A once the Brewers get healthy reinforcements. His last four starts have all been multi-hit games with four doubles in that span.
Philadelphia Phillies Projected Lineup (5/3)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| SS |
Trea Turner |
$4,400 |
$3,000 |
| OF |
Kyle Schwarber |
$5,400 |
$3,700 |
| 1B |
Bryce Harper |
$4,500 |
$3,400 |
| OF |
Adolis Garcia |
$2,600 |
$2,700 |
| OF |
Brandon Marsh |
$3,300 |
$3,000 |
| 2B/SS (FD) |
Bryson Stott |
$2,900 |
$2,600 |
| 3B |
Alec Bohm |
$2,700 |
$2,500 |
| C |
J.T. Realmuto |
$3,400 |
$2,600 |
| OF |
Justin Crawford |
$2,500 |
$2,600 |
- Chris Paddack is taking on the Philadelphia Phillies today. His ERA is a career-worst 6.11, but he has pitched a bit better this season. His strikeouts have returned a bit, so his expected ERA is 3.77, and his FIP is 4.46. With a 48% hard-hit rate against, I’m not shying away from him.
- There is a reason Kyle Schwarber‘s price remains so high, even though he is hitting barely above .200. His barrel rate is an incredible 21%. While he only has 25 total hits, 18 of them have gone for extra bases.
- Before lineups lock, make sure that Brandon Marsh is starting. He sat out yesterday’s game with an elbow bruise, but indications were that he would be back in the lineup today. Marsh has gotten off to a strong start with an .811 OPS, supported by his highest career expected slugging rate at .462.
- Adolis Garcia hasn’t turned his data into much production yet, but his price on DraftKings is so low. While Garcia only has three home runs, that comes with a 50% hard-hit rate and an average exit velocity of 92.8 miles per hour (MPH), which points to more coming.
Core Studs
- Ketel Marte has a matchup today against left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd. I try to avoid recommending hitters facing my top recommended pitchers, but whenever Marte faces a left-handed pitcher, you have to consider him. As a switch-hitter, he has a career .899 OPS against left-handed pitchers.
- It’s not a huge track record, but Pete Alonso has had some success against Max Fried from their time together in the National League East. Alonso has gone 10-for-42 against Fried with a pair of home runs.
- Carlos Correa has gotten off to a good start this season, especially against left-handed pitchers. He is 12-for-33 against left-handed pitchers, with all three of his home runs coming against them. Today, he faces left-handed pitcher Ranger Suarez.
Value Plays/Punts
- Moises Ballesteros has gone hitless in his last three games. That’s why his price has fallen enough to recommend him as a value play. He still has a 51.6% hard-hit rate and will get back to his hitting ways soon.
- The Giants’ offense has been struggling. Today, they have a matchup against left-handed pitcher Steven Matz. One batter you can consider is Heliot Ramos. He has always been better against left-handed pitchers, and this season has a .934 OPS against them.
- Luis Garcia is playing a bit more against left-handed pitchers this season, but still primarily only plays against right-handed pitchers. Today, he has a matchup against Chad Patrick. Patrick has an ERA of 2.57, but his indicators suggest it should be about two runs higher.
Sunday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
Check out our best picks on the MLB Underdog Cheat Sheet 
Max Fried has a matchup today against the Baltimore Orioles. Fried’s strikeout rate is down a bit this season, but that’s also due to how incredibly efficient he has been.
Fried’s strikeout rate is 20.9%, and the Baltimore Orioles strike out 24.8% of the time against left-handed pitchers. While he hasn’t faced Baltimore this season, in his two games against them last season, he recorded seven strikeouts in the first game and 13 in the second.
Spencer Strider is slated to make his season debut today against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. It’s such a difficult environment to make your first start in. The Rockies have a .272 batting average as a team in home games.
At some point, Willy Adames will regress closer to his career norms, but not today. He is 3-for-45 in his last 11 games with a single run scored and zero runs batted in. That means he has failed to clear the threshold of 1.5 combined hits + runs + RBIs in 10 of his last 11 games. The last time he cleared this mark was 10 games ago.
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