MLB DFS Picks Today: Top DraftKings Pitchers & Stacks for Thursday (6/25/26)

Thursday’s MLB DFS main slate on DraftKings is a compact six-game board where the pitching pool runs deep but the offenses worth stacking are in short supply. That combination pushes you to spend up for a frontline arm and stay selective with your bats. My build starts with Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler ($10.5K) atop a strong pitcher pool, and leans on the Phillies and Cardinals as the stacks I most want to target.

Six games is not a huge slate, but there is an obvious path to production here. Schlittler headlines a pitcher pool stocked with big names, while the short list of strong offenses means stack selection matters more than usual. Here is how I am sorting the arms you can trust, the bats with sneaky upside, and the low-owned stacks that gain leverage on the field.

Slate Breakdown

This is a pitching-led slate with a deep arm pool and a short list of offenses worth stacking, so the build almost writes itself: pay up for one of the top arms, then pair it with the few top-projecting offenses. Cam Schlittler is the clear headliner, and Philadelphia and St. Louis are the bats I most want to get to.

The one thing to monitor is the weather. The Diamondbacks at Cardinals game in St. Louis carries mild delay concerns and is the only game on the board with a real weather question. It should still play, and the forecast is warm, so this is a watch-the-radar situation rather than a postponement scare.

Best DFS Pitchers for 6/25

Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler is the top overall arm on Thursday, with Kevin Gausman as the best value and Tatsuya Imai as the cheap GPP dart. Schlittler stands out at the top, but he is not the only option, so you have a few ways to build around the position.

Schlittler stands out as the best arm even though he is not alone at the top. Christopher Sanchez projects about the same but costs $1K more, so dollar for dollar, Schlittler is the better play. He draws a weak Boston offense at home, the Red Sox are dragging after a series in the thin air of Coors Field, and injuries have sapped their lineup. Our Yankees vs. Red Sox pick favors the pinstripes, and Schlittler’s imposing 29% strikeout rate is a big reason why. Repeating his last outing (42 fantasy points) is not the expectation, but he is still the top arm on the board.

You can pay all the way up for Sanchez if you like, but pairing two expensive hurlers is not easy. Dropping to a discounted Kevin Gausman feels more palatable, especially since he trails Sanchez (who is $3K more expensive) by just two fantasy points in projection. Gausman is a nice value here, and a date with the Texas Rangers is not too scary. The Rangers have some pop, but they have been brutal against Gausman’s second pitch, the fastball splitter.

Want to save even more cash? Consider dropping down and making Tatsuya Imai your SP2. He gets a park downgrade against a dangerous Tigers lineup, but he is dirt cheap and projects decently. His trouble against lefties (a 15.7% walk rate and .167 ISO) is a soft spot worth attacking when he is on the mound, yet that same volatility plus his low price make him a fun GPP punt.

Top DFS Hitters for Thursday

For the bats, Kyle Schwarber is the top spend, Paul Goldschmidt is the cheap value, and Jarren Duran is the contrarian GPP dart. All three sit in spots where either the matchup or the park gives them room to do damage.

Kyle Schwarber is part of the top stack on this slate, so it tracks that he comes in with the top projection among hitters. He faces Cade Cavalli, who misses bats against lefties but also surrenders a .355 wOBA and a 43% hard-hit rate. Schwarber is always hunting for bombs, and his .324 ISO against right-handers is very appealing here. Cavalli leans on his fastball, which Schwarber absolutely nukes, so even though this is an all-or-nothing one-off, it is one of the more appealing plays on the board.

The Yankees are interesting from the right side, and it starts with Paul Goldschmidt. He homered twice in his last game, and he is back home in a hitter’s park tonight, where you can sanity-check the venue swing with public park factors from Baseball Savant. He faces a talented arm in Connelly Early, but one with real platoon issues against right-handed hitting:

• 4% drop in strikeout rate from lefties to righties
• 3% jump in walk rate from lefties to righties
• .173 ISO allowed
• 32% fly-ball rate
• 52% hard-hit rate

The numbers are not grotesque, but they are attackable. New York is pretty lefty-heavy these days, yet they should still run out five righties in this matchup, and Goldy (.293 ISO versus southpaws) is the one to target first.

Want to get weird? Target a Boston one-off like Jarren Duran. The Red Sox will not be owned across the board, and he is carrying a fun .207 ISO into Yankee Stadium. Schlittler is the play in this matchup, but his ground-ball rate plummets against lefties, so there is always a chance Duran’s power sneaks through in tournaments.

Best DFS Stacks to Target

The three stacks I want most are the Phillies, Cardinals, and Yankees, with the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Diamondbacks as my leverage pivots. It is a small slate and all three top offenses project well, so it is fair to expect at least one to pay off.

The Phillies carry the highest implied run total on this six-game slate, and the logic checks out against Cade Cavalli. Cavalli has whiffs in his game and does not give up a ton of power, but he is still running into a murderer’s row of hitters. Kyle Schwarber gets the party started, as noted, while Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Brandon Marsh, and Bryson Stott all look good on paper. You can round out the stack with J.T. Realmuto or Alec Bohm, or reach for an unowned nine-hole option like Justin Crawford. These implied run totals come straight from the betting markets, and our over/under betting guide explains how game totals are set.

The Cardinals are home with the slate’s second-best implied run total. Their game is the only one with real weather concerns, but it should still play. St. Louis draws Zac Gallen, who has not been sharp this year and is especially vulnerable to left-handed hitting. Gallen is allowing a .180 ISO to both sides, but his brutal 11% whiff rate against lefties is something the Cardinals (who rarely strike out) should be able to exploit. The Cards project five lefties in their lineup and could really open things up here.

New York is not the third-ranked team by raw scoring projection, but it ranks third on my list of stacks to target. The pinstripes are watered down and lefty-heavy, yet they are in a great park against a young pitcher who has struggled to find his footing. Connelly Early is best attacked from the right side, and the Yankees should have five righties in the lineup. Where they do not, the likes of Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, and Jazz Chisholm all bring strong numbers and legitimate power against southpaws.

Leverage Stacks to Target

I am not going out of my way to fire up Boston bats, since the matchup is not great and the offense simply is not that imposing. But Schlittler will be popular and the park factor is in their favor, so if nobody wants the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, I will have a sprinkling of them in non-Schlittler lineups for maximum leverage.

Houston, Detroit, Chicago, and the Mets all look fine tonight, but if I am straying from the top stacks I want even more leverage. That points to the Blue Jays, who may go overlooked against a high-strikeout arm in Mackenzie Gore. The matchup favors him on paper, which is exactly why I want Toronto in GPPs. I also like the other side of the Cardinals game: it will be warm in St. Louis and Arizona is going to get ignored. The Diamondbacks are a patient offense that avoids whiffs, gets on base, and packs some punch, so start with Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll against Michael McGreevy’s .169 ISO, then fill in around Nolan Arenado, Pavin Smith, and Geraldo Perdomo.

Building Your Thursday DFS Lineups

Your DraftKings builds start at the top with pitching on this slate. Schlittler will grace most of my lineups, and I am eager to get to Gausman and Sanchez quite a bit as well. Mackenzie Gore is an interesting option in the builds where you are not playing Toronto bats.

Offensively, this slate starts with Philadelphia, who also happen to be the most obvious stack. That makes it a good slate to either eat the chalky Schlittler and Phillies combination and get unique elsewhere, or pair Schlittler with his own Yankees offense and lean on leverage stacks to differentiate.

However you slice it, anchor the lineups with one or two of the top arms, pick your spots with the core stacks, and use the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Diamondbacks pivots to separate from the field. Just remember these projections are estimates, so confirm the official lineups before lock.

Frequently Asked Questions

A few common questions about Thursday’s MLB DFS slate, the weather, and how to read these plays.