MLB DFS Picks: DraftKings EARLY & MAIN Slates | September 26, 2026

Saturday gives us two separate DraftKings MLB slates to attack on September 26, 2026. Instead of stretching each into a full standalone article, we are keeping both boards tight: pitching, favorite stacks, one-offs, values and the construction decisions that matter most.

EARLY SLATE

The Early Slate begins at 3:07 PM ET and contains Cincinnati-Toronto, Dodgers-Giants, Atlanta-Miami and Texas-Minnesota.

Early Slate Board

Top pitcher: Blake Snell $11,400
SP2: Trey Yesavage $8,900
Value pitcher: Rhett Lowder $6,300
Favorite stack: Atlanta Braves
Favorite value stack: Texas Rangers
Favorite one-off: Shohei Ohtani $6,500

Pitching

Blake Snell $11,400: The premium arm. Snell enters the Giants matchup with a 1.86 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 52 strikeouts in 38.2 innings. The salary is significant, but the strikeout ceiling separates him from the rest of this small slate.

Trey Yesavage $8,900: Our preferred balanced SP2. Cincinnati brings power, but Yesavage’s 3.67 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 94 strikeouts in 95.2 innings give him enough ceiling to justify the mid-range salary.

Value pitcher: Rhett Lowder $6,300: This is a GPP salary play, not a safety play. Lowder’s 6.01 ERA and 1.55 WHIP create obvious downside, but $6,300 can materially change the bats we can afford. On a four-game slate, that trade can be worth taking in tournaments.

Favorite Stack: Atlanta Braves

Bradley Blalock enters with a 5.63 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in his limited major-league sample. Atlanta gives us Ronald Acuna Jr. $5,800, Matt Olson $5,300, Drake Baldwin $4,600, Michael Harris II $4,300 and Ozzie Albies $3,900. This is our favorite combination of ceiling and workable pricing.

Other Early Stack: Texas Rangers

Texas is much easier to fit around Snell. Wyatt Langford $4,200, Josh Jung $3,600, Corey Seager $3,500, Jake Burger $3,400 and Brandon Nimmo $3,300 give us a full stack without forcing multiple punts.

Early One-Offs & Values

Shohei Ohtani $6,500: Raw ceiling even without a full Dodgers stack.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. $4,100: Strong standalone salary for Toronto against Lowder.
Corey Seager $3,500: One of the best price-adjusted bats on the slate.
Kyle Stowers $3,300: Cheap Miami power when salary is tight.

Early Construction

Snell plus Yesavage is the strongest raw pitching route. Snell plus Lowder is the aggressive tournament build that can unlock Acuna, Olson and Ohtani together. Texas is our preferred stack when we want to spend heavily at pitcher.

MAIN SLATE

The Main Slate begins at 7:10 PM ET with eight games. The pitching pool is deeper, and Houston plus Chicago immediately stand out as offenses we can attack.

Main Slate Board

Top pitcher: Michael Wacha $9,400
Favorite SP2: Quinn Mathews $8,800
Value pitcher: Davis Martin $6,300
Favorite stack: Houston Astros
Favorite secondary stack: Chicago White Sox
Favorite one-off: Julio Rodriguez $4,500

Pitching

Michael Wacha $9,400: Wacha brings a 3.33 ERA and 1.11 WHIP into Cleveland. He is our preferred combination of current form, workload and salary at the top of this Main Slate.

Quinn Mathews $8,800: Mathews has a 3.65 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 44.1 innings. Milwaukee is not a perfect matchup, but the strikeout path makes him our preferred tournament SP2 in the upper-middle tier.

Value pitcher: Davis Martin $6,300: Martin is the salary-saving starter we want most. Colorado has been a much different offense away from Coors, while Martin enters with a 3.84 ERA across 145.1 innings. At $6,300, he can unlock multiple premium Houston bats without dropping to a speculative opener.

Favorite Stack: Houston Astros

Houston gets Jack Perkins, who enters with a 5.90 ERA and 1.45 WHIP. Yordan Alvarez $6,600 is the ceiling anchor, followed by Jeremy Pena $5,400, Isaac Paredes $4,800, Jose Altuve $4,600, Yainer Diaz $4,300, Cam Smith $4,000 and Christian Walker $4,000. We do not need Yordan in every Houston stack because the $4K-$4.8K range is strong enough to build around.

Secondary Stack: Chicago White Sox

Jose Quintana enters with a 5.40 ERA and 1.51 WHIP. Chicago gives us Miguel Vargas $5,700, Munetaka Murakami $5,200, Sam Antonacci $4,600, Chase Meidroth $4,300, Colson Montgomery $4,200, Randal Grichuk $3,700 and Kyle Teel $3,600. The bottom half of that group works especially well with expensive pitching.

Main One-Offs & Values

Julio Rodriguez $4,500: Our favorite standalone price-to-ceiling bat.
Jose Ramirez $5,100: Power and speed without needing a Cleveland stack.
Salvador Perez $3,200: Cheap catcher power.
Josh Naylor $3,800: Useful Seattle exposure at a manageable salary.
Christian Walker $4,000: Affordable access to our favorite stack.

Main Construction

Wacha plus Mathews gives us a balanced pitching pair. Martin at $6,300 is the route when we want Yordan plus multiple premium bats. Houston is our first stack, but Chicago is the cleaner salary fit and can be paired with one or two expensive Houston or Seattle one-offs.

CTS Saturday MLB Core

Early: Blake Snell $11,400, Ronald Acuna Jr. $5,800, Corey Seager $3,500
Main: Davis Martin $6,300, Julio Rodriguez $4,500, Christian Walker $4,000