Welcome to Fantasy Alarm's MLB DFS picks and daily fantasy playbook for Saturday's early slate. Six games make up the DraftKings board, with FanDuel's Early-Only slate carrying five of those six after the Brewers and Pirates game landed as a DraftKings exclusive. This is a loaded afternoon for star power on the mound, with a pair of legitimate Cy Young contenders anchoring the top of the pitching pool, a rookie phenom fresh off one of the best individual efforts of the season, and a full spread of contact-and-run-support plays for the bats.

Whether you are targeting Fantasy Alarm's MLB DFS projections, running your build through our tools, or checking today's lineups, Fantasy Alarm has the resources to sharpen your edge before lock.

Weather is a mild theme across a few of the Eastern time zone games, with a couple of parks flagged for a chance at a delay, though nothing here looks likely to wipe out first pitch. Where this slate really separates itself is workload and role changes. Several arms in this pool are pitching completely different jobs than they were a few months ago, and knowing which side of that transition to trust is the whole game today.

Slate Weather Alert

• PNC Park (Brewers @ Pirates, 4:05 PM ET): 80°F with a 34% precip chance. A random shower could cause a brief delay, but nothing here looks likely to hold the game up for long.
• Nationals Park (Yankees @ Nationals, 4:05 PM ET): 84°F with a 43% precip chance building into the evening. The expectation is that the game finishes before the rain ever arrives, though some later-inning trouble isn't out of the question.
• Oracle Park (Rockies @ Giants, 4:05 PM ET): 64°F, 0% precip. Clean conditions with nothing to monitor.
• Citi Field (Red Sox @ Mets, 4:10 PM ET): 79°F with a 35% precip chance. A few pregame downpours are possible and could push the start back briefly, but the game plays without issue regardless.

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Starting Pitchers

MLB DFS Top Pitchers

Eury Perez (MIA)

Perez threw seven perfect innings against the Athletics just six days ago before being pulled at 92 pitches, the first pitcher removed from a perfect bid that deep since Clayton Kershaw in 2022. The stuff behind that outing is legitimate, a fastball that will touch 98 to 99 with life, and he carries a 10.1 K/9 into a Cleveland lineup that's been middling against right-handed pitching all season at 93 wRC+. The workload is still being handled carefully after everything he's been through, but the upside here is as real as anyone's on the board.

Cam Schlittler (NYY)

Schlittler's 2.01 ERA is the lowest by any Yankees starter through 19 outings since Phil Niekro in 1984, and he's doing it with a legitimate strikeout profile to match at 10.5 K/9 and just 1.7 walks per nine. He gets a Washington lineup that's been a tick above league-average against right-handed pitching at 105 wRC+, playable, but nowhere close to the caliber of stuff he's carrying into this start as a genuine AL Cy Young contender.

MLB DFS Value Pitchers

Griffin Jax (TB)

Jax spent years as one of the better relievers in the league before the Rays handed him a rotation spot this season, and the early returns have been outstanding: a 3.60 ERA and 68 strikeouts, with a 0.90 ERA and 21 strikeouts across his last four turns specifically. He gets a Seattle lineup that's been genuinely tough on right-handers this year at 111 wRC+ as a team, the one real caution flag on an otherwise excellent value price.

Shane Drohan (MIL) (DK Only)

Drohan has carved out a rotation spot for a Brewers team that keeps finding useful arms out of nowhere, working to an 8.1 K/9 and a 22.8 percent strikeout rate through his first look at a full workload. He draws a Pittsburgh lineup that's actually been the best offense on this board against left-handed pitching at 118 wRC+, so the appeal here leans more on price than on a soft matchup.

Top Options for Strikeouts

Market strikeout lines and recent hit-rate trends are incorporated below for the arms we're rostering today.

• Cam Schlittler: line sits at 5.5, and the over has cashed in 7 of his last 10 starts.
• Eury Perez: line sits at 6.5. The under has hit in 6 of his last 10 outings, but that's largely a workload-management story more than a decline in stuff.
• Griffin Jax: line sits at 5.5, and the under has hit in 7 of his last 10 turns as his workload has been managed carefully in the transition to starting.
• Shane Drohan: line sits at 4.5, a true coin flip over his last 10 outings.

MLB DFS Lineup Picks: Stacks & Hitters

MLB DFS Top Hitters

Ben Rice (1B/C, NYY)

Rice has been one of the best hitters in baseball this season, running a .300/.393/.638 line with a 184 OPS+ that has him firmly in the AL MVP conversation, and he's stepped into an even bigger role with Aaron Judge sidelined for the next several weeks. His splits against right-handed pitching are absurd at a 183 wRC+, and Mikolas gives him a great runway to keep it going.

Brice Turang (2B, MIL) (DK Only)

Turang was a notable All-Star snub after hitting .366 with an .817 OPS over his last nine games, and he's been an entirely different hitter against right-handers this year at 153 wRC+ from the leadoff spot. Chandler has swing-and-miss stuff but has walked more batters than he's struck out this season, and Turang's contact skills are built to take advantage.

Juan Soto (OF, NYM)

Soto has actually hit left-handed pitching better than his overall numbers this year at a 140 wRC+, and Boston is turning to a true bullpen game today behind Eduardo Rivera, who has only ever worked as a reliever in the majors and profiles as little more than an opener before the Red Sox turn the game over to their pen. That means Soto and this Mets lineup get to see fresh arms out of the bullpen for the bulk of the afternoon rather than navigating a starter building through a lineup multiple times.

MLB DFS Value Hitters

Jasson Dominguez (OF, NYY)

Dominguez has cooled off against right-handed pitching this year at an 87 wRC+, but he's a switch-hitter who's shown real power upside and he's cheap enough to fit anywhere in a build stacked with Yankees. Mikolas has been a disaster as a starter specifically this season, and Dominguez gives you correlated exposure to that blowup potential at the bottom of the order.

Anthony Seigler (C/2B, BOS)

Seigler has quietly hit right-handed pitching well in a small sample this season at a 133 wRC+, and he leads off today against a struggling Freddy Peralta. The sample is thin, but the price is about as low as it gets on the slate.

Esmerlyn Valdez (OF, PIT) (DK Only)

Valdez has scorched left-handed pitching in limited action this year, and he gets a rookie lefty in Drohan who's still building up his workload as a full-time starter. It's a tiny sample, but the price point makes him worth a dart throw in a plus matchup.

MLB DFS Top Stacks

Primary Stack: New York Yankees vs Miles Mikolas (WSH RHP)

Why: Mikolas has been a completely different pitcher depending on his role this season, an 8.28 ERA and 1.64 WHIP as a starter compared to a serviceable mark out of the bullpen, and he's starting today. The Yankees have been a genuinely above-average offense against right-handers all year at 107 wRC+, and this is about as soft a matchup as this lineup will see all month.

Targets: Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, Jose Caballero, Jasson Dominguez

Primary Stack: Milwaukee Brewers vs Bubba Chandler (PIT RHP)

Why: Chandler has electric raw stuff but is still learning how to use it, and his command has wavered enough that he's allowed more traffic than his strikeout totals would suggest. Milwaukee has been a solidly above-average offense against right-handers this year at 109 wRC+, giving this lineup a real path against a talented but still-erratic rookie.

Targets: Brice Turang, Jake Bauers, Garrett Mitchell, Jackson Chourio, Luis Lara

Primary Stack: New York Mets vs Boston Red Sox (Bullpen Game)

Why: Eduardo Rivera has never pitched as anything but a reliever in the majors, and Boston is deploying him as an opener today before turning this into a legitimate bullpen game. That means the Mets lineup avoids facing a starter working through the order multiple times and instead gets a rotating cast of relief arms for the bulk of the afternoon. New York has been a bit below league-average against lefties as a team at 96 wRC+, but the individual bats in this lineup carry far more juice than that number suggests, and a full bullpen game is exactly the kind of soft-structure spot worth attacking.

Targets: Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Jared Young

MLB DFS Contrarian Stacks

“Contrarian” Stack: Washington Nationals vs Cam Schlittler (NYY RHP)

Why: There is no getting around it, Schlittler has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, and this stack exists purely because a lineup with James Wood and CJ Abrams doesn't stop trying just because the arm on the mound is great. Washington has actually been a tick above league-average against right-handers this year at 105 wRC+, the rare team number that holds up even against a true ace.

Targets: James Wood, Luis Garcia Jr., CJ Abrams, Curtis Mead

“Contrarian” Stack: Miami Marlins vs Tanner Bibee (CLE RHP)

Why: Bibee has been one of the more up-and-down arms in baseball this season, dealing with mechanical issues for stretches and already sitting on one of the league's higher home run rates allowed. His FIP sits well north of 4.80, a sign the underlying performance has been shakier than his best outings suggest, and Miami has been a genuinely above-average offense against right-handers this year at 105 wRC+.

Targets: Griffin Conine, Liam Hicks, Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards, Kyle Stowers

“Contrarian” Stack: Boston Red Sox vs Freddy Peralta (NYM RHP)

Why: Peralta was a 2.70 ERA All-Star with Milwaukee just last season, but he's been one of the more expensive disappointments in baseball since being traded to the Mets, an 8.49 ERA over his last five starts and a team reportedly fielding calls about him before the deadline. Boston has been a below-average offense against right-handers as a team this year at 84 wRC+, but Peralta's recent form is bad enough to make this worth a look anyway.

Targets: Anthony Seigler, Ceddanne Rafaela, Masataka Yoshida, Caleb Durbin, Wilyer Abreu