Corey Pieper | Sun, Aug 9th 2026, 11:31am EDT

MLB DFS Picks & Underdog Player Props: Sunday (8/9)

We have large main slates to choose from today, but get your picks in quickly because they start early this afternoon. The DraftKings featured slate has 10 games to choose from. That slate begins at 1:35 Eastern Time. FanDuel’s Main slate begins at the same time, and includes the same 10 games.

Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (8/9)

PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
Jesus Luzardo	$10,200	$10,500
J.T. Ginn	$7,800	$8,200
Grayson Rodriguez	$6,200	$6,900

There have been pitchers who’ve made better starts, but I’m not sure anyone has had as much consistent excellence as Jesus Luzardo the past two months. Over his past 10 starts, Luzardo has a 1.98 ERA, 2.49 FIP, and 84 strikeouts in 63 innings. He has gone over 24 points on DraftKings in eight of those starts.
After missing a few starts with a blister issue, J.T. Ginn returned earlier this week and picked up right where he left off. He struck out eight Reds batters over six innings pitched, with three earned runs allowed. That was his sixth start of at least 28 points on FanDuel in his last 10 starts. He does have the unenviable task today of trying to slow the Red Sox offense down, but he’s also priced a bit more affordably, it seems with that matchup.
Grayson Rodriguez is coming off of his best start in years. He struck out six batters in seven innings with a pair of earned runs allowed against his former team, the Baltimore Orioles. While the 7.32 ERA is still unimpressive, he’s definitely been a bit unlucky with a 5.32 FIP. For a relatively low price, you can take a chance on the former top prospect to keep up his success today against the Marlins.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

Milwaukee Brewers Projected Lineup (8/9)

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
OF	Jackson Chourio	$5,600	$3,600
2B	Brice Turang	$5,300	$3,600
1B	Andrew Vaughn	$3,200	$2,900
C	William Contreras	$4,500	$3,000
OF	Garrett Mitchell	$4,100	$2,800
C	Gary Sanchez	$3,800	$2,700
OF	Luis Lara	$3,400	$2,800
SS	Cooper Pratt	$3,500	$3,000
3B/SS/ 2B (FD)	Joey Ortiz	$2,700	$2,600

The Milwaukee Brewers are taking on left-handed pitcher Connor Prielipp today. Major League Baseball has proven to be difficult for Prielipp in his rookie season with a 4.75 ERA, only slightly higher than his 4.05 expected ERA. Too many baserunners have been an issue for him with a 1.31 WHIP. The Brewers are last in baseball in home runs, but still a top-10 offense by wRC+.
Jackson Chourio is both hot right now and prefers left-handed pitchers. After going a month without a home run, he’s hit three in the past five games. His OPS against left-handed pitchers at .875 is nearly 100 points higher than it is against right-handed pitchers at .784.
For a large portion of the season, Andrew Vaughn was only playing against left-handed pitchers. Injuries and his strong performance have pushed him into more of a full-time role, but he’s still someone you have to consider in a matchup against a left-handed pitcher. You have to drop the qualification down to only 60 plate appearances, but Vaughn is second at that mark in OPS against left-handed pitchers at 1.150.
Another hitter in the Brewers’ lineup who is an option against left-handed pitchers is Gary Sanchez. Sanchez’s specialty has been against left-handed pitchers this season with an .894 OPS in those matchups.

St Louis Cardinals Projected Lineup (8/9)

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
2B/SS (FD)	JJ Wetherholt	$5,000	$3,400
OF	Jordan Walker	$5,400	$3,500
1B/OF	Alec Burleson	$5,200	$3,300
C	Ivan Herrera	$4,200	$3,000
C	Jimmy Crooks	$2,500	$2,300
SS	Masyn Winn	$3,400	$2,800
OF	Nathan Church	$3,000	$2,600
OF (DK) 2B (FD)	Bryan Torres	$2,900	$2,300
3B (DK) SS (FD)	Cesar Prieto	$2,200	$2,000

Among pitchers with at least 100 innings, Michael Lorenzen‘s 6.94 ERA ranks dead last in all of baseball. It’s not that he’s getting unlucky, as his 5.86 expected ERA is fifth-worst among pitchers, and his 4.99 FIP is tied for the ninth-worst mark.
Let’s start our Cardinals’ stack with Alec Burleson. He recently had a game with three home runs against the New York Yankees. That came against a right-handed pitcher like Lorenzen. Burleson has a .960 OPS against right-handed pitchers, which is seventh-best in baseball. He’s gone 4-5 against Lorenzen in his career with a pair of home runs.
JJ Wetherholt has done fine in his rookie season. He has 72 runs scored, 16 home runs, 43 RBI, 12 stolen bases, and a .735 OPS in his first 111 games. He’s another batter who has been better against right-handed pitchers with a .757 OPS against right-handed pitchers.
If you’re looking to save a little money in the Cardinals’ lineup, check out Nathan Church. He has 16 extra-base hits against right-handed pitchers this season in 232 at-bats. It’s still a small sample size, but he he’s batting .350 early in August.

Core Studs

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
OF	Pete Crow-Armstrong	$6,500	$4,300
OF	Esmerlyn Valdez	$4,300	$3,400
OF	Wilyer Abreu	$5,100	$3,600

There are many ways for Pete Crow-Armstrong to return his value. He has 55 extra-base hits and 30 stolen bases. His matchup today is against Randy Dobnak, who’s due for some negative regression. Dobnak has an ERA of 1.16, but an expected ERA of 4.87 and a FIP of 4.22.
Esmerlyn Valdez has a single hit in August, but a matchup against a left-handed pitcher is what has me looking at putting him in my DFS lineups. In only 62 at-bats, Valdez has 12 extra-base hits, including seven home runs, against left-handed pitchers. His matchup today is against left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea.
While Wilyer Abreu only has 19 hits in 22 games since the All-Star Break, he’s made the most of those hits. After having 11 home runs in the first half of the season, he already has nine home runs this half, and four home runs so far in August.

Value Plays/Punts

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
1B	Nathaniel Lowe	$3,400	$2,800
OF	Randal Grichuk	$2,800	$2,400
2B/3B (DK)/ SS (FD)	Bryson Stott	$3,800	$2,900

Nothing really changed for Nathaniel Lowe since being traded from the Reds to the Guardians. He is still an option against right-handed pitchers only. His matchup today is against a struggling right-handed pitcher in Davis Martin. Somewhat quietly, Lowe has an .893 OPS against right-handed pitchers this season.
The White Sox have a matchup today against left-handed pitcher Joey Cantillo. The White Sox have a lot of platoon players, but the one that we’re going to consider in that matchup is Randal Grichuk. Grichuk has become a lefty masher with 17 extra-base hits against left-handed pitchers in only 111 at-bats this season. Seven of those extra-base hits have been home runs.
We have gotten a new third base eligibility out of Bryson Stott. While I wish he was hitting a few more balls over the fences, he does have a 1.242 OPS over the past two weeks. He’s actually been performing quite well for some time now. Since the start of June, he is batting .300 with an .845 OPS.

Sunday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props

J.T Ginn (SP – ATH): 4.5 Strikeouts — Higher

If J.T. Ginn had returned with a shortened start, I would understand this line. Instead, he went 91 pitches in his return from the injured list and struck out five batters. It was his third consecutive start with over 4.5 strikeouts. While there was an injured list stint in the middle of Ginn’s last 10 starts, he has gone over 4.5 strikeouts in seven of his last 10 starts.

Jared Jones (SP – PIT): 4.5 Strikeouts – Higher

Jared Jones missed going over 4.5 strikeouts in his most recent start against the Milwaukee Brewers. He was only able to get four strikeouts in that game. That stopped his streak of five consecutive starts with at least five strikeouts. This matchup against the Mets should restart the streak. The Brewers only strike out 21.2% of the time, and the Mets strike out 22.6%.

Andruw Monasterio (2B, 3B – BOS): 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI – Higher

We’re going with the same recommendation for the second day in a row. Andruw Monasterio delivered a hit and two RBI yesterday. That was his 10th consecutive game over 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI.

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