Best MLB DFS Picks Today: Top Value Plays for September 17, 2026

Thursday’s MLB slate is on the smaller side with a five-game main card, but that’s exactly the kind of night where a sharp DFS build can separate from the field. With two clear ace-caliber arms anchoring the board and a handful of bats riding real hot streaks into favorable matchups, there’s enough signal here to build both a safe cash lineup and a differentiated GPP roster.

Today’s approach leans on paying up for standout pitching in two of the day’s biggest run-differential mismatches, then filling out the offense with hitters who are performing well above their season lines right now. Here are the five plays worth prioritizing on DraftKings and FanDuel for Thursday’s slate.

Drew Rasmussen, SP — Tampa Bay Rays (vs. Athletics)

Rasmussen is the clearest stars-and-scrubs anchor on the board Thursday. He’s 14-5 with a 2.81 ERA and a minuscule 0.92 WHIP across 160.1 innings this season, and he’s been even better lately — 2.51 ERA over his last seven starts with 38 strikeouts in 43 innings. His last time out, he beat the Astros by allowing just one run on eight hits over seven innings without a walk.

The matchup could not be more favorable. Oakland has hit just .202 as a team over its last 10 games and has been outscored by 15 runs in that stretch, while Tampa Bay is 8-2 with a 2.63 team ERA over the same window. Rasmussen’s career splits show he’s been slightly better at home (3.05 ERA, 1.00 WHIP this season) than on the road, and Tropicana Field tends to suppress offense overall. With a rock-solid floor and a real shot at a win, strikeouts, and a low WHIP, he’s a premium pay-up arm for both cash games and tournaments.

Sonny Gray, SP — Boston Red Sox (at Texas)

Gray has quietly put together one of the best seasons of his career, sitting at 17-5 with a 2.76 ERA over 156.2 innings — tied for the most wins in the league. He’s been dominant specifically against tonight’s opponent, throwing six innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in his lone start against the Rangers this year, and his road numbers (2.94 ERA in his career away from Fenway) suggest the Globe Life Field trip won’t slow him down.

Texas counters with Cody Bradford, who has been rocked for a 4.72 ERA with an 18-9 win-loss mark that undersells how hittable he’s been — he’s allowed multiple earned runs in the bulk of his recent turns. Boston’s lineup, even away from home, has produced enough against shaky lefties to make this a plus matchup on the other side of the ball as well. Gray offers a rare combination of a strong recent track record against this specific opponent and a soft matchup, making him one of the safer strikeout-and-win plays on the slate.

Kyle Tucker, OF — Los Angeles Dodgers (at Cincinnati)

Tucker has been on an absolute tear, batting .333 with three home runs, seven RBI, and a .833 slugging percentage over his last seven games. He’s had a hit in five of his last six outings, including a two-hit, one-homer, two-RBI performance earlier this week against the Reds — the same opponent he faces again Thursday.

Cincinnati starter Brady Singer has struggled to a 5.38 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP across 150.2 innings this year, and he’s coming off a stretch where he’s allowed hard contact regularly. Tucker’s power has been trending in the right direction after a quieter middle stretch of the season, and facing a pitcher he’s already had success against in the same series makes him a strong bet to keep producing. He fits equally well in cash builds as a safe, established source of hard contact and in GPPs where a multi-hit, multi-homer ceiling is very much in play.

Riley Greene, OF — Detroit Tigers (at Chicago White Sox)

Since returning from the injured list earlier this month, Greene has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball — a .378 average with a 1.217 OPS, four home runs, and 17 RBI across his first 11 games back. That heater has continued into this week: over his last seven games he’s hitting .407 with a homer, eight RBI, and a .630 slugging mark, including multi-hit efforts in three of his last four outings.

Detroit’s matchup against Chicago on Thursday pits Greene against a White Sox pitching staff that’s been middling at best down the stretch, and Greene’s left-handed bat has produced well against right-handed pitching all year. With his price still reflecting a full season of ups and downs rather than his current form, Greene represents exactly the kind of hot-hand value DFS players should be chasing — he’s outproducing his salary tag by a wide margin right now.

Trea Turner, SS — Philadelphia Phillies

Turner has cooled from his career norms this season overall, sitting at a .240 average, but he’s shown real signs of heating back up in September — nine hits, five runs, five RBI, and two home runs in his last stretch of games, and he’s driven in multiple runs in more than one outing over the past two weeks. He remains a threat to score and steal a base even on nights where the bat is quiet, which keeps his fantasy floor higher than his batting average alone suggests.

With 19 home runs and 20 stolen bases on the season, Turner still offers a rare power-speed combination at the shortstop position, and his recent surge suggests the underlying bat speed and contact quality are trending upward again. He’s a strong source of stacked-category production — runs, RBI, and stolen base equity — that’s tough to find elsewhere in the middle infield pool on cheaper price tags. For players looking to shop lines before finalizing lineups, checking the latest MLB odds can help confirm which totals are moving before first pitch.

Building Your Lineup

With only five games on the main slate, ownership will likely concentrate heavily on the two ace arms — Rasmussen and Gray — since both offer clean paths to a strong pitching score in plus matchups. In cash games, that’s fine; take the chalk and build a stable roster around it. In tournaments, consider pivoting to a cheaper arm in a similarly favorable spot to differentiate, since a five-game slate leaves little room for lineup diversity if everyone plays the same two studs.

On the hitting side, stacking the Dodgers against Cincinnati’s Brady Singer or the Tigers against a White Sox staff that’s leaking runs down the stretch both make sense given the recent form of Tucker and Greene, respectively. Turner is a strong stand-alone piece rather than a stack centerpiece given Washington’s rotation depth. Salary-cap discipline matters most on short slates like this one — since there are fewer total plate appearances in the player pool, paying up for proven, in-form bats rather than chasing punt plays tends to be the better allocation of resources. Balance one or two premium bats with a couple of mid-range values like Greene, and let the two studs on the mound anchor the rest of the build.