Best MLB DFS Picks Today: Top Value Plays for July 23, 2026

Thursday’s MLB slate brings a manageable four-game main board, but there’s real signal to find if you know where to look. Two of the sport’s best arms are on the mound, a red-hot power bat in Tampa is running into a soft matchup, and there’s a legitimate value shortstop sitting well under market price. It’s a small enough slate that lineup construction matters — you can’t hide from a bad pitcher matchup today, so picking your spots is everything.

Our approach for this build leans on two things: pitchers with swing-and-miss stuff facing lineups that chase, and bats with recent power surges lined up against pitchers who’ve been prone to the long ball. That combination tends to produce the highest-leverage MLB DFS picks on shorter slates like this one, where ownership can bunch up around the obvious studs.

Chris Sale, SP — Atlanta Braves ($9,800+ range on DK)

Sale has been nothing short of dominant in 2026, sitting at 10-6 with a 2.06 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP, and 123 strikeouts across 105 innings — good for second in the NL in ERA and top-10 in strikeouts. Over his last 15 starts he’s been even better, running an eye-popping 1.72 ERA with 107 punchouts in 89 innings, and he struck out six over seven scoreless innings in his most recent turn.

Today he draws a Padres lineup that sits at 50-52 and has scuffled against left-handed pitching for stretches this season. Sale gets the benefit of pitching at home in Truist Park, where he’s posted a 53.1-inning body of work with 54 strikeouts this year. With a well below-average opposing offense and a pitcher who misses bats at an elite rate, Sale is a premium cash-game anchor even at his salary — the swing-and-miss stuff alone gives him a high floor, and the strikeout equity provides real ceiling in tournaments too.

Matt Olson, 1B — Atlanta Braves ($5,400 DK)

Olson brings a track record against today’s opposing starter that’s hard to ignore. Against Griffin Canning specifically, Olson is 4-for-19 with two home runs, three RBI, and an .829 OPS over his career — a small sample, but one that skews heavily toward power output. Canning himself has been a disaster in 2026, sitting at 1-8 with a 6.67 ERA, exactly the profile you want to attack with a middle-of-the-order slugger.

On the season, Olson is hitting .270 with 26 home runs, 60 RBI, and an .879 OPS that ranks eighth in the NL. He’s shown pop over his last 15 games too, going deep four times with a .500 slugging percentage in that window. At $5,400, Olson represents a legitimate value price for a hitter of his caliber, especially in a plus matchup at home against a pitcher who has allowed opposing hitters to tee off all year. He slots in as both a cash-game piece and a stack centerpiece if you want to attack Canning with multiple Braves bats.

Taj Bradley, SP — Tampa Bay Rays ($9,000 range)

Bradley has quietly put together a strong season, sitting at 9-4 with a 3.85 ERA and 124 strikeouts across 107.2 innings, ranking eighth in the AL in strikeouts. His most recent stretch has trended in the right direction as well — over his last seven games he’s posted a sharper 3.59 ERA with 51 strikeouts in 42.2 innings, showing he’s rounding into form after a rougher middle stretch.

Today’s matchup against a White Sox club that hasn’t been a major stacking threat for opposing pitchers this season sets up nicely for Bradley to rack up strikeouts and provide a stable floor. Chicago’s lineup has shown occasional signs of life since the All-Star break, but overall it remains one of the more beatable units on the slate for a strikeout-oriented arm. Bradley offers a blend of K-upside and affordability that fits well in cash-game builds looking to pay up at one pitching spot while saving at the other.

Junior Caminero, 3B — Tampa Bay Rays ($3,500 range on FD)

Few hitters in baseball have been running hotter than Caminero. He’s tied for fourth in MLB with 29 home runs and is slugging .939 on the season, but it’s his recent trajectory that stands out most: five homers in his last 10 games and 13 over his last 17, with an OPS over .900 during that stretch. His rolling log shows multiple double-digit DraftKings-point performances in the last two weeks, including a 19-point game on July 20 (3-for-4 with two doubles) and another 19-point outing on July 17 (2-for-4 with a homer).

His last-30-day split is even more absurd — a .322 average and .722 slugging percentage over that window. At a price that still sits below $4,000 on FanDuel, Caminero is a rare combination of proven power and softer salary that DFS players should be attacking in both cash games and GPPs today.

Gunnar Henderson, SS — Baltimore Orioles ($4,500 range on DK)

Henderson has been an inconsistent source of production in 2026 relative to his star-level talent, but he remains a name capable of a multi-homer night at any moment, and today’s matchup against Slade Cecconi offers exactly the kind of opportunity to hunt. Cecconi has been homer-prone all season, having already surrendered multiple home runs in three of his 11 starts and carrying a 1.56 HR/9 mark that ranks among the worse marks for a projected popular pick today.

Henderson’s underlying exit-velocity and barrel-rate profile (91.4 mph average exit velocity, 10.8% barrel rate) suggest more power is coming even during stretches where the batting average lags. Given his affordable price relative to his ceiling and a pitcher who’s an obvious home run risk, Henderson is a smart way to get exposure to the Orioles’ lineup without paying premium salary — a classic pivot off the field’s more expensive shortstops.

Building Your Lineup

With Sale and Bradley both in strong spots, there’s a real case for a two-ace build today if your salary structure allows it — both bring swing-and-miss upside against lineups that haven’t been dangerous against right-handed pitching this year. If you’d rather pay up at only one pitching spot, Sale’s matchup against a punchless Padres lineup gives him the higher floor of the two, while Bradley offers more thin-slate leverage since he won’t be as popular in the player pool.

On the hitting side, pairing Olson with a Braves stack against Canning is one of the stronger offensive builds on the board given how poorly Canning has pitched all season — check the live MLB odds before lock to see how the market is pricing that Padres-Braves total, since a rising implied run total for Atlanta only strengthens the case. Caminero remains one of the best value bats in the sport right now regardless of opponent, and he’s cheap enough to pair with a pricier stud like Sale without blowing the budget. Henderson rounds things out as a pivot piece — take him instead of the field’s more popular, more expensive shortstops if you want unique exposure in tournaments while still targeting a homer-prone starter.

As always on a shorter slate like Thursday’s, don’t be afraid to lean into the two or three best pitching matchups rather than spreading thin across all four games — with fewer contests to hide in, correlation and matchup quality matter more than raw ownership avoidance.