Hello! Happy Friday. I think this 13-game slate is one of the largest we’ve had all year. For such a doozy, you’d think the pitching would be better. We have The Miz at the top for a whopping $13,000, but after that, it looks like a buncha middling nonsense, for the most part. That’s the worst kind of nonsense, IMO. The Middling Kind.
Anyway, if you haven’t tried our new MLB DFS lineup optimizer and simulator, what the hell are you doing? You can grab a free 7-day trial, and it’s $29.99/month after that. You get all supported sports for that price, as well. Can’t beat it.
Anyway, let’s break it down. Here’s how I’m playing this slate tonight on DraftKings. This article is free today, by the way, so tell your friends. And your wife.
Top MLB DFS Pitcher Picks for Friday (June 26)
- Jacob Misiorowski ($13,000, vs. Cubs)
- Taj Bradley ($7,600, vs. Rockies)
- Nathan Eovaldi ($9,000, at Blue Jays)
- Zack Wheeler ($11,000, at Mets)
- Payton Tolle ($8,800, vs. Yankees)
- Trevor Rogers ($6,300, vs. Nationals)
- JT Ginn ($7,700, at Angels)
- Luis Castillo ($6,900, at Guardians)
- Roki Sasaki ($8,000, at Padres)
- Will Warren ($8,500, at Red Sox)
- Joey Cantillo ($7,400, vs. Mariners)
There are obviously more pitchers out there in the player pool tonight, but even listing this many is probably already spreading pretty thin. You can make a case for a few others if you’re running a ton of lineups, but I probably wouldn’t go too far beyond this set for a multi-entry portfolio.
Obviously, the biggest decision point on the slate is whether you want to play Misiorowski at his awfully cumbersome $13,000 price point. That’s prime Russell Westbrook Country, folks. It’s hard to argue with his numbers, even in a less-than-perfect matchup against a capable Chicago offense. The Miz is sporting a Shane Bieber Circa 2018-esque 39.1% strikeout rate this season to go along with a 6.5% walk rate, which is a significant improvement over last year’s 11.4% clip. His 2.20 SIERA tells us his 1.45 ERA is due for regression, but a 2.20 SIERA is already incredibly good.
Misiorowski’s 17% swinging strike rate and 125 Stuff+ numbers are also lead the majors. There are no red flags here, but $13,000 is a significant price to pay in any matchup, let alone a subpar one. I still think Misiorowski is likely to be my highest-exposed pitcher overall just because his ceiling is extraordinary, but let’s see what else is out there.
I suspect the popular arm to pair with the Miz will be Taj Bradley, who checks in at $7,600 for a home date against the Rockies. The Rockies away from Coors are generally a punching bag, though they haven’t struck out quite as heavily this season (22.5%) against righties as they have in previous years. Bradley’s own K-rate this season (25.4%) is solid, especially for the price, though he comes with control (9.7% walks) concerns. I think Bradley has more talent than he’s shown, but so far, the results have been largely average. Generally, an average pitcher attracting a boatload of ownership is something to consider fading, but given the lackluster options elsewhere, I’m likely to have a significant amount of exposure here. I don’t love it, but, hey, that’s the slate. Colorado has an implied run total slightly under 4 tonight.
Given Misiorowski’s salary, I’m also interested in saving at SP2 with guys like Trevor Rogers ($6,300) and JT Ginn ($7,700). Rogers has been largely dreadful (5.30 ERA), while his strikeout rate is about 7% lower than it was last year (17.3%). The groundball rate has also dipped by about 10%. Not great! He’s been a bit unlucky in stranding only around 62% of baserunners, and it’s not like he’s allowed a lot of loud contact. The Nationals have been one of the best offenses in the league this year – nobody saw that coming, I think – but at least Rogers will have the platoon edge against some of their better hitters, including James Wood, CJ Abrams, and Daylen Lile. Rogers has actually mustered some Ks (24%) against his fellow lefties, as well. It’s not gonna be fun, and there’s a lot of potential for a meltdown, but you don’t need him to light the world on fire at $6,300, man.
Ginn is $1,400 more expensive, but he also gets a tastier matchup on the road in Anaheim against whatever’s left of the Angels. Just like last year, Ginn has been very splitsy, with excellent numbers against his fellow righties and more control issues with fewer Ks against lefties. Fortunately, the Angels’ best hitters are right-handed, and “best hitters” is relative, because we’re talking about guys like Zach Neto and Jo Adell. Lots of power, but lots of strikeouts, too. Ginn is whiffing RHBs at a 26.5% clip, while the Halos are striking out nearly 26% of the time vs. RHP. Ginn is also generating groundballs 51% of the time vs. lefties, while the Angels’ only semi-notable lefties – Wade Meckler and Nolan Schanuel – happen to be high-groundball bats. Ginn is checking a lot of boxes, so I like him quite a bit.
If you’re bravely fading Misiorowski, it’s easier to consider the other expensive options, like Zack Wheeler, Max Meyer, Nathan Eovaldi, and Payton Tolle. Wheeler is a big name in a good matchup against his shitty former team that just fired its manager today, and he’s pitched well enough this season (26.6% Ks, 2.11 ERA). His swinging strikes are down this year after undergoing surgery late last season, though, so I don’t think the 33.3% Ks pitcher we saw in 2025 is coming back. I expect Wheeler to have a fine outing here, I’m just not sure he’s worth the $11,000 salary when Miz has a significantly higher ceiling. I won’t have much.
Nathan Eovaldi is still yielding too much power to lefties, but the Blue Jays’ scariest hitters happen to be right-handed. Eovaldi’s still faring well against RHBs, but Toronto isn’t a high-K bunch to begin with (18.8% vs. RHP). I think Eovaldi is a better play than Wheeler given the $2,000 discount, but I’m also not treating him as a priority on this slate.
Max Meyer is pretty good. He’ll walk too many lefties (11.8%), but he’s also finding more Ks against them (29.7%) than he is against righties (23.6%). The Cardinals have been a more potent offense than expected this year, while they’re also not a great source of Ks (19.9%). Again, I think Meyer will be okay here, but $9,500 is a full price tag.
Payton Tolle is also pretty good, with a 23.8% strikeout rate along with low walks. His reverse left-handed split is unusual, and it’s also not ideal for a matchup against a Yankees lineup with a lotta lefty power. Even without Aaron Judge, the projected lineup is sporting a .218 ISO and a .355 wOBA vs. left-handed pitching. Impressive! Tolle isn’t coming at a discount, either, at $8,800. Not a bad GPP play assuming he’ll be very low-owned, but it’s also hard to have much conviction about him.
Will Warren? We like to pick on the weak-ass Red Sox (.148 ISO vs. RHP), and I don’t think $8,500 is necessarily too expensive for this slate. Most of Warren’s Ks (29%) have come against righties, while the Boston lineup may have 5 lefties in it tonight. Fine play, I suppose, but I’d rather take the savings with guys like Bradley and Ginn on this slate.
Roki Sasaki is always a wild card. He’ll get a nice park boost going into Petco to face a Padres offense that’s struggled to touch home plate all year. Sasaki’s K-rate has steadily improved as the season has moved on, and he’s up to 30.3% Ks over the last 30 days. He has also considerably improved his control, especially to his fellow righties. The Padres only have 3 left-handed hitters in the projected order here, which is a boost, while San Diego also has a low 3.44 implied run total. I like this a lot. More than I probably should. $8,000 is a pretty fair salary for a pitcher with such a high ceiling.
I’d rather not play Luis Castillo against an entirely left-handed lineup, so I won’t. I do think his opponent and Wario, Joey Cantillo, is interesting, though. Cantillo has a decent strikeout rate (23.6%) against righties, while he’s limited power against lefties. Seattle’s lineup has underperformed all season, with a horrific .120 ISO and .279 wOBA against left-handed pitching. The Mariners’ bats get a park upgrade in this one, but Cantillo isn’t a bad pitcher, and he’s affordable. Add him to the list.
SP Rankings
- Misiorowski
- Ginn
- Bradley
- Sasaki
- Rogers
- Cantillo
- Eovaldi
- Warren
- Tolle
- Wheeler
Top MLB DFS Stacks (6/26)
- DBax (at Nick Martinez)
- Yankees (at Payton Tolle)
- Phillies (at Zach Thornton)
- Orioles (vs. Andrew Alvarez)
- Guardians (vs. Luis Castillo)
- Dodgers (at Walker Buehler)
- Royals (at David Sandlin)
- A’s (at Walbert Urena)
- Rangers (at Patrick Corbin)
- Twins (vs. Tomoyuki Sugano)
There is a grand total of one (1) team on this 13-game slate with an implied total of at least 5 runs. That team is the *checks notes* Twins, who will take their hacks against Tomoyuki Sugano at home. Sugano is an extremely low-K righty who relies entirely on control and batted ball luck. He doesn’t even really keep the ball on the ground. He’s still managed to limit power to RHBs despite a 12.1% barrel rate, while his numbers across the board against left-handed hitters are abysmal. I’m not generally thrilled about playing a team like the Twins if they’re going to be popular, but I doubt they’ll see anything resembling overwhelming ownership on such a huge slate.
The lefties are the headliners given Sugano’s numbers. Trevor Larnach, Kody Clemens, and Josh Bell are solid hitters in decent lineup spots, while I don’t mind Brooks Lee in a stack. I’d still prefer to get Byron Buxton in there if possible, while Royce Lewis is much more attractive in matchups against pitchers who don’t miss bats.
The Orioles check in with a 4.8 total at home against lefty Andrew Alvarez. Baltimore has a talented lineup, but it profiles much better against righties. Alvarez hasn’t even pitched poorly, so I’m not too keen on the O’s here. Coby Mayo, Pete Alonso, and Taylor Ward are generally the best bets against LHP, while Gunnar Henderson has impressive numbers against same-handed pitching. Meh!
The Dodgers face old friend Walker Buehler, but they get a sizable park hit going into Petco. They also have an underwhelming 4.05 run total here, and Buehler hasn’t really pitched poorly for San Diego. There’s just so much power between Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Andy Pages, Dalton Rushing, and even Ryan Ward that this team is stackable in any matchup on any night. They’re just expensive, so you’re probably not pairing them with the Miz. The Padres also have an elite bullpen backing Buehler up.
Luis Castillo still has ace-level numbers across the board against righties, while the opposite is true against lefties. Cleveland is likely to have 8 lefties and Rhys Hoskins in there against him this evening. Even without Jose Ramirez, I like ’em enough. Travis Bazzana and Kyle Manzardo are your best bets, while I’m okay rounding it out with Daniel Schneemann, Brayan Rocchio, and Kahlil Watson. Cleveland is a better mini stack than full stack, IMO.
I mentioned Payton Tolle’s troubles against lefties. He’s only striking them out at a 13% clip along with a .205 ISO allowed. Fenway isn’t the best spot to target lefty power, but Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, and Jazz Chisholm have decent lefty-on-lefty numbers this season. Paul Goldschmidt is back to raking them from the right side, while Amed Rosario and Jose Caballero have fared well, too.
The DBax are in a tricky spot on the road against Nick Martinez, The Man Who Always Defies His Terrible Underlying Numbers. Martinez only has a 15.1% strikeout rate on the season, but he’s limited barrels, walks, and overall damage. His 4.69 SIERA says there’s nothing sustainable about his 2.73 ERA, but, for whatever reason, he just keeps getting away with it. I think a mini stack of Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll, and Gabriel Moreno is playable, but it’s hard to get too excited.
The A’s aren’t in Sacramento or Las Vegas, but Angel Stadium is still a solid hitting environment. They’ll face Walbert Urena, a talented pitcher with a groundball rate north of 53% on the year. Urena does have some dicey control, and the A’s have so much power that I’m generally fine targeting them against average-ish arms. Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Carlos Cortes, and Tyler Soderstrom are your headliners.
Zach Thornton is a rookie lefty starting for the Mets. He’s got an average platoon split, but we’re also dealing with a tiny sample of work for him at this level. Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh have fared just fine against LHP, while Alec Bohm, Edmundo Sosa, and Trea Turner would be next on the list for the Phillies.
David Sandlin has had huge trouble with lefties (18% barrels, .323 ISO) in a limited sample of MLB duty for the White Sox. Jac Caglianone, Carter Jensen, and Michael Massey will have the platoon edge here, while Bobby Witt Jr. may be back in the mix for KC. They also get a park upgrade in this one. I like this quite a bit.
You can also look to the White Sox, who continue to show impressive power, especially against righties. Mitch Spence is starting for the Royals, and he’s another guy struggling to contain left-handed hitters. Sam Antonacci, Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel, Andrew Benintendi, and Braden Montgomery will swing it from the preferred side of the plate for Chicago.
Lastly, the Rangers will face old friend Patrick Corbin in Toronto. Corbin continues to pitch decently overall, but we can continue to target him with RHBs – Wyatt Langford, Josh Jung, and Jake Burger are the ones I’d want the most.
Noah Simpson is a New England-based DFS writer who has spent the better part of a decade obsessing over MLB DFS. He got his start playing DFS recreationally before realizing he was spending more time building spreadsheets than actually watching games, and decided to make it official. At DFSBuild, Noah covers MLB DFS strategy with a focus on finding edges that casual players overlook. When he’s not staring at Statcast data, he’s somewhere on a hiking trail in Maine with his two dogs, Sandboy and Johnner, who are undefeated at ignoring his lineup advice, because they are dogs. They don’t have the cognitive or motor skills required to operate a computer, let alone process complex theories and information.
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