Happy Monday and welcome to Fantasy Alarm’s MLB DFS Playbook for June 23rd, covering the DraftKings and FanDuel main slates! 

Our team of experts has poured over the matchups, stats, and trends to bring you a curated selection of top plays and value picks to help you build winning lineups. 

Whether you’re chasing big GPP prizes or looking to cash in head-to-heads, we’ve got you covered with insights designed to give you an edge. Let’s dive into today’s slate and get ready to crush it!

 

 

This season's MLB DFS picks and playbook will consist of a pitcher and hitter core players section with written analysis, player pool grid and core stacks section.

The core player section should be used as a starting point for all lineups, you may not be able to use all players in the same lineup, but those players should be the building blocks for you on a given night.

The player pool grid will feature both players from the core player section along with additional plays to help you build a complete lineup. The grid will be broken into top priced players, mid-priced players and value tier players.

The stacks section will bring you our favorite lineups stacks for the day and which players we would look to include in those stacks based on matchups and pricing.

There will also be a daily MLB DFS Show with a variety of hosts ranging from myself, Jon Impemba, Howard Bender, and James Grande. The MLB DFS Show will give you an initial outlook on the day's MLB DFS slate and should give you a good base for the start of your research each day! 

Make sure you subscribe to the Fantasy Alarm YouTube channel so you never miss a show! Also, join the Fantasy Alarm Discord to get your DFS lineup questions answered by our MLB DFS team! Plus, as always, be sure to check in with our MLB DFS Tools, with the Daily MLB Projections, MLB DFS Rostership Projections, and our MLB DFS Lineup Generator when building those lineups today to help you decide which players you should be targeting.

 

MLB DFS Picks & MLB Playbook

MLB DFS Weather Conditions Summary for June 23, 2025

Five of the eight games on the slate are expected to have a game-time temperature of at least 80 degrees, with Cincinnati and Baltimore expected to be above 90 degrees. Only the game in Minnesota and the two California games in Anaheim and San Diego project to be below that mark. Basically, it is great hitting weather for every game on the slate and there are no precipitation issues expected. 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Starting Pitchers

Let's get into today's core pitching plays for our DFS lineups. 

Core MLB DFS Pitchers

Spencer Schwellenbach, Atlanta Braves

Schwellenbach has recorded at least eight strikeouts in four of his last five games. He just faced this tough Mets lineup in his last start, allowing four runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts. The strikeout ability and lack of elite pitching options keep him at the top of the board despite the tough matchup. 

Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners

Bryan Woo has lasted at least six innings in each of his 14 starts this season. He is coming off a dominant start against the Red Sox where he tossed seven shutout innings with six strikeouts. The Mariners righty has been slightly below average with the strikeouts at 22.3% this season, but his elite control allows him to efficiently pitch deep into games. 

Ben Brown, Chicago Cubs

Ben Brown has pitched far better than his 5.57 ERA suggests, and he owns the highest strikeout rate (26.3%) on the slate. There is plenty of risk for the Cubs righty as he has allowed a .198 ISO and 18.2% barrel rate to lefties this season, and he projects to face five lefties in the Cardinals lineup. The good news is he has also struck out a robust 29.3% of lefties this season. Given the context of the slate, it is worth taking on the power risk to chase the strikeout upside in this spot. 

Walker Buehler, Boston Red Sox

 Buehler has had rough outings in three of his last four starts, but we don't have many great options to choose from outside of the two highest priced pitchers on the slate. Plenty of risk comes with facing the Angels, as Buehler has allowed a .263 ISO and 13.5% barrel rate to righties this season. The Angels are expected to roll out seven righties in their lineup today. The positive side of the matchup for Buehler is the Angels also have the 2nd-highest strikeout rate in baseball against right-handed pitching. 

Eduardo Rodriguez, Arizona Diamondbacks

 Like Ben Brown, Rodriguez has pitched far better than his 5.93 ERA indicates. with every ERA estimator checking in nearly 2 runs below his actual results. The strikeouts and walks are both right around league average, but the D-backs lefty has allowed a robust .355 BABIP. E-Rod should experience some regression in the BABIP and possibly in his his 13.1% HR/FB rate. The matchup is a plus against the White Sox, who have struck out at the 4th-highest rate against left-handed pitching this season.  

 

 

 

Recommended MLB DFS Hitters

Let's check out today's core plays to build our lineups around.

Core MLB DFS Hitters

Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees

The Yankees have been in an extended hitting slump, but at least we did see a 9-run outburst against the Orioles over the weekend. Now get to travel to an elite home run park in Cincinnati. Superstar slugger Aaron Judge is having yet another MVP-caliber season and he did homer in the first game of the Baltimore series on Friday. He owns an insane .525 ISO against lefties this season. Paul Goldschmidt is also back to his lefty mashing ways this season, and Giancarlo Stanton recently returned from a lengthy IL stint that delayed his season debut.  

Ronald Acuna and the Atlanta Braves

The Braves get a matchup against Paul Blackburn, who has been torched by righties for a .242 ISO in limited work over the last two seasons. Blackburn also owns a miniscule 13.3% strikeout rate this season. Ronald Acuna has done nothing but rake since making his season debut about a month ago, posting a .324 ISO against righties so far. Austin Riley, Marcell Ozuna and Sean Murphy have each posted above average ISO against RHP this season, and lefty Matt Olson with his .227 ISO against righties can certainly be added to the mix. 

Cal Raleigh vs. Bailey Ober

Not much needs to be said about Cal Raleigh, who leads MLB in home runs and is having one of the greatest offensive seasons from a catcher in history. Twins righty Bailey Ober has posted just a 15.8% strikeout rate against lefties this season. Raleigh will have a great opportunity to make some loud contact against the righty who has allowed a 50% fly ball rate this season. 

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Braxton Ashcraft

The Brewers get a matchup against an inexperienced righty who has posted a 5.03 ERA in 10 Triple-A starts this season. Braxton Ashcraft has worked in a muti-inning relief role since his call-up a month ago and will be making his first start career big league start. In his 11.2 innings of relief, he has so far posted below average strikeout and walk totals.  The Brew Crew doesn't boast a lot of power, so I prefer them as a full stack in this spot. Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich would be the first two men in the stack, and Rhys Hoskins still possesses above average power. Sal Frelick should hit lead off, or you could opt for the positional eligibility of William Contreras or Brice Turang to round out the stack. 

Elly De La Cruz and the Cincinnati Reds

Former Braves prospect Allan Winans has posted some eye-popping numbers at Triple-A this season, but this will be his MLB season debut for the Yankees against the Reds today. The righy has been hit hard in his previous attempts at big league job in the past. Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz brings an elite power/speed combination that gives him as much upside as anyone on the slate. The ballpark and weather are great for offense today, so there is certainly nothing wrong with a full stack either. 

 

Player Pool

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Stacks

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