MLB DFS Picks Today: DraftKings Main Slate for September 22, 2026

Our MLB DFS picks for Tuesday, September 22 start with Arizona’s matchup at Coors Field, but Atlanta’s prices are what make the rest of this DraftKings main slate interesting. We can build a serious Braves stack without sacrificing both pitching spots. That gives us a better starting point than automatically taking the cheapest available arm to squeeze in expensive hitters.

The 10-game main slate starts at 7:05 PM ET. Tampa Bay at New York is the evening game of the doubleheader; the afternoon game and the other games starting before 7:05 are outside this slate.

Hitter recommendations apply only when the player is in the starting lineup. Batting order matters particularly for the cheaper options; a low salary does not make a bench player usable.

DraftKings MLB pitching picks

Logan Gilbert: our first pitching choice

Logan Gilbert, $9,500 faces Houston in Seattle. The strikeout ceiling is the reason we prefer him at this price: he struck out 11 across seven innings against Texas on September 10, then recorded seven strikeouts in six innings on September 15.

Those outings illustrate the upside rather than guarantee another strong result. We want a pitcher who can separate through strikeouts, not one who needs a win and an unusually low hit total just to justify his salary. Gilbert is our default SP1, but we would not pair him with Houston hitters in the same lineup.

Shota Imanaga: our preferred SP2

Shota Imanaga, $9,000 gets Miami at Wrigley. MLB lists a 3.80 ERA and 164 strikeouts. Our preferred pairing is Gilbert plus Imanaga, which costs $18,500 and leaves $31,500 for eight hitters.

We like that construction because Atlanta and several secondary stacks offer inexpensive position players. There is no automatic need to take a large pitching downgrade. Imanaga still needs innings and strikeouts to justify this price, but he is the arm we would use before forcing an uncomfortable bargain into the second pitching slot.

Taj Bradley: the upper-tier alternative

Taj Bradley, $10,000 pitches for Minnesota at San Francisco. His season strikeout total is 199. He is a reasonable replacement for Gilbert in tournaments, especially when the rest of the lineup already fits comfortably.

We would not automatically pay the extra $500 simply because Bradley is the most expensive of these choices. His appeal is an alternative strikeout-driven result at pitcher. If that $500 costs a preferred hitter or breaks a useful stack, Gilbert remains our first choice.

MacKenzie Gore: a meaningful price pivot

MacKenzie Gore, $8,300 faces the Mets for Texas. Moving from Imanaga to Gore saves $700; moving from Bradley to Gore saves $1,700. We like him most when those savings produce a specific improvement at hitter, rather than as a default second pitcher in every lineup.

A Gilbert-Gore pairing costs $17,800. It gives us another route to Marte or Acuña without going all the way down into the speculative pitching tier. We would use it more aggressively in tournaments than in a lineup designed to minimize weak spots.

JR Ritchie: the aggressive salary release

JR Ritchie, $6,700 draws Cincinnati in Atlanta. His 5.03 ERA is a reason to be selective, not a number we can ignore because the salary is low.

Gilbert plus Ritchie leaves $33,800 for the offense. That is $2,300 more than Gilbert-Imanaga, but the extra hitter budget comes with a genuine pitching tradeoff. We would only use Ritchie when it gets us to a noticeably stronger stack. Keeping the same bats and leaving the savings unused defeats the purpose.

Top MLB DFS stacks

1. Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado

Arizona faces left-hander Kyle Freeland at Coors Field. Freeland’s 6.38 ERA strengthens the matchup, and Arizona has enough price variation that we do not need to build this as five expensive hitters.

Start with: Ketel Marte, $5,200, Gabriel Moreno, $4,800 and Nolan Arenado, $4,100. Marte is our first purchase. Moreno is the catcher option when we want the stack to carry that roster spot, while Arenado competes directly with cheaper third-base choices elsewhere.

Salary options: Jordan Lawlar, $3,300 and Ryan Waldschmidt, $3,200, if starting. Both occupy outfield slots in this DraftKings slate. They let us connect Arizona’s offense without giving up the preferred pitching pair.

Geraldo Perdomo, $4,400 is the shortstop option. Corbin Carroll, $5,300 belongs in tournament combinations too, but we would not force him ahead of Marte just to buy the most familiar outfielder. Against the left-handed starter, our initial emphasis is Arizona’s switch-hitting and right-handed options.

The main construction risk is assuming every Arizona combination is equally good. A five-man stack filled with low-order hitters can still be weaker than a three-man Arizona group paired with Atlanta’s better-priced starters.

2. Atlanta Braves against Brandon Williamson

Atlanta is our favorite stack for the salary. Williamson is a left-hander with a 5.56 ERA, and the Braves give us several affordable hitters who can bat from the right side.

Our foundation: Ronald Acuña Jr., $5,500, Austin Riley, $3,300 and Ozzie Albies, $3,500. That trio costs $12,300. We prefer paying for Acuña alongside Riley and Albies to treating every expensive Coors bat as mandatory.

Sean Murphy, $2,700 is particularly useful if he gets the catching assignment. Ha-Seong Kim, $2,000 is a salary-saving shortstop only if he starts. Neither is an automatic addition before the batting order is known.

Matt Olson, $5,000 is the left-handed power option for a full stack. We would not make him our first standalone choice against Williamson, but we do not need every hitter in a five-man stack to have the same platoon advantage. A productive Atlanta game can include runs against the bullpen as well as the starter.

For a single-entry build, Atlanta is the first stack we would try after setting the pitcher pairing. It allows enough spending elsewhere that the lineup does not need several unrelated minimum-price hitters.

3. Seattle Mariners against Cristian Javier

Seattle is our preferred tournament alternative to concentrating everything on Arizona and Atlanta. Javier carries a 5.31 ERA, but we would not price this matchup as though it were another game at Coors.

Our first three: Julio Rodríguez, $4,300, Cal Raleigh, $5,100 and Josh Naylor, $3,800. Together they cost $13,200. Raleigh uses the catcher slot, Naylor takes first base, and Rodríguez gives us a mid-priced outfielder, so the stack does not consume three outfield spots immediately.

Taylor Ward, $3,000 offers another inexpensive outfield route if starting. J.P. Crawford, $3,500 and Cole Young, $3,400 can complete a larger Seattle stack when their lineup positions support it.

The reason to use Seattle is not simply to avoid popular players. It is to bet on Javier struggling and Seattle concentrating its scoring in an affordable group. That can work as a five-man stack or a smaller complement to Arizona.

4. Texas Rangers against Sean Manaea

Texas is our favorite compact secondary stack. Manaea is a left-hander with a 4.74 ERA, and the right-handed group is inexpensive.

Wyatt Langford, $4,000, Josh Jung, $3,300 and Jake Burger, $3,100 cost $10,400 combined. They occupy outfield, third base and first base, respectively. That is a practical three-man attachment to a premium main stack, provided we have not already used those infield positions.

This is not a claim that Texas has a better overall scoring environment than Arizona. We like the combination of price and matchup. A full Rangers stack is more aggressive; the three-man version is where we would start.

One-off hitters we like

Ketel Marte, $5,200 is our favorite premium hitter even outside an Arizona stack. Paying for one central Arizona bat is a reasonable compromise when the rest of the lineup is built around another offense.

Ronald Acuña Jr., $5,500 is the alternative when we have an open outfield slot rather than second base. We especially like using him with Riley as a two-man group instead of adding a completely unrelated expensive hitter.

Julio Rodríguez, $4,300 is our favorite mid-range outfield option. His price is low enough to remain usable alongside the preferred pitchers, while the matchup provides a reason to choose Seattle beyond salary alone.

Cal Raleigh, $5,100 is the catcher spend-up when we are not using Moreno or an Atlanta catcher. Using Raleigh with Rodríguez creates a two-man Seattle combination without forcing a full-stack commitment.

Wyatt Langford, $4,000 is the cheaper outfield alternative when Rodríguez does not fit the rest of the lineup. He also offers an easy transition from a one-off into the Texas mini-stack.

Value hitters and where they fit

Player	DK position	Best use
Austin Riley, $3,300	3B	Our preferred value bat and an Atlanta stack anchor.
Ozzie Albies, $3,500	2B	Atlanta exposure when Marte is not the second baseman.
Jordan Lawlar, $3,300	OF	Less expensive Arizona exposure if starting.
Ryan Waldschmidt, $3,200	OF	Another Arizona salary option; batting order decides priority.
Taylor Ward, $3,000	OF	Seattle salary release if he starts.
Sean Murphy, $2,700	C	Cheap Atlanta catcher if selected in the starting nine.
Ha-Seong Kim, $2,000	SS	Minimum-price stack piece only with a starting assignment.

The strongest value is the player whose price solves a lineup problem without creating a playing-time problem. Riley and Albies are our first places to look. The cheaper conditional names are alternatives, not instructions to cram every discount into the same roster.

Weather and lineup details that affect the build

Chicago’s forecast calls for temperatures in the low 60s with northeast-to-east winds around 13 to 14 mph. We are not treating Wrigley as an automatic home-run upgrade. Our preference is to use Imanaga before forcing expensive Cubs hitters ahead of the Arizona and Atlanta options.

The Tampa Bay-New York doubleheader deserves particular attention to the night-game batting order. A hitter starting the afternoon game is not proof he starts the DraftKings night slate.

Seattle, Texas and Arizona all play after the opening game. When a lineup contains an unconfirmed late value, keep enough salary and an appropriate position open for a realistic alternative. A $2,000 shortstop is not interchangeable with a $3,000 outfielder.

Chalk we like and tournament leverage

We are comfortable with Arizona exposure. A good offensive matchup does not become a bad play just because it is easy to identify. Our preferred adjustment is changing the secondary stack or one expensive hitter, not avoiding the entire game automatically.

Atlanta offers an alternative without requiring a pitching sacrifice. We can build around its affordable infielders, use Acuña as the premium bat, and add a smaller Arizona group. If Arizona draws most of the tournament attention, this construction gives us a different way to benefit from a big offensive game.

Seattle is the larger tournament swing. A five-man Mariners lineup asks their offense to beat the obvious alternatives, so it carries a real opportunity cost. We prefer that coherent bet to scattering eight unrelated hitters simply because each seems less obvious.

Do not downgrade both pitchers just to look different. One speculative arm can be part of a deliberate build. Two weak pitching slots plus several low-order hitters is not the kind of differentiation we want.

Lineup construction: three useful spending paths

Pitching pair	Pitching cost	Eight-hitter budget
Gilbert + Imanaga	$18,500	$31,500
Gilbert + Gore	$17,800	$32,200
Gilbert + Ritchie	$16,200	$33,800

Our preferred build starts with Gilbert-Imanaga, then Atlanta. Try a five-man Braves stack with either a three-man Arizona group or two Arizona hitters and a one-off. The cheaper Atlanta infielders make this viable without assuming we must punt SP2.

The Arizona-first version can use Texas as the three-man partner. Check positions before falling in love with the names: Jung and Arenado both require third base, while Burger and a first-base Arizona option compete for the same slot.

The Seattle version can pair with Arizona or Atlanta. Raleigh at catcher and Naylor at first base leave room for the other team’s infielders. That positional fit is part of why we like Seattle more than a stack that needs several expensive outfielders.

We would use salary left over to improve a weak spot when a better option fits the same story. Leaving money unused is acceptable, but it is not the goal and does not by itself make a lineup more likely to win.

CTS Core for September 22

Our starting point: Logan Gilbert, $9,500, Ketel Marte, $5,200, Austin Riley, $3,300 and Julio Rodríguez, $4,300, with all hitters requiring a starting assignment. Imanaga is the preferred second pitcher; Albies is the direct alternative when the lineup uses Atlanta instead of Marte at second base.

We want Arizona’s matchup, Atlanta’s prices and enough pitching quality to stay competitive if the obvious offenses score. Seattle and Texas give us the alternatives when we need a different tournament construction.

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