This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
It's an afternoon affair for MLB on Thursday. There are eight games on the DFS slate, all of them afternoon outings. The first pitch is at 1:10 p.m. ET. Here are my MLB DFS lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Hunter Brown, HOU vs. PHI ($11,300): The Phillies have a good offense, one on the fringes of the top 10 in runs scored, but I'm not sweating it. They don't have a great, top-of-the-line offense, and Brown is a legit Cy Young candidate this season. He has an 1.88 ERA – 1.16 at home – and his 2.84 FIP is also quite remarkable. Don't shy away from rostering him because you have Philly's big bats on the brain.
Shane Baz, TAM at KAN ($8,300): Baz's strikeout rate has picked up a bit in 2025, but it isn't back to where he was before his arm injury. Unfortunately, his homer rate is also up, and so his ERA has jumped to 4.79. However, at least his road ERA is 3.57, and also at least this matchup is favorable. There are five really bad offenses in 2025, and the Royals are one of them.
Top Targets
Enjoy Byron Buxton ($5,700) being healthy and hitting while you can. His 63 games played indicate he's already missed considerable time, but it has him ahead of the curve given that he's averaged 75.8 games played per season in his career. When he plays, though, Buxton is a high-level hitter. He has 17 homers and 13 stolen bases, and he has an 1.148 OPS over the last three weeks as well. Emerson Hancock is not a high-level pitcher when healthy. His 6.78 K/9 rate is a career high, but so are his 3.26 BB/9 rate, 1.90 HR/9 rate, and 5.43 ERA.
With 13 homers, Jose Ramirez ($5,600) may not get to 39 like he did last season. With 20 stolen bases, he definitely could get to 40 like he did in 2024. Those numbers aside, Ramirez has also hit .318, putting him comfortably on pace to hit .300 for the first time since 2017. This is now Kevin Gausman's second season in a row pitching at a mediocre-to-below-average level, so 2024 no longer looks like a fluke. Plus, Gausman has a 7.65 ERA over his last four starts.
Bargain Bats
Yes, Jordan Beck ($4,500) has a woeful K/BB rate for a hitter, but he's slugged .482 and stolen nine bases, and also there isn't much competition in terms of Rockies to roster. Colorado is at home, which means a game at Coors Field, so I wanted to find a viable righty. Clayton Kershaw has a 3.31 ERA through seven starts, but his 6.61 K/9 rate shows he is clearly not the pitcher he used to be. Righties have averaged .267 against the future Hall of Famer as well.
Power is not part of the repertoire for J.P. Crawford ($3,700), but a .394 OBP from a shortstop stands out. Additionally, he has slugged .435 against righties which, positionally speaking, is sufficient. Simeon Woods Richardson has a 5.06 ERA this year, and lefties have played a key role in that. Southpaws have averaged a whopping .340 against the right-handed hurler.
Stacks to Consider
Dodgers at Rockies (Austin Gomber): Will Smith ($6,000), Mookie Betts ($5,800), Andy Pages ($5,200)
It speaks to the relative talent of these two teams that I had to scrounge for a bargain bat from the Rockies but could dive in to a stack for the Dodgers with ease. Since joining the Rockies, Gomber has a 5.14 ERA and has allowed at least 1.44 homers per nine innings in each of his campaigns. Gomber is a lefty, though, so I did have to go with right-handed Dodgers.
A catcher who can hit well with a favorable matchup at MLB's best ballpark for hitters? That certainly makes Smith a clear option at his position. He has an 1.102 OPS over the last three weeks, and since 2023 he's slugged .515 at home. Betts is having a down season based on his lofty standards, but he does have 20 extra-base hits and six stolen bases. He also has a .934 OPS against southpaws over the last three seasons, so Betts should pick things up. Pages showed promise as a rookie, but he's had a breakthrough in his sophomore campaign. He has a .297 average with 16 home runs and six swiped bags. While the Cuban-born player has been better at home, this is Coors Field, so I'm not sweating that.
Tigers vs. Athletics (Jeffrey Springs): Gleyber Torres ($4,800), Spencer Torkelson ($4,400), Javier Baez ($4,000)
After pitching intermittently with the Rays the last couple seasons, Springs has been healthy and available for the Athletics. Unfortunately, pitching more already in 2025 than he pitched over the prior two seasons has yielded worse results for Springs. The lefty's strikeout rate is down to 7.45 per nine innings, and his FIP is up to 4.50. Springs is a lefty, so I have three righties from the Tigers. Though lefties have actually hit .266 against Springs, it's been empty calories yielding five doubles and one homer. Righties have 13 doubles and 12 homers against the southpaw in roughly four times as many batters.
Torres has hit .280 with seven homers, 13 doubles, and four stolen bases. He has a remarkable 1.055 OPS against lefties, though, and an .888 OPS at home. Torkelson has been cold, but he has the most power of these three. He has 16 homers and a .463 slugging percentage. Tork also has a .974 OPS versus lefties, and even last year when he struggled so much he got demoted the one-time first-overall pick slugged .506 against southpaws. What a rebound campaign for Baez, even if he still takes walks at a comical rate. You can get away with that when you have a .920 OPS against lefties, an .883 OPS at home, and an 1.022 OPS over the last three weeks.
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