Happy Monday! The NBA regular season is kaput, while the NHL is in the home stretch. You can certainly dive into the hockey streets if you’re so inclined, but the MLB DFS contests on DraftKings and FanDuel are just significantly better at this point.
In surprising news, DK and FD are doing things differently. The DraftKings main slate gets underway at 6:40 PM ET and includes 3 more games – ARI-BAL, CHC-PHI, and WSH-PIT. FanDuel is just rolling with a 6-game slate starting at 7:05.
Below, I’ll dive into my favorite MLB DFS picks today for Monday’s slate on both sites. If you’re looking for a cool community where you can chat about all things DFS, hop into our free Discord.
MLB Pitcher Picks Today (4/13)
- Garrett Crochet ($10,300 DK, $10,300 FD; at MIN)
- Cristopher Sanchez ($9,800 DK; vs. CHC)
- Paul Skenes ($9,500 DK; vs. WSH)
- Gavin Williams ($8,800 DK, $9,000 FD; at STL)
- Nathan Eovaldi ($7,800 DK, $8,700 FD; at ATH)
- Will Warren ($7,700 DK, $8,400 FD; vs. LAA)
Aces at the Top
So, a couple of these guys – Cristopher Sanchez and Paul Skenes – are only on the DK slate. The top overall pitcher on both sites is Garrett Crochet, who heads to Minneapolis to face the Twins. Do the Twins own the best record in the AL? Yes. Did I expect that? No. Will they keep it up? Also no.
Crochet doesn’t have any obvious weaknesses in his game. The 29.7% strikeout rate through a few starts this year is a little lower than last season’s 31.5% mark. He’s not walking anyone, and he’s not yielding much power. While the Twins are off to a nice start overall, they still haven’t hit for much power against left-handed pitching early on (.122 ISO). They’re also striking out at an average 21.9% rate. There aren’t many hitters in this lineup with established, long-term track records as quality MLB-level bats.
Crochet is clearly the overall SP1 on both sites, and I don’t see much reason to get cute and fade him. This game does have some weather concerns, though, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that.
Paul Skenes is all-around great, and his 29.5% K-rate last year was only slightly below Crochet’s. Crochet is more likely to spike a big strikeout game, especially with Skenes’ leash having been a little limited to start the year. He got up to 87 pitches the last time out against the Padres, so maybe we’re lookin’ at mid-90s tonight at home against the Nationals. Washington has been a pesky opponent so far, and it’s really not a great spot for strikeouts (20% vs. RHP over the last two seasons), but the Nats’ power is concentrated entirely around the top 4-5 bats in the order. There are some easy outs at the bottom of the order. The Nationals also hit the ball on the ground quite a bit (46.6% vs. RHP), which bodes well given Skenes’ groundball lean.
Pairing Crochet with Skenes on DK is easily done, and if I were only playing one lineup, I would probably just do that. There are plenty of other options, though.
Sanchez is $300 more expensive than Skenes, and his matchup against the Cubs is more difficult on paper. Chicago is another average strikeout offense vs. LHP (21.9%) with some thunder (.179 ISO, 10.1% barrels). Sanchez may not quite be the strikeout pitcher Crochet or Skenes is, but he’s up at 33.3% Ks early in the season after hovering in the 26% range last year. Maybe he’s leveled up, or maybe it’s just small-sample noise. One thing we know Sanchez will do at an elite level is keep the ball on the ground (58.8% last year) and limit damage. I trust Sanchez’s skills enough to put him close to Skenes, but the slight discount and the matchup put Skenes ahead of Sanchez on My Personal Wish List.
Gavin Williams should also attract some attention on both sites in a solid matchup against the Cardinals in a pitcher-friendly park. Williams’ 37.3% K-rate on the season actually leads this slate, but his 20.9% walk rate is ringing alarm bells. He was around 25% Ks with 11.5% walks last year, so the erratic control isn’t a new development. I think the uptick in strikeouts is more likely to continue than the uptick in walks, and the St. Louis lineup is loaded with Ks these days (24.4% vs. RHP). There are a couple of patient hitters, but they’re not a particularly powerful group (.130 ISO, .300 wOBA). It’s just a bad offense, and Williams comes at a meaningful discount from the slate’s aces. If you need the extra cash for bats, I’m good with Williams in any format despite the shaky control.
DK SP2 Options
You probably don’t need to mess around much with anyone else on FanDuel, but there are a few cheaper SP2 options on my radar on DK. Nathan Eovaldi gets a park downgrade going into Sacramento, but the weather is fairly cool in NorCal tonight, which should help the pitchers a bit. Eovaldi has been BABIP’d to death early in the season (.419), but that’ll correct itself eventually. I see nothing else wrong under the hood. The strikeouts (26.8%) are in line with where they were last year, while his control is still excellent. The Athletics hit for a lot of power (.202 ISO, 9.6% barrels vs. RHP), but they’ve also been a very high-strikeout lot early this year (26.7%).
I like Eovaldi’s $7,800 DK salary, and there’s legitimate upside in this matchup despite the risk of giving up a couple of dongs.
Will Warren ($7,700) is on my radar for $100 less than Eovaldi at home against the Angels. There are pretty good hitting conditions in the Bronx tonight, and we know the Halos also have some pop (.185 ISO vs. RHP). Warren is a little like a poor man’s Gavin Williams with some strikeouts, but also some sketchy control. The noteworthy thing here is Warren struck out nearly 29% of RHBs he faced last season, and the Angels’ threatening bats are almost all right-handed. He’s also scheduled to face just 4 lefties, and LAA has been a high-strikeout team early in 2026 (27.2%). While I’d rather just play Eovaldi, I don’t mind Warren in some lineups, either.
MLB DFS Stacks Today (4/13)
- Red Sox (at Bailey Ober)
- Rangers (at Luis Severino)
- Phillies (vs. Javier Assad)
- Pirates (vs. Cade Cavalli)
- Yankees (vs. Yusei Kikuchi)
- Dodgers (vs. David Peterson)
There is one team with a projection of at least 5 runs today, and that is the New York Yankees at home against Yusei Kikuchi. NYY has been surprisingly poor vs. LHP early in the season (.168 ISO, .180 wOBA), but we’re talking about tiny samples. Last season, this lineup obliterated southpaws (.240 ISO, .377 wOBA), so the regression is coming. The good kind, to be clear.
Kikuchi isn’t bad, but he’s always been attackable with right-handed power. RHBs barreled him up 10.4% of the time last season, while the strikeout numbers were average. The Yanks are also cheap across the board once you get past Aaron Judge. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton (22% barrels vs. LHP) have the best long-term data, followed by Paul Goldschmidt. I think Jazz Chisholm, Cody Bellinger, and Austin Wells are likely to go a little overlooked lefty-lefty, but all 3 hit lefties well last season. Amed Rosario and Randal Grichuk are playable in stacks, though both have pinch-hit risk.
If anyone is co-chalk with the Yankees, it’ll be the Rangers against Luis Severino in the bandbox in Sacramento. Severino was horrible at home last season, and his frustrations with his home ballpark were no secret. Beyond some moderate groundball skills, Severino doesn’t have many strengths at this stage of his career. He’s always been more beatable with lefties. Corey Seager will be the most popular Rangers bat, and with good reason. Brandon Nimmo, Joc Pederson, Evan Carter and Josh Smith will hold the platoon edge, as well. Jake Burger (14.1% barrels) made quality contact against same-handed pitching last year, too.
As of this writing, I’m getting more exposure to the Red Sox than anyone else. They’ll face Bailey Ober, a once-good right-hander who now can’t seem to stop stepping on rakes. Ober’s strikeout numbers fell off a cliff last year out of nowhere, and he’s been even worse in that regard so far this season (11.9%). He’s also an extreme flyball pitcher who’ll be prone to serving up dongs. Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Willson Contreras, Trevor Story, Marcelo Mayer, and Wilyer Abreu all posted barrel rates of at least 9.6% vs. RHP last season. Some of them have been shakier to start this term, but they’ll come around. Caleb Durbin is a cheapie on my radar despite a weak start to ’26.
Are the Pirates…good? Maybe? Cade Cavalli has some groundball ability, but that’s about it. The low strikeouts give me plenty of confidence in Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, and Brandon Lowe at the top of the order, while there’s a little extra power with Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna. The breakout hasn’t yet come for Konnor Griffin, but there’s big power/speed upside there, plus he’s cheap. Washington also has a horrific bullpen, so Pittsburgh looks outstanding.
Javier Assad’s career numbers across the board are underwhelming, and he looks more vulnerable vs. LHBs. Great news for Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Brandon Marsh, while Bryson Stott, Trea Turner, and Adolis Garcia make the cut in full PHI stacks.
David Peterson is historically pretty good, but he has been nowhere near pretty good this season. He’s still a decent mix of Ks and groundballs when he’s right, and the Dodgers generally don’t look quite as imposing against a left-hander. Sure, Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker can still hit lefties, while you’ll get Andy Pages, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernandez on the right side of the platoon split. I’m inclined to trust Peterson’s long-term talent enough to move the Dodgers down below most of the other teams in this tier, especially when you factor in the high salaries on most of them.
Mini Stacks
- Marte/Carroll/Perdomo/Del Castillo vs. Dean Kremer
- Basallo/Henderson/Beavers vs. Ryne Nelson
- Ramirez/Lopez/Marsee vs. Grant Holmes
- Acuña/Riley/Olson/Yastrzemski vs. Eury Perez
- Kurtz/Butler/Langeliers vs. Nathan Eovaldi
- Lindor/Pham/Bichette/Robert vs. Justin Wrobleski
Slate Strategy
- I am finding myself pairing 2 of Crochet/Skenes/Sanchez in most lineups. Weather permitting with Crochet, of course.
- The Red Sox have some cheap bats (Narvaez, Durbin, Mayer) that make it easy to go double-ace.
- Williams will be my first stop for savings and my highest-owned pitcher that isn’t Crochet/Skenes/Sanchez.
- Paying down for one of Eovaldi or Warren is perfectly viable in any format and helps you get access to teams like the Yankees or Dodgers.
- I don’t think you’re crazy to pair Eovaldi + Warren in larger-field, multi-entry GPPs. In single-entry, I’ll be getting to at least one of the $8,800-and-above pitchers.
- As usual, I’ll be playing mostly 5-man stacks with a dusting of 4-4 lineups in multi-entry.
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