This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Thursday is busier than usual for MLB, but a lot of the action is scattered throughout the day. That leaves us with five games on the slate for DFS purposes. The first pitch will be thrown at 6:40 p.m. ET. Having looked into this quintet of MLB games I now have these lineup recommendations.
Pitching
Framber Valdez, HOU at PIT ($9,300): As per usual, Valdez is keeping the ball in the park, and specifically on the ground. That's helped him put up a 3.12 ERA. He's been on a tremendous run as well, having notched an 1.70 ERA over his last five starts. The Pirates are in the bottom two in runs scored and also home runs. Of course, it's not like Valdez sweats the long ball anyway.
Matthew Liberatore, STL vs. KAN ($8,000): Liberatore has taken to starting with gusto. Not only does he have a 3.08 ERA but also a 2.64 FIP. Furthermore, his home ERA is an impressive 1.69. The Royals are in the bottom five in runs scored and seem likely to stay there. After all, they are last in home runs.
Top Target
The Yankees have to be feeling good about how Cody Bellinger ($4,500) has taken to his new home park. He has an .861 OPS at Yankee Stadium, a park that is often kind to lefties. Slade Cecconi is serving up homers left and right, having given up five already in 15.1 innings. That's not a surprise, as the righty has a career 1.89 HR/9 rate.
Bargain Bat
It would be great if Junior Caminero ($4,200) would take a walk more than every five or six games, but when you hit .258 and slug .507, you can get away with that to a degree. The third baseman has also been a major beneficiary of Tampa's temporary home park, as he has a .913 OPS there. Jack Leiter has been better than last season, but he has a 4.24 FIP and 6.94 K/9 rate. He's also walked a ton of guys but, you know, that's not really relevant with Caminero at the plate.
Stack to Consider
Cubs at Nationals (Jake Irvin): Pete Crow-Armstrong ($6,000), Michael Busch ($4,900), Ian Happ ($4,300)
I wasn't buying Irvin's ERA, and indeed after his last start his ERA has jumped from 3.42 to 3.93. Beyond that, he has a 4.41 FIP, right in line with his 4.40 FIP in 2024. That's not to say he's basically the same mediocre-to-poor pitcher he was last season. No, he's actually been worse. His strikeouts are down to 5.77 per nine innings, and he's lost two miles per hour off his fastball. Irvin has held righties to an .198 average, to be fair, but lefties have hit .261 against him. I went with three Cubs who can hit left-handed, eschewing Kyle Tucker because he's been banged up and in order to save some salary for the rest of your lineup.
After all, having Tucker and Crow-Armstrong in your DFS lineup would be great, but they have both earned hefty salaries. If MLB had a Most Improved Player award, PCA might be in line to win it. His 21 steals aren't a surprise, but he's hit .276 and knocked 15 homers, showing power he didn't have last season as a rookie. This is pretty much the perfect situation for Busch. On the season he has a .954 OPS versus righties but also a .994 OPS on the road. Happ is having a down year but he has three homers and three stolen bases, and he has scored 37 runs because he's gotten on base at a .344 clip for a high-power offense. The prior two seasons he's had an OPS over .800 against righties, so maybe facing Irvin will work out for him.
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