Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Saturday 8/29

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84)

Created Aug 29, 2026

Last Updated 2026-08-29 14:16:50 Premium Content Part of the product MLB DFS

Long-time grinder Justin Van Zuiden (aka stlcardinals84) is here to cover the bases for the upcoming MLB DFS slate on DraftKings and FanDuel. Whether you are looking for the top pitchers or the best stacks, Justin has you covered with an extensive deep dive into his favorite MLB DFS picks today on August 29, 2026.

Happy Saturday, Grinders! We have a wild start to the weekend with games all over the place. The day is heavily skewed toward afternoon games, and DK is giving us a healthy 12-game main slate starting around 1 PM Eastern. FD has split the early games up into a pair of small slates, with their main slate being a 6-game docket starting around 4 PM Eastern. There are only a handful of night games tonight, with DK throwing out a 5-game evening slate. There are also a pair of doubleheaders in the mix, which complicates matters even more.

Thankfully, it looks like the MLB weather will cooperate for us today, so we don’t need to worry about that!

Given all the shenanigans with the slates today, I will focus this article on the 12-game DraftKings slate only. Of course, you can utilize the thoughts that apply for the 6-game FD slate at 4 PM as well, since that slate is entirely contained within the larger DK slate. If you are playing that FD main slate or the 5-game DK night slate, we’ll have Expert tags and analysis available in our MLB DFS optimizer, LineupHQ, to help get you rolling.

Let’s move along and see what the start of the final weekend of August has to offer!

Saturday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel

TOP TIER PITCHERS

• Blake Snell at Tigers
• Nolan McLean vs. Astros
• Cade Cavalli vs. Marlins
• Sandy Alcantara at Nationals
• Foster Griffin vs. Royals

I wasn’t really sure where to cut off this top tier. After waffling about it for far too long, I simply decided to go with a (relatively arbitary) cutoff of listing the pitchers that are priced at $9,000+ on DK as the top tier today. You could certainly push a few of the $9,000 pitchers into the next tier instead, but then the secondary tier would have been massive. Take this cutoff with a grain of salt, and don’t consider all of these pitchers as dominant aces.

As for the pitchers that I do have listed here, let’s begin with the usual look at the 2026 data:

Snell – 2.57 ERA, 3.04 xFIP, 29.9% K, 10.3% BB
McLean – 3.21 ERA, 3.57 xFIP, 27.2% K, 9.4% BB
Cavalli – 3.21 ERA, 3.23 xFIP, 27.1% K, 6.9% BB
Alcantara – 3.38 ERA, 4.20 xFIP, 18.1% K, 6.5% BB
Griffin – 3.19 ERA, 3.79 xFIP, 22.1% K, 6.2% BB

If we are looking at ceiling potential, Blake Snell has the highest upside at pitcher on this slate. While he has been shaking off injuries and rust all season, the Dodgers are clearly getting him amped up for their annual playoff push. He got up to 94 pitches in his most recent start, and he has allowed just 2 runs over 18 innings in 3 August starts. It’s hard to argue with those results, but we know the downside can always be there on days when Snell doesn’t have his best command. Still, I like targeting pitchers against the weak overall nature of the Tigers lineup right now, and Snell is a perfectly fine SP1. I do not think he is an absolute must play at his elevated salary, but he’s the de facto ace you want if you have the salary available.

I do not have nearly as much interest in Nolan McLean, though his strikeout rate still remains high despite an underwhelming 9.9% swinging-strike rate. I am completely convinced that he will settle more in the 24-25% K rate in the long run, but he’s been sustaining this slightly higher mark all year. Right-handed pitchers are fine to use against Houston, but McLean feels overpriced and not the best use of salary here. If I am spending $10,000 or more on a DK arm today, Snell is the preferred target. In fact, I’d prefer going a little cheaper with Cade Cavalli. His overall numbers are basically identical to McLean’s with the benefit of a lower walk rate and higher swinging-strike rate. The Marlins are a decent enough matchup, and Cavalli has been fantastic, posting a sub-2.00 ERA and a 39:7 K:BB ratio in August.

Sandy Alcantara is a fine pitcher in real life, but I am not paying a premium for someone with an 18% strikeout rate. Pass.

Foster Griffin is absolutely viable as well. For what it is worth, he is my favorite overall point-per-dollar target on the smaller FD main slate. He feels like he has been underappreciated all year long, and the Guardians are surging right now. The Royals have had mediocre offensive numbers against LHP all season, and Griffin will largely be ignored on DK at his $9,000 salary. He makes for a reasonable SP1 if you are spending less at pitcher, or he can be used as an SP2 in double-spend builds. I like the way he fits any lineup building approach here.

SECONDARY ARMS

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