Best MLB DFS Picks Today: Top Value Plays for August 25, 2026

Tuesday’s MLB slate is stacked with 12 games and a first pitch window that runs from 6:40 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. ET, giving DFS players plenty of pricing gaps to exploit across DraftKings and FanDuel. With aces like Gavin Williams and Paul Skenes anchoring the pitcher pool and a handful of underpriced power bats lurking in favorable matchups, this is a slate built for both cash game consistency and GPP upside.

Our approach today leans on confirmed lineup spots, recent exit-velocity trends, and pitcher splits that create clear advantages for the hitter or the arm on the mound. We’re targeting one true stud pitcher to anchor cash lineups, then filling out value at the corner infield and outfield spots where salary hasn’t caught up to recent production.

Gavin Williams, SP — Cleveland Guardians ($10,500 DK)

Williams is the top DraftKings pitcher target on the board for Tuesday’s trip to Anaheim. Through 154.2 innings this season, he’s posted a 3.58 FIP with an excellent 24.6 K-BB%, and over his last six starts he’s cleared 30 fantasy points four times. That kind of week-to-week ceiling is exactly what cash game builders want anchoring their pitcher spot.

The matchup plays right into his strikeout profile. The Angels rank second in the league in strikeout rate, and while they do have some thump in the lineup, they check in 28th in isolated power and 28th in wRC+ as a team. Williams has allowed 25 home runs on the year and carries an 11.7% barrel rate, so the long ball is the one real risk, but a lineup that misses this much shouldn’t do consistent damage against a starter carrying real swing-and-miss stuff into a road park that hasn’t been a launching pad this season.

At $10,500, Williams isn’t cheap, but his price sits below true top-tier arms like Jacob deGrom, and the swing-and-miss upside against a punchless Angels order makes him a priority build-around piece for anyone constructing DraftKings lineups today.

Yordan Alvarez, OF — Houston Astros ($6,700 DK)

Alvarez remains one of the most dangerous bats in the sport, and Tuesday’s trip to Yankee Stadium sets up beautifully. He’s slashing .320/.436/.613 on the season with a 16.1% walk rate, a 17% strikeout rate, and a .294 ISO through 566 plate appearances. He’s already racked up 36 home runs, 86 runs, and 90 RBI, with an average exit velocity of 94.5 mph and a 17.3% barrel rate that ranks among the best in baseball.

The pitching matchup only sweetens the pot. Will Warren carries a 4.77 FIP and a 10.1 K-BB% against left-handed hitters this season, and 11 of the 19 home runs he’s allowed have come off lefty bats. Alvarez has done the bulk of his own power damage against right-handers too — 27 of his 36 homers have come off righty pitching, with a 206 wRC+ and .319 ISO in those situations — but facing a below-average lefty-suppressing arm in the short porch at Yankee Stadium is about as favorable a road setup as you’ll find on this slate.

At $6,700, Alvarez isn’t the cheapest outfielder on the board, but for the production and matchup combination, he’s a strong value relative to the truly elite tier of hitters that will run $7,500 or more tonight. He fits both cash builds looking for a stable floor and GPP lineups chasing a multi-homer ceiling.

Jake Burger, 3B/1B — Texas Rangers ($4,000 DK)

Burger has quietly been one of the more productive power bats in baseball this season, sitting on 22 home runs and 75 RBI with an 89.9 mph average exit velocity, a 10.7% barrel rate, and a 75.7 mph bat speed. He’s been especially dangerous against left-handed pitching, slashing .264/.331/.500 with a .236 ISO and a 131 wRC+ in those matchups, and he’s carried that form into his recent stretch — two homers and four RBI over his last seven games, including a two-RBI, one-homer effort on Monday against this very same White Sox club.

Tuesday’s assignment sets up as a smash spot. Anthony Kay has been rough against right-handed hitters all season, allowing a .280/.370/.466 slash line with 14 home runs surrendered, a 5.51 FIP, and a paltry 6.1 K-BB% in those matchups. Kay’s overall numbers look respectable on the surface, but the split against righties like Burger is the number that matters here, and Burger’s recent form suggests he’s rounding into peak form at exactly the right time.

At just $4,000, Burger offers real thump at a discount price. He fills nicely into a lineup that’s already spent up on a stud pitcher, and the recent power surge combined with the exploitable platoon matchup makes him one of the sharper value plays on the entire board tonight.

Coby Mayo, 3B — Baltimore Orioles ($2,300 DK)

Mayo has been on a tear over the last week, going 4-for-23 with two home runs, two RBI, and five runs scored in his last seven games — a .261/.346/.609 slash line that reflects real hard contact even if the overall season average sits at a modest .212. He’s opened August by hitting in back-to-back games recently and has strung together an extra-base-hit-heavy stretch that’s hard to ignore at this salary.

Tuesday’s road matchup in St. Louis pits Mayo against Chris Bassitt, who carries a 5.08 ERA on the season. Bassitt has struggled with the long ball and consistency this year, and Mayo’s recent exit-velocity trends — a strong finish to his last 30 games with six home runs — suggest he’s squaring the ball up more often than his batting average lets on. For $2,300, that kind of recent power output is a clear salary-to-production mismatch.

Mayo profiles as a classic punt play: cheap enough to pair with multiple studs at the top of your lineup, but hot enough right now that he’s a live source of upside rather than a pure salary-cap filler. He’s a strong GPP piece, especially in stacks built around Baltimore’s lineup.

Nathaniel Lowe, 1B — Cleveland Guardians ($3,900 DK)

Lowe rounds out the value tier at a rock-bottom $3,900 on DraftKings. He’s hitting .262 with 14 home runs, 48 RBI, and a .796 OPS on the season, and while his most recent week has been quiet by his standards — just a .192 average over his last seven games — he’s shown signs of life over a wider 15-game window, batting .255 with two homers and 11 RBI in that stretch.

Tuesday sends Cleveland to Angel Stadium for a matchup against Walbert Ureña, and the payoff here is affordability paired with lineup security. Lowe hits in the middle of a Guardians order that should see plenty of opportunities against an Angels pitching staff that has been middle-of-the-pack at best this season. At sub-$4,000 pricing, he doesn’t need a monster night to return value — a double and a walk covers his salary in most scoring formats, and any power output on top of that is pure profit.

Lowe is best deployed as a cash game floor piece who lets you spend up elsewhere, whether that’s on Williams at pitcher or Alvarez in the outfield. He’s not the sexiest name on this list, but salary relief at first base is hard to find on a 12-game slate, and Lowe delivers it reliably.

Building Your Lineup

With Williams anchoring the pitcher spot at $10,500, the roster construction math gets easier if you lean on Burger, Mayo, and Lowe to fill out the cheaper infield and corner spots, freeing up salary for one more premium bat like Alvarez in the outfield. That combination — one ace, one stud bat, and a trio of value infielders in good matchups — is a proven cash game framework on nights like this.

For GPP builds, consider stacking the Orioles lineup around Mayo, since Baltimore’s offense as a whole projects for a plus matchup against Bassitt, or pairing Burger with a couple of his Rangers teammates against a White Sox pitching staff that’s been vulnerable to right-handed power all year. Ownership on Williams and Alvarez will likely run high given their obvious appeal, so differentiating with a Mayo or Burger stack rather than fading them outright is often the better strategy for tournament lineups.

Before you lock your DraftKings lineup or FanDuel picks, double check confirmed batting orders closer to first pitch — lineup shuffles can change the calculus on some of these value plays, particularly for players hitting near the bottom of the order. Bookmark our MLB odds page for live lines that can help you gauge total run environments before you finalize cash game and GPP builds for tonight’s slate.