After a rather light day for MLB, Friday is plenty busy. There are 10 games on the DFS slate, with the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET. And now, onto Friday's MLB DFS lineup recommendations from yours truly.
Pitching
Shane McClanahan, TAM vs. CLE ($9,000): McClanahan is coming off a subpar start, but it was on the road, which is key. The lefty has an 1.88 ERA at home this year. Though Jose Ramirez is back, the Guardians are in the bottom five in runs scored, and one guy, even as good as Ramirez, can only change that so much.
Dustin May, STL vs. CIN ($7,800): The difference between May's performance at home and on the road is stark. In St. Louis, he has a 3.65 ERA but also a mere 0.2 HR/9 rate. The Reds are in the bottom 10 in runs scored, but they are also in the bottom five in strikeouts.
Pablo Sandoval, BOS vs. TOR ($6,700): Sandoval has only made two starts this year with the Red Sox after missing all of 2025 following surgery. He looked pretty good in one start and mediocre in the other. That being said, Toronto is last in runs scored and team OPS, so for a low-salary option, Sandoval is my guy.
Top Targets
There is effectively no instance, save for a matchup with a proper ace, wherein I would be deterred from rostering Junior Caminero ($6,100). Sometimes, though, the matchup is even more enticing than usual. The slugger has an OPS over 1.000 both against lefties and at home. Caminero is at home Friday, and Cleveland's Joey Cantillo is a lefty, so there you go.
Though Andy Pages ($5,200) has plateaued in terms of counting stats, he has improved in terms of walks and strikeouts to some degree, which was probably necessary and is still a good sign. Plus, 17 homers, 22 doubles and 10 stolen bases deliver plenty for DFS players anyway. Sean Manaea has allowed two homers in each of his last three outings, and since he is a southpaw the righty Pages looks good to me.
Bargain Bats
Once again, and even with a ballpark less kind to him than Fenway Park, Rafael Devers ($4,300) has 20 home runs, and he also has 26 doubles in 102 games. Though San Francisco's ballpark tends to benefit pitchers, Devers has hit 10 home runs both at home and on the road. What really matters is facing a righty, as Devers has slugged .552 against such hurlers. In eight starts, Grayson Rodriguez has an 8.23 ERA, and lefties have hit a whopping .366 against him.
Many an Athletic is better at home, but the southpaw Carlos Cortes ($3,700) is not one of them. He has a .914 OPS on the road. This game isn't in the Athletics' hitter-friendly ballpark, but Zebby Matthews is friendly to hitters, though that is not his intent. He has a career 1.83 HR/9 rate, and lefties have hit .303 against him as well.
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Stacks to Consider
Cardinals vs. Reds (Rhett Lowder): Jordan Walker (5,400), JJ Wetherholt ($5,000), Alec Burleson ($4,500)
Lowder didn't pitch in MLB last year as he recovered from injury, and he's struggled in his return to the Reds. He has a 5.75 ERA but also an 8.27 ERA on the road. Lefties have hit eight of the nine home runs that Lowder has allowed, but righties have hit .278 against him. As such, given that the Cardinals' best hitter is right-handed, I didn't worry about including him.
Walker is setting career highs across the board. He's already topped himself in terms of doubles, homers and stolen bases, and his .291 average means he's likely to set a new personal best on that front as well. Though Walker has been better against lefties, he's slugged .509 against righties. The rookie Wetherholt has 15 homers, 10 doubles and 10 stolen bases in 97 games. I did have some pause about Wetherholt being much better on the road, but he's a rookie so I don't want to read too much into that just yet. For Burleson, it's all about facing right-handed pitchers. Since 2024 he has an .847 OPS in those matchups, and this year his OPS is up to .938.
Twins vs. Athletics (Jacob Lopez): Byron Buxton ($6,000), Ryan Jeffers ($5,200), Royce Lewis ($3,600)
Lopez has a career 5.04 ERA, but this year his ERA is up to 6.64. Though he has been worse at home this season, Lopez still has a 5.88 ERA on the road. This is not new, as he had a 5.40 road ERA in 2025, his first season with the Athletics. Lopez does have the ability to handle lefties, I grant him that, but righties have hit .307 against him this year. They have also hit 25 of the 28 homers he's allowed since 2024. So yeah, three righties in this stack for me.
Buxton is back…again…for now. He's hit 25 homers in 78 games this season, and over the last three campaigns he's slugged .579 at home. The catcher Jeffers has a .392 OBP with nine homers and nine doubles in 44 games. This year he's hit both lefties and righties well, but in the past he mostly did his damage against southpaws. Since 2024 he has an .876 OPS in those matchups. Lewis hasn't panned out given he was a first-overall pick, but he is a righty. He also has 10 home runs, 12 doubles and seven stolen bases in 69 games this year. Eligible at first and third base for your roster, Lewis does have an .806 OPS over the last two weeks.
