Thursday’s MLB slate rolls out nine games, headlined by an AL East tilt in Tampa Bay between the Rays and Blue Jays, a Coors Field clash between the Rockies and Dodgers, and Gerrit Cole leading the Yankees into Baltimore. With a full day slate and a handful of thin bullpens on both sides, there’s plenty of room to build differentiated cash and GPP lineups without overpaying for the obvious chalk.

Today’s approach leans on a mix of a undervalued strikeout arm, two power-hitting corner infielders in plus matchups, a Coors Field beneficiary, and a steady everyday bat who keeps producing regardless of opponent. Here are five MLB DFS picks worth building around for today’s cash games and GPP lineups.

Ian Seymour, SP — Tampa Bay Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays ($8,800 DK)

Seymour has quietly turned into one of the better values on the board after transitioning from the bullpen into a full-time rotation role. Over his last seven outings he’s posted a 4.11 ERA with 43 strikeouts across 35.0 innings, and if you zoom in further, his last three starts have all produced at least 7 strikeouts, including a 9-strikeout, 6-inning outing against Baltimore his last time out. He’s held opposing lefties to a .178 average this season — fourth-lowest mark among AL rookie pitchers — which matters against a Toronto lineup that leans right-handed but still rotates in several left-handed bats.

The matchup context is favorable too: Seymour gets a Blue Jays club playing its second game of a stretch on the road, and Tropicana Field continues to suppress power numbers relative to most AL East parks. At $8,800, he’s priced below several arms with worse recent form, and the strikeout equity alone (10.7 K/9 this season) gives him a strong floor in points-per-dollar builds.

Jonathan Aranda, 1B — Tampa Bay Rays vs. Toronto Blue Jays ($5,100 DK)

Aranda is one of the more attractive stacking pieces on the entire slate today. He’s slashing .286/.371/.428 with 15 home runs and 76 RBI on the year, and his underlying Statcast profile — a 91 mph average exit velocity and 10.1% barrel rate — backs up the production. The real signal here is his split: Aranda owns a .303 average and an .867 OPS against right-handed pitching this season, and 14 of his 15 home runs have come against righties.

That lines up perfectly with today’s matchup against Shane Bieber, who has struggled mightily against left-handed hitters in 2026, carrying a 6.41 FIP and just a 1.7% K-BB% in those matchups. Aranda bats left-handed and profiles as exactly the type of hitter who should feast in this spot. Pairing him with Seymour in a mini-Rays stack gives you correlated exposure to a game environment that should tilt in Tampa Bay’s favor, and at $5,100 he still qualifies as a value relative to the top-tier bats on the board.

Sal Stewart, 1B/3B — Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals ($5,100 DK)

Stewart has been one of the better rookie stories in baseball this season, and the power output has been real: 26 home runs, 91 RBI, and a .804 OPS across a full season workload. He’s especially dangerous against left-handed pitching, posting an .872 OPS with 6 homers in 126 plate appearances against southpaws, but he’s also been productive across the board, hitting for a .783 OPS against right-handers as well.

Today’s Cardinals starter, Michael McGreevy, is a groundball-oriented right-hander without an overpowering strikeout pitch, which plays into Stewart’s aggressive, contact-driven approach at the plate. Great American Ball Park remains one of the more hitter-friendly parks in the league, particularly for pull-side power, and Stewart’s spot in the middle of Cincinnati’s order gives him plenty of RBI opportunity behind Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain. At $5,100, he’s a strong bridge piece between the studs and the pure punt plays.

Willi Castro, 2B/3B — Colorado Rockies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers ($4,600 DK)

Castro’s raw season line — .265 average, 14 home runs, .762 OPS — undersells how much better he’s been at home this year. His OPS jumps to .863 at Coors Field in 2026, and he’s been on a heater lately, hitting .304 with a .478 slugging percentage over his last seven games. Multi-position eligibility at second and third base adds lineup-building flexibility, letting you pivot salary elsewhere while still rostering a hitter in one of the sport’s best offensive environments.

Coors Field inflates offense across the board, and Castro’s switch-hitting ability means he’s not locked into a platoon disadvantage regardless of who Los Angeles turns to out of the bullpen behind the starter. He won’t be the most owned Rockies bat on the slate, which makes him a useful way to get correlated Coors exposure in tournament lineups without paying up for the true studs at the top of Colorado’s order.

Alec Burleson, OF — St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds ($4,700 DK)

Burleson has quietly put together an excellent season, slashing .289/.354/.493 with a .204 ISO and a strikeout rate under 17%. That combination of contact skill and real power makes him one of the safer plays at his price point today, especially in a game environment at Great American Ball Park that favors hitters on both sides. He’s a low-strikeout, gap-to-gap hitter who doesn’t need a great matchup to produce, which gives him one of the higher floors on the slate for cash game lineups.

Against a Reds pitching staff that’s been middling for stretches this season, Burleson projects as a steady source of hits and extra-base pop without carrying the boom-or-bust risk of some of the higher-owned outfield options today. He also stacks well with Cardinals teammates in the same lineup if you want to build out a mini-stack around this get.

Building Your Lineup

The Rays-Blue Jays game sets up as one of the more interesting stacking opportunities on the board today, with Seymour on the mound and Aranda in a plus platoon spot against Bieber — pairing pitcher and hitter correlation from the same side rarely lines up this cleanly. If you want to fade the Rays stack because of ownership, the Reds-Cardinals game offers a second correlated angle with Stewart and Burleson both playing in the same hitter-friendly park from opposite dugouts.

From a roster construction standpoint, anchoring your DraftKings lineup with Seymour at pitcher frees up salary to roster two of the four hitters above without needing to punt elsewhere in your lineup. For FanDuel builds, prioritize the players with the clearest platoon advantages — Aranda and Stewart both carry real split data supporting today’s specific matchups, which tends to hold up better across a full slate than raw season averages alone. If you’re deciding between chalk and a pivot late, remember that ownership on the Rays-Blue Jays game could climb once lineups are finalized, so locking in your stack decision before final swaps often pays off. For bettors who also want to track the moneyline and total movement on games like Rockies-Dodgers before first pitch, the live MLB odds page is a useful companion tool while building lineups. Whichever combination you land on, prioritize confirmed lineups and recent form over name recognition, and don’t be afraid to pay up at one or two spots if the matchup data supports it.