This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Today, Bill Pullman style, we celebrate our Independence Day. Since Friday is a holiday, unsurprisingly, the action is divvied out over the cast of the day more than is usual for a Friday. That leaves us with eight games on the schedule for DFS purposes, with the first pitch at 7:07 p.m. ET. Before you get to grilling and shooting off fireworks, get your MLB DFS lineups in with the help of these recommendations.
Pitching
Spencer Strider, ATL vs. BAL ($10,000): It's not a great day for pitchers, with Strider being the best option but also the pitcher with the highest salary. He's been working his way into form after missing basically all of 2024 and only making nine starts so far in 2025. However, he has a 2.70 ERA and 11.4 K/9 rate over his last five outings. The Orioles are still trying to fight their way out of the bottom 10 in runs scored, so if Strider is indeed back in the groove of pitching in MLB after his elbow injury, he should be able to handle this one.
Sandy Alcantara, MIA vs. MIL ($7,100): The other option at pitcher would be to roll the dice, and in terms of salary and upside, Alcantara is the best dice roll to me. Yes, the guy with a 6.98 ERA. Alcantara has a Cy Young, though, and he's working his way back from Tommy John surgery. His home ERA is 5.03 which, you know, is better. Alcantara's 4.68 FIP also paints a rosier, if still thoroughly unremarkable, picture. His fastball still sits at 97.3 miles per hour, which is one of the best numbers for a starting pitcher. Over his last five starts he has three of the quality variety. What if there is some of the Cy-winning magic in Alcantara's arm? Of all the pitching gambles available Friday, this is the one I'm most willing to take.
Top Targets
Few hitters go all out on every swing quite like Riley Greene ($5,300). It's why he strikes out so much, but also why he's done so much damage. The All-Star Game starter has an 1.011 OPS versus righties and also an 1.009 OPS on the road. Slade Cecconi had a 6.66 ERA with Arizona last season, and while he has a 3.64 ERA this year, he has a 4.39 FIP. Additionally, lefties have hit .291 against Cecconi.
Last year was a down campaign for Matt Olson ($5,200), and this year started slow but now the lefty is up to a .267/.368/.484 slash line with 16 homers and 22 doubles in 86 games. He's gotten to that point in part due to an 1.008 OPS over the last three weeks. In his age-40 season, Charlie Morton had a 4.19 ERA with Atlanta. Now with Baltimore, he has a 5.63 ERA this season and even has been moved to the bullpen at times.
Bargain Bats
It's surprising to see Mookie Betts ($4,500) at this salary but also it's not unreasonable given his relatively down campaign and his current cold stretch. However, this is Mookie Betts. Since 2023 he has an .863 OPS versus righties and a .932 OPS at home. Also, now that he is a shortstop, he doesn't need the same offensive upside as when he was an outfielder. Unfortunately, Lance McCullers' return to being able to pitch for the first time since 2022 has been a disaster. He has a 6.61 ERA, and righties have hit .303 against him.
Two of MLB's worst offenses square off at Coors Field this weekend. That being said, this is Coors Field, and the Rockies do have a terrible rotation, so finding a White Sox hitter is still worth doing. Andrew Benintendi ($3,900) has slugged .439 this season, and, over the last three weeks, he's slugged .508 as well. That's encouraging, as he heads into a matchup with Antonio Senzatela. Senzatela has a career 5.09 ERA, and this year his ERA is up to 6.69.
Stacks to Consider
Blue Jays vs. Angels (Kyle Hendricks): Vladimir Guerrero ($5,700), Addison Barger ($4,200), Alejandro Kirk ($4,100)
Hendricks has left the Cubs, but his performance has remained the same, and not in a good way. With his fastball all the way down to 86.3 miles per hour, the righty has a 6.21 K/9 rate, a 1.55 HR/9 rate and a 4.88 FIP. Not only that, but he has a 5.44 ERA on the road. I have two righties in this stack because Hendricks has been worse against righties as of late. That includes this year, when righties have hit .311 against the veteran.
With the highest line-drive rate of his career, Guerrero has hit .274 with 12 home runs and 17 doubles. He has a .942 OPS over the last three weeks, and on the year he's slugged .488 at home. Barger hasn't played in as many games as he did last year, but he has more plate appearances because he's earned a regular spot for the Blue Jays. He's hit .272 and slugged .521 with 11 home runs and 20 doubles. Barger is the lefty, but he's slugged .529 against righties, so he's well worth rostering. Kirk is the play at catcher for me. He doesn't have a ton of power, but he's hit .305, and that's quite impressive for his position. Kirk has shown more power against righties, though, as he's slugged .437 in those matchups.
Giants at Athletics (JP Sears): Rafael Devers ($4,900), Heliot Ramos ($4,400), Willy Adames ($3,500)
Well, over the last two seasons Sears had a 4.46 ERA and that was with the Athletics still playing in their old pitcher-friendly ballpark. He has a 5.09 ERA this season, including a 6.68 ERA at home. The presumption was that the ballpark in Sacramento would be betters for hitters, and now it's summer in Central California. Sears has allowed 3.3 homers per nine innings at home as is. It's a good day to stack Giants against their former Bay Area neighbors.
Yes, both Devers and Sears are lefties. However, this year Devers has an .848 OPS against his fellow lefties. Meanwhile, since 2023, lefties have hit .269 against Sears. Ramos has hit .277 with 13 homers and five stolen bases. While he's been cold, in his career he's slugged .478 on the road and .583 against lefties, so I'm willing to roster him. Adames is here because of his power for a shortstop, and because of how often the ball has left the park when Sears is on the mound in Sacramento. In a down year he has 10 homers, but in each of the prior four seasons he's hit at least 24 homers, and crossed the 30-homer mark twice.
