Best MLB DFS Picks Today: Top Value Plays for July 28

Tuesday’s MLB slate rolls out a 10-game main board, and it’s a rare night where the volume of quality pitching actually outstrips the number of true offensive smash spots. That imbalance is exactly what makes today interesting for MLB DFS: paying up for an ace early frees up serious salary to hunt value everywhere else, and there are a few undervalued bats tucked into good ballparks and soft matchups that the field may not fully respect yet.

Our approach for today’s MLB DFS picks centers on locking in one true stud arm, pairing it with a mid-tier pitcher who offers rare swing-and-miss stuff at a discount, and then filling out the rest of the lineup with hitters who have favorable platoon splits, hot recent form, or a get-right matchup against shaky pitching. Here are five value plays worth building around for cash games and GPP picks alike.

Chris Sale, SP — Atlanta Braves ($10,800 DK)

At 37 years old, Sale remains one of the most dominant arms in the league, and paying up for him tonight against the Mets is close to a no-brainer. He carries a 2.20 ERA and 1.11 WHIP into the start with 117 strikeouts already banked, and his FIP sits at an elite 2.61 with a 23.9 percent K-BB rate that ranks among the best marks in baseball. He’s allowed just eight home runs across 111 innings this season, a testament to how well he’s limiting hard contact even as his fastball still averages 96.1 mph.

The matchup plays right into his hands. New York ranks 13th in strikeouts, 22nd in isolated power and 26th in wOBA as a lineup, and that offense is further compromised with Juan Soto sidelined on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain. Sale gets a Mets order without its best hitter, in a park that hasn’t been a launching pad for lefty contact this year, and he’s shown he can miss bats deep into starts even in his late thirties. For DraftKings lineup builders willing to pay the premium price, this is about as safe a stud pitcher play as the slate offers.

Michael King, SP — San Diego Padres ($8,400 DK)

King represents the classic mid-range DFS value pitcher: a guy whose season-long numbers look pedestrian on the surface but whose current form and matchup line up well enough to profile as a strong point-per-dollar target. His K-BB rate has settled around 11 percent this year with a FIP near 4.04, numbers that would scare most DFS players away at face value. But context matters here — he gets a Colorado club that’s on the road, away from the thin air of Coors Field that inflates so many of their offensive numbers.

Away from home, the Rockies’ bats play far closer to replacement level, and King has topped 20 fantasy points in seven different starts already this season, including a season-high of 34.2 FPTS. At $8,400, he’s priced beneath several arms with worse strikeout upside, and the get-away-from-Coors context is exactly the kind of situational edge that separates a solid value target from a trap. He won’t carry the raw ceiling of a true ace, but the floor here is appealing for cash-game lineups looking to save salary without sacrificing innings-eating upside.

Chase DeLauter, OF — Cleveland Guardians ($3,800 DK)

DeLauter has quietly turned into one of the more productive building blocks in the Cleveland lineup, slashing .282/.352/.447 with an 9.9 percent walk rate and a manageable 14 percent strikeout rate across 372 plate appearances this season. He already has 11 home runs, 35 runs scored, 50 RBI and five stolen bases, numbers that would look far pricier than $3,800 if they belonged to a more nationally known name. His average exit velocity sits at a healthy 91.1 mph, and he’s been entrenched in the third spot of Cleveland’s batting order, putting him in position for regular at-bats with runners on base.

Tonight’s road trip to Great American Ball Park only sweetens the appeal — the park ranks second in the league for left-handed home runs, a real boost for a lefty bat like DeLauter’s. He’ll also face Cincinnati right-hander Brady Singer, who has been vulnerable to left-handed hitters all season, posting a 5.25 FIP and allowing 15 home runs to lefties. Between the friendly park factor and a pitcher who struggles with same-side matchups working against him, DeLauter is a legitimate value anchor for DraftKings lineup builders looking to stack the Guardians.

Steven Kwan, OF — Cleveland Guardians ($3,100 DK)

Kwan’s overall season line doesn’t jump off the page — he’s hitting just .248 with a single home run and seven stolen bases across 392 plate appearances — but that’s exactly why he’s still priced as a value play instead of a premium one. Dig into his recent form and a much different story emerges. Since June 28th, a stretch spanning 23 games, Kwan has slashed an outstanding .384/.471/.493, and he’s produced usable fantasy production in all but one of those contests, with eight games clearing double digits in fantasy points.

He was briefly buried down to ninth in the batting order during his early-season slump, but the hot streak has earned him his customary leadoff spot back for the last seven games, which means more plate appearances and more chances to turn contact into stolen-base opportunities. His BABIP sitting at an elevated .412 during this stretch suggests some regression could be coming eventually, but there’s no obvious sign it’s arriving tonight against a Cincinnati pitching staff that’s had trouble containing left-handed contact all year. At $3,100, Kwan is a prime source of cheap production for anyone trying to jam premium salary elsewhere in the lineup — and if you like the idea of pairing him with DeLauter, our live MLB odds page is worth a glance before locking your stack, since it updates in real time as game lines move closer to first pitch.

Jasson Dominguez, OF — New York Yankees ($3,500 DK)

Dominguez’s counting stats won’t wow anyone at first glance — he’s slashing just .226/.261/.393 with an 87.9 mph average exit velocity and a modest 5.3 percent barrel rate — but he’s shown some of his best underlying signals of the season lately. His bat speed sits at an impressive 74.4 mph, and a .254 BABIP suggests he’s been running into some tough batted-ball luck relative to the quality of his contact. In 177 plate appearances this year, the switch-hitter has already produced six home runs, 17 runs scored, 14 RBI and six stolen bases, a well-rounded power-speed profile that DFS players should want exposure to at this price point.

Tonight’s matchup against the White Sox sets up nicely for him against right-hander Anthony Kay, who has struggled significantly against right-handed hitters this season with a 5.89 FIP and just a 5.2 percent K-BB rate. Twelve of the 14 home runs Kay has allowed have come off the bats of right-handed hitters, and Dominguez’s platoon splits against lefties won’t even come into play in this matchup since Kay throws from the right side. Against southpaws specifically, Dominguez’s isolated power sits at .172, but tonight’s matchup neutralizes that concern entirely. At $3,500, he offers rare power-speed upside for a bottom-of-the-order price tag.

Building Your Lineup

Tonight’s slate rewards a barbell construction: spend up at one pitcher spot, get a discount at the other, and use the saved salary to build out a stack rather than scattering one-off value bats across different games. The Cleveland pairing of DeLauter and Kwan is the most natural stack on the board, both riding favorable park factors and a Reds pitching staff vulnerable to left-handed bats, and adding a third Guardians piece further up the lineup — someone like Jose Ramirez — is worth considering if you want to lean into that matchup even harder for GPP picks.

Chris Sale is going to carry significant ownership given his name recognition and the swap for salary savings makes King an appealing pivot in tournament lineups if you’re trying to differentiate from the pack while still getting starting pitcher innings you can trust. Dominguez profiles as a classic pivot off more popular Yankees stack pieces — since the attention in that lineup often gravitates toward the top of the order, rostering him lets you get correlated Yankees exposure without the ownership that comes with the household names.

For cash games, prioritize the floor plays here: Sale’s strikeout equity, DeLauter’s lineup security, and Kwan’s current form all check the box of reliability over pure ceiling. For GPP builds, consider pivoting one of the chalkier stud pitchers elsewhere on the slate toward King’s discount price, freeing up extra salary to squeeze in a low-owned bat pairing like the Guardians duo above. Whatever build path you take, keep today’s weather and park factors in mind before locking your DraftKings lineup or FanDuel picks, since a couple of tonight’s games carry real wind and precipitation variables that could tilt the total in either direction.