We’re back to the Sunday afternoon slates on this first day of summer. DraftKings’ MLB DFS slate has nine games to choose from, starting at 1:35 p.m. ET.
The main slate on FanDuel includes the two games that start at 3:15 p.m. ET. Neither of those two games will be included in the recommendations below to maintain consistency.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/21)
- A short injured list (IL) stint with knee inflammation helped right the ship for Logan Webb. He’s made three June starts, which have covered 23 innings. He’s allowed a single earned run (0.39 ERA) while striking out 18 batters with one walk. His matchup is against a Marlins team with a 23.6% strikeout rate in June.
- I’ll admit that I’ve been a Dustin May doubter, but I’m starting to buy in. His expected ERA of 3.38 and his FIP of 3.01 are even lower than his actual ERA of 3.75. His 16.4% strikeout-minus-walk rate is his best mark since 2021.
- It’s a difficult matchup for Robert Gasser against the Atlanta Braves, but he’s had some impressive starts since being recalled. His most recent start featured 5.2 scoreless innings and five strikeouts. The first start he had in June was fine, with one earned run over five innings and five strikeouts. In between, he had a difficult start with six earned runs allowed, but that game was in Las Vegas. He gets a pass for that.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Milwaukee Brewers Projected Lineup (6/21)
We’re back to the Sunday afternoon slates on this first day of summer. DraftKings’ MLB DFS slate has nine games to choose from, starting at 1:35 p.m. ET.
The main slate on FanDuel includes the two games that start at 3:15 p.m. ET. Neither of those two games will be included in the recommendations below to maintain consistency.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/21)
- A short injured list (IL) stint with knee inflammation helped right the ship for Logan Webb. He’s made three June starts, which have covered 23 innings. He’s allowed a single earned run (0.39 ERA) while striking out 18 batters with one walk. His matchup is against a Marlins team with a 23.6% strikeout rate in June.
- I’ll admit that I’ve been a Dustin May doubter, but I’m starting to buy in. His expected ERA of 3.38 and his FIP of 3.01 are even lower than his actual ERA of 3.75. His 16.4% strikeout-minus-walk rate is his best mark since 2021.
- It’s a difficult matchup for Robert Gasser against the Atlanta Braves, but he’s had some impressive starts since being recalled. His most recent start featured 5.2 scoreless innings and five strikeouts. The first start he had in June was fine, with one earned run over five innings and five strikeouts. In between, he had a difficult start with six earned runs allowed, but that game was in Las Vegas. He gets a pass for that.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Milwaukee Brewers Projected Lineup (6/21)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Christian Yelich |
$5,300 |
$3,600 |
| OF |
Jackson Chourio |
$5,400 |
$4,300 |
| 2B |
Brice Turang |
$5,600 |
$4,000 |
| C |
William Contreras |
$4,400 |
$3,300 |
| OF/1B |
Jake Bauers |
$5,000 |
$3,700 |
| 1B |
Andrew Vaughn |
$3,500 |
$2,900 |
| OF |
Garrett Mitchell |
$2,900 |
$3,000 |
| SS |
Cooper Pratt |
$2,400 |
$2,200 |
| SS/3B |
David Hamilton |
$2,800 |
$2,600 |
- Bryce Elder is starting today against the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s an unenviable spot to be in. No team has scored more runs in June than the Brewers. Regression started to hit Elder in his last start when he allowed six earned runs in four innings.
- Because Jackson Chourio has been so good at such a young age, it’s easy to forget that he is still just 22 years old and could still get better. It looks as if he may be taking that next step. Chourio already has 10 home runs in 40 games, after hitting 21 home runs the past two years in at least 130 games. His exit velocity and barrel rates have taken noticeable jumps.
- It seems that we are finally getting an everyday player in Andrew Vaughn, which is what we want to see. He’s been nothing short of remarkable ever since joining the Brewers just over a year ago. His career OPS with the Brewers is .898.
- He strikes out a lot (83), but when Garret Mitchell makes contact, good things happen. Mitchell’s 35.2% strikeout rate is the highest among qualified batters. When he does make contact, though, he has top-12 percentile marks in average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate.
San Francisco Giants Projected Lineup (6/21)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| 2B/1B |
Luis Arraez |
$3,900 |
$3,100 |
| 1B/OF |
Bryce Eldridge |
$3,200 |
$3,300 |
| 3B |
Matt Chapman |
$3,900 |
$3,000 |
| 1B |
Rafael Devers |
$3,700 |
$3,000 |
| OF |
Jung Ho Lee |
$3,200 |
$2,900 |
| SS |
Willy Adames |
$3,600 |
$2,800 |
| OF/1B/2B/3B/SS |
Casey Schmitt |
$4,300 |
$3,400 |
| OF |
Drew Gilbert |
$2,100 |
$2,400 |
| C |
Daniel Susac |
$2,600 |
$2,400 |
- The Brewers lead all teams in wRC+ in June at 147, but the Giants are second at 130. They also have a strong matchup today against right-handed pitcher Ryan Gusto. He’s been forced into a starting pitcher role with the injuries to the Marlins’ rotation. In three starts as a traditional starter, he has a 6.75 ERA and 5.81 FIP.
- Rafael Devers has been much more like himself since the calendar turned to May. He had a triple slash line of .306/.356/.593 in May. So far in June, he is only batting .210, but nine of his 13 hits have gone for extra bases, with four of them being home runs.
- Willy Adames is also having an odd month. Similarly to Devers, he is struggling to hit for average this month, batting only .175 in June. The good news is that over half of his hits have gone for extra bases. Five of his 10 total hits are home runs.
- Bryce Eldridge will not be going back to the minor leagues anytime soon. Eldrige has four home runs this month, which gives him a 1.083 OPS. His hard-hit rate is up to 54.9%, and his barrel rate is all the way up to 13.2%. Eldridge is very affordably priced on DraftKings.
Core Studs
- The matchup with Yordan Alvarez doesn’t really matter, but he is facing right-handed pitcher Slade Cecconi. He has a 1.094 OPS against right-handed pitchers, and a nearly as impressive .991 against left-handed pitchers. Alvarez still leads the league in expected batting average and expected slugging rate.
- In most instances, we look to avoid left-handed batters versus left-handed pitchers, but Drake Baldwin is an exception. He’s been better against lefties than righties this season. He has seven home runs against both right-handed pitchers and left-handed pitchers. However, he has 40 fewer at-bats versus lefties
- All of the impressive power-hitting metrics from Jac Caglianone are starting to come with actual production. He’s in the top 10th percentile for average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate. It’s led to four home runs in the past two weeks. Caglianone’s price on FanDuel makes him nearly a must-play.
Value Plays/Punts
- Eugenio Suarez has not been having the season that many people hoped for in his return to Cincinnati. Hopefully, we start to see a bit more turnaround today against Gerrit Cole. Suarez has gone 7-for-27 against Cole in his career with a pair of home runs.
- Xander Bogaerts has a history of success against MacKenzie Gore, whom he’ll face today. Bogaerts has gone 4-for-7 against Gore in his career with a pair of home runs.
- Are we getting Sam Antonacci, the power hitter, in addition to being one of the better contact hitters in the game? He has a .286 batting average and a .382 on-base percentage (OBP), plus three of his four home runs have come in the last week.
Sunday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
Chase Burns’ matchup with the Yankees is a difficult one, but it’s not as if they are devoid of strikeouts. The Yankees are striking out 22.8% of the time against right-handed pitchers.
Meanwhile, Burns has struck out at least seven batters in his last six games and nine of his last 10 games.
This is another strikeout play where I’m not quite sure why it is set as low as it is. Dustin May has thrown at least six strikeouts in his last five games, with nine in three of those games.
Kansas City can be tough to strike out, but a 20.8% strikeout rate is still plenty high enough for May to earn at least five strikeouts today.
I’m going back to the well with Pete Crow-Armstrong. Yesterday, he delivered with five combined hits + runs + RBIs. His stretch of clearing this number has now reached seven straight games and nine of his last 10.
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