Best MLB DFS Picks Today: Top Value Plays for May 29, 2026

Friday’s MLB slate is a loaded one, with 12 games on the board spanning from the East Coast to the late West Coast action, giving DFS players plenty of options to work with. The headliner is Phillies vs. Dodgers at UNIQLO Field, but there are compelling matchups scattered throughout the slate from the early evening through midnight. Whether you’re playing cash games or going for a GPP tournament score, there’s a solid mix of high-ceiling and high-floor options to build around today.

For today’s DraftKings lineup, the approach is straightforward: anchor the build with an elite pitching option who has a favorable matchup, stack a vulnerable opposing pitcher’s lineup, and sprinkle in a couple of mid-range value plays that give you the salary flexibility to fit a premium bat or two. With a 12-game slate, staying away from some high-ownership chalk at the right spots can separate you in tournaments.

Zack Wheeler, SP — Philadelphia Phillies ($10,300 DraftKings)

When you look at what Wheeler has done this season, it’s hard to find a more dominant pitcher in the game right now. Through six starts, he carries a 4-0 record with a 1.67 ERA and 0.82 WHIP, with 36 strikeouts across 37.2 innings pitched. His last three outings have been particularly filthy: six innings of two-hit shutout ball against Cleveland on May 23, seven scoreless innings at Pittsburgh on May 17, and 7.1 innings of one-run ball against Boston on May 12.

Tonight he draws Justin Wrobleski and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Wrobleski sits at 6-2 with a 3.07 ERA, so the Phillies offense is going to need to carry its weight on the DFS side if you’re stacking, but the primary draw here is Wheeler himself. The Dodgers are without Teoscar Hernandez (hamstring) and Kike Hernandez (oblique), both on the injured list as of this week, which depletes an already volatile lineup. Wheeler’s 10.2 K/9 rate this season and ability to limit hard contact makes him a safe play in cash games, and his ceiling in this matchup is enormous. At $10,300, he is priced like an elite arm, but the production has more than justified every dollar.

Kyle Schwarber, DH — Philadelphia Phillies ($5,600 DraftKings)

Schwarber has been on an absolute tear, and this is where the Phillies stack makes sense even though they’re going on the road to Dodger Stadium. He is slashing .232/.350/.606 on the season with 21 home runs and 37 RBI in just 51 games. That is a pace that would put him at roughly 65 home runs over a full season, and the recent surge has been particularly violent. According to Rotowire, Schwarber has crushed 10 home runs across his past 14 games, the kind of stretch that demands DFS attention regardless of opponent.

He faces Wrobleski tonight, a lefty, and Schwarber has historically feasted on southpaws throughout his career. His .606 slugging percentage this season leads all of baseball, and his power output at the plate makes him one of the highest-upside hitters on the slate regardless of price. At $5,600 on DraftKings, he offers legitimate five-plus-DraftKings-points-per-dollar value against a young pitcher who has been effective but hasn’t faced a lineup quite this dangerous.

Ronald Acuna Jr., OF — Atlanta Braves ($5,500 DraftKings)

The Braves travel to Cincinnati tonight to take on Chris Paddack, who has been one of the most hittable pitchers in the National League this year. Paddack enters with an 0-6 record and a 6.86 ERA through 2026, and Great American Ball Park is one of the more hitter-friendly environments in the league. This matchup is a gift for Atlanta’s lineup, and Acuna is the clear centerpiece of any Braves stack.

The 2026 season has seen Acuna get back to the form that made him an MVP candidate in 2023. Through 41 games prior to the All-Star break, he is batting .240 with a .353 OBP, but the advanced metrics paint a better picture: his MLB.com page shows a last-seven-days line of .400/.545/.760 with three home runs and six RBI across 25 at-bats. That is elite production, and against a struggling starter in a hitter-friendly park, Acuna’s combination of speed, power, and on-base ability makes him one of the highest-upside plays on the slate at his price point. Don’t let the early-season batting average scare you off the guy who was one of the best players in baseball just three years ago.

Taj Bradley, SP — Minnesota Twins ($8,800 DraftKings)

While Wheeler gets the top billing tonight, Bradley is an excellent second pitching option for lineup builds that can’t afford to spend up at both pitcher slots. The 25-year-old right-hander has been one of the pleasant surprises of the 2026 season, posting a 5-1 record and 2.77 ERA with a 59:19 strikeout-to-walk ratio through nine starts covering 52 innings. His 1.17 WHIP has been rock solid, and he has clearly earned the trust of the Twins’ staff regardless of matchup.

Tonight he squares off against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. The Pirates counter with Jared Jones, who is listed at 0-0 with no ERA, indicating he is either making his season debut or returning from an absence. Bradley, meanwhile, has shown the ability to miss bats at a strong clip this season with a 10.2 K/9 rate. PNC Park plays as a neutral-to-slightly-pitcher-friendly park, and with a Pirates lineup that has been inconsistent offensively, Bradley is a reasonable GPP pivot off Wheeler who offers comparable strikeout upside at a $1,500 discount.

Max Meyer, SP — Miami Marlins ($7,800 DraftKings)

Meyer has quietly put together one of the best pitching seasons in the National League in 2026. He enters tonight with a 5-0 record, 2.52 ERA, and 68 strikeouts in 60.2 innings across 11 starts, giving him a 10.1 K/9 rate and a 1.05 WHIP. His last seven starts have been borderline dominant: a 4-0 record and 1.76 ERA over that span with 48 strikeouts in 41 innings. He is ninth in the NL in strikeouts and seventh in ERA.

Tonight he heads to Citi Field to face the New York Mets, who come in at 23-33 on the season, one of the weaker records in the National League. The Mets will counter with Freddy Peralta, which makes this game intriguing for stacking on the other side, but from a pure pitching standpoint, Meyer against a middling Mets lineup at a neutral environment is a strong DFS spot. At $7,800, he is a significant step down in salary from Wheeler or even Bradley, giving you the budget to fit premium hitters elsewhere in your lineup. If you want to be contrarian and stack Meyer’s Marlins while using him in the circle, his strikeout rate and current run support make that a viable tournament play.

Building Your Lineup

The most straightforward cash game approach is to anchor with Wheeler and Schwarber, and then build out with Acuna Jr. and one of the mid-tier pitchers like Bradley or Meyer depending on your remaining salary. A Phillies mini-stack of Wheeler in the circle and Schwarber in the lineup will have moderate ownership tonight but offers the kind of correlated upside that cashes consistently.

For GPP plays, consider fading some of the obvious Phillies correlation and instead pivoting to a Braves stack against Paddack. Acuna anchors that stack, and you can look at other Atlanta hitters to build around him given the soft matchup and hitter-friendly park. Meyer’s Marlins stack against Peralta is another low-ownership GPP angle worth exploring. In a 12-game slate like this, salary cap flexibility is your friend — use it to differentiate your lineups from the field rather than defaulting to the most obvious builds. If you can get into the Braves-Reds game at a lower ownership percentage, the ceiling in that matchup is one of the highest on the board.