Monday’s MLB slate brings a full 10-game card to build around, and it’s shaping up to be one of the more interesting nights of the summer for DFS players. Tarik Skubal makes just his second start as a Dodger against a Royals lineup still shaking off a two-week absence from Bobby Witt Jr., while a pair of red-hot hitters in Milwaukee and Boston give value hunters plenty to work with on both DraftKings and FanDuel.
The approach today leans on a mix of proven aces at the top of the pitcher pool and hitters who are trending up in the last two weeks rather than chasing season-long numbers. Two of the five picks below come at a discount because the market hasn’t fully caught up to recent form, which is exactly where cash game and GPP picks should be hunting on a Monday slate.
Tarik Skubal, LHP — Los Angeles Dodgers ($10,700 DK)
Skubal draws the Kansas City Royals in his second turn through a Dodgers rotation that’s given him a significant offensive upgrade behind him. In his Dodgers debut, he worked six innings and put up 17.9 FPTS, and he’s posted double-digit fantasy points in every start this season with four outings north of 30 FPTS. That’s about as high a floor as any arm on the board carries into a Monday main slate.
The matchup only helps his case. Kansas City ranks 19th in ISO and 17th in wRC+ against left-handed pitching this season, which plays directly into Skubal’s strengths as a lefty who misses bats at an elite rate. At $10,700 he’s the most expensive arm on the board, but with a rotation-leading ceiling and a Royals lineup that’s middling against southpaws, he profiles as a stud play rather than a fade, even at the top price point.
Kansas City also won’t be able to lean much on Bobby Witt Jr. against him specifically — early sample data shows Witt has struggled against Skubal in a small handful of prior at-bats — which further tilts this matchup toward the Dodgers ace. For lineup construction purposes, that’s one more reason to pay up for Skubal in cash games where a shutdown floor start matters more than chasing raw upside elsewhere.
Logan Henderson, RHP — Milwaukee Brewers ($9,700 DK)
Henderson has quietly become one of the best value arms in baseball, and Monday’s start against the San Diego Padres is another good spot to buy in before the price catches up to the performance. Through 10 starts this season he’s sitting on a 2.70 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and an 11.2 K/9 across 50 innings, and he’s won six of his last seven major-league starts with a 2.19 ERA over that stretch.
His most recent outing was more of the same — six innings, two runs allowed on four hits and a walk, with eight strikeouts against Pittsburgh. That kind of swing-and-miss stuff travels well against most lineups, and San Diego doesn’t offer the kind of standout right-handed power threat that would make this a scary matchup on paper.
At $9,700, Henderson comes in a full $1,000 below other top-tier arms on the slate despite arguably better underlying numbers this season. For DraftKings lineup builders trying to jam in bats at premium salary, saving that grand at pitcher while still rostering a legitimate strikeout artist is the kind of margin that wins cash games.
Bobby Witt Jr., SS — Kansas City Royals ($5,800 DK)
Witt just returned from a two-week injured list stint and has looked like himself immediately, going 3-for-5 with a two-run double in his first game back and following that up with more solid at-bats since. He’s hitting .284 with 13 home runs and 42 RBI on the season, and zooming into his monthly splits shows he’s carrying a blistering .381 average and .911 OPS in his brief August sample.
The value case here is straightforward: Witt is a top-tier fantasy asset going for under $6,000 on DraftKings because the market hasn’t fully priced in his return from the IL. His season-long numbers against left-handed pitching are actually strong — an .892 OPS with a .317 average — even though his specific track record against Skubal has been light. On volume and role alone, a full-time shortstop hitting near the top of a productive Royals order at this price is a clear value building block for cash lineups and GPP stacks alike.
He also brings stolen base equity that’s tough to find at this salary tier — Witt has 30 steals to go with his power production this season, giving him a rare floor-and-ceiling combination for a play in the $5,000-$6,000 range.
Jackson Chourio, OF — Milwaukee Brewers ($5,600 DK)
Chourio has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball over the last week and a half, going 7-for-21 (.333) to start August with three home runs already in his first six games of the month. He’s carrying a .819 OPS on the season with 17 home runs and 47 RBI, and Statcast has him running a career-best 13.9% barrel rate and 92.1 mph average exit velocity in 2026.
Monday’s matchup against San Diego keeps him in a favorable spot to continue that stretch. Chourio’s hard-hit rate sits at 47.6% for the season, well above league average, and his current form suggests the underlying contact quality is finally lining up with the results. Getting on base in nine of his last 10 games shows this isn’t a fluky power spike — it’s a legitimately hot stretch from one of the game’s most talented young outfielders.
At $5,600, Chourio slots in as a mid-range value play that pairs well with Henderson in a Brewers stack, giving lineup builders correlated upside if Milwaukee’s offense gets rolling against the Padres’ pitching staff.
Jarren Duran, OF — Boston Red Sox ($4,000 DK)
Duran’s season-long line is ugly on the surface — a .202/.260/.357 slash with a 28.7% strikeout rate — but that number is masking a red-hot last week that makes him one of the sharpest cheap plays on the board. Since August 1, over a seven-game, 30-plate-appearance stretch, Duran is slashing .259/.310/.630 with three home runs and two stolen bases, an eye-popping .370 ISO that dwarfs his season mark.
The exit velocity data backs up the surge rather than dismissing it as noise — Duran’s average exit velocity sits at 89.5 mph with a 10.1% barrel rate and 75 mph bat speed, all healthy underlying marks for a player at this salary. Monday’s matchup against Toronto’s Jameson Taillon adds another layer of appeal: Taillon carries a bloated ERA against left-handed hitters this season, and Duran’s left-handed bat should see plenty of pitches to drive at Rogers Centre.
At just $4,000, Duran is priced like a bench bat despite the recent surge, making him one of the better punt plays on the entire slate for cash game lineups that need to save salary elsewhere for the Skubal-Henderson pitcher combo up top.
Building Your Lineup
The natural build here starts at pitcher with either Skubal or Henderson, and paying up for both isn’t unreasonable given the salary relief available at the bottom of this lineup with Duran and the shortstop pool led by Witt. A Brewers mini-stack of Henderson and Chourio gives correlated exposure against a Padres pitching staff that hasn’t been overwhelming on the road, while Duran offers a near-free outfield slot to spend elsewhere.
For GPP purposes, Witt’s return from the injured list makes him a lower-owned play than his talent level would suggest, since some DFS players may still be pricing in rust or a workload cap. That gap between expected ownership and expected production is exactly the kind of edge tournament lineups should be chasing on a Monday slate like this one. Before locking anything in, double check the final confirmed lineups and any last-minute scratches, since Monday slates with day-of lineup news can shift ownership and value quickly. If you’re setting lines around this slate, it’s worth checking the latest MLB odds to see how the market views these same matchups.
Bankroll management matters as much as player selection on a 10-game slate with this much salary flexibility at the top. Rostering both Skubal and Henderson leaves roughly $10,000 in remaining salary to fill eight hitting spots, which is tight but workable if you lean on value bats like Duran and Chourio rather than trying to force in a second premium stud. That’s the version of this slate that should cash consistently across cash games and give a real shot at bigger GPP scores if the Brewers stack breaks the right way.
