Garion Thorne gives his top studs and value plays for tonight’s seven-game featured fantasy baseball slate on DraftKings.
We don’t usually get a Thursday MLB DFS evening slate of this size, but I’m more than happy to see a ton of baseball goodness on tap for tonight. DraftKings’ featured contests will be seven games, starting at 7:07 p.m. ET with a AL East tilt between the Yankees and the Blue Jays in Toronto.
You still have loads of time to lock in your lineups, but allow me to help anyway. These are my top picks.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $150K Relay Throw [$50K to 1st]
PITCHER
Stud
Robbie Ray, San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks, $10,000 – Ray’s past three starts haven’t jumped off the page, but on a slate that’s a little light in top-end pitching talent, the former Cy Young Award winner is clearly the highest upside option. For the season as a whole, Ray is in possession of a 2.75 ERA and a 2.91 xERA over 98.1 innings of work. The lefty also owns a 27.5% strikeout rate — the 14th-best mark among all qualified pitchers. Now, Arizona is far from a soft matchup, even with Corbin Carroll (wrist) in the IL, but the team has been much better versus RHPs than LHPs so far in 2025. To wit, the Diamondbacks sport a 120 wRC+ against righties, but only a 99 wRC+ when opposed by a southpaw like Ray.
Value
Cade Horton, Chicago Cubs vs. Cleveland Guardians, $6,200 – Horton isn’t having the rookie campaign that many had hoped for, as the right-hander’s ERA is all the way up at 4.80 after surrendering seven earned runs in his last outing against the Astros. However, Cleveland isn’t Houston, and I believe that Horton can thrive in a much easier matchup. Over the past 14 days, the Guardians sit dead-last in baseball in wRC+ (62). Over the past 30 days, Cleveland sits fifth in MLB in strikeout rate (24.8%). Horton’s shown flashes in his brief cup of coffee in the big leagues, especially when facing teams like the Pirates, Nationals and Rockies. I’d be willing to put this version of the Guardians in that lowly class of lineup. On top of all that, Horton’s dirt cheap and the wind is blowing in at Wrigley tonight. Take a chance.
INFIELD
Stud
Jazz Chisholm, New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays, $5,000 – It’s a pretty simple formula. Use Chisholm when he’s facing a right-handed pitcher. In 165 plate appearances against RHPs in 2025, the former Marlin has managed a .313 ISO and a 153 wRC+. Chisholm is also directly on the heels of a fantastic month of June, where he hit seven home runs and posted a .991 OPS. On Thursday, he’ll get the opportunity to go up against Chris Bassitt ($7,600). While the veteran RHP did start 2025 on a heater, Bassitt’s come back down to Earth lately, with a 6.57 ERA over his last seven outings.
Stud
Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago White Sox, $4,800 – There’s more to Smith’s viability on Thursday than some small-sample BvP numbers, but it probably is worth noting that the backstop is 2-for-2 in his career off Aaron Civale ($6,000) and that both hits were home runs. It’s a result that makes some sense, too. Civale is an extreme fly ball pitcher who has surrendered 1.66 opponent long balls per nine so far in 2025. Meanwhile, Smith comes into tonight’s tilt in possession of a .222 ISO and a .418 wOBA. He’s really good — even when he’s not facing Civale.
Value
Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs vs. Cleveland Guardians, $3,900 – With Luis Ortiz away from the team, the Guardians will recall Joey Cantillo ($7,000) to start tonight’s game. Cantillo’s been decent out of the team’s bullpen and promising at Triple-A, but he’s still allowing 1.48 opponent home runs per for his MLB career. This is a swap that benefits the Cubs and you should take advantage. Hoerner is an asset that you can get into your lineup for less than $4,000, despite the fact that he’s currently slashing .351/.364/.554 with a 155 wRC+ versus LHPs. Hoerner also has 15 steals in 2025, so he can contribute in DFS in a couple different ways.
OUTFIELD
Stud
Taylor Ward, Los Angeles Angels at Atlanta Braves, $4,500 – An Angels stack is probably the way to go on Thursday with the struggling Bryce Elder ($6,500) taking the mound for the Braves. In his past two starts, which have spanned just a combined 7.1 innings, Elder has surrendered 18 opponent hits and 14 earned runs. Woof. For the season, Elder is also giving up 2.17 home runs per nine to opposing RHBs — that’s where Ward really comes into the mix. The veteran OF got off to a slow start in 2025, but he’s turned things around over his last 224 plate appearances, notching an .897 OPS and a .307 ISO. Basically, he’s bee red-hot for about two months now.
Value
Addison Barger, Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees, $3,900 – I’m still shocked that Barger is pretty consistently available for less than $4,000, especially after the young LHB crushed his 10th home run of the season on Wednesday evening. Barger combines 95th percentile bat speed (75.9) and average exit velocity (93.5) to produce a 90th percentile expected slugging rate (.533). He’s just better than this price tag. Also, while Clarke Schmidt ($8,900) has been amazing lately, he’s long had his issues with LHBs. If you’re going to attack the Yankees right-hander, it has to be with lefty bats.
