Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Saturday 8/9

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2025-08-09 14:54:34 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, Cards has you covered with an extensive deep dive into his favorite MLB DFS picks.

Happy Saturday, everyone! Welcome to another weekend as we inch ever closer to the time people start to care less about baseball (also known as football season). I’m still a baseball junkie at heart, so we can still keep grinding through these weekend slates.

Today brings us another back-loaded Saturday with a small number of afternoon games and a large 11-game evening slate that looks pretty balanced between pitching and hitting. This should be a fun one, as I think there are a number of different lineup combinations that look worthwhile at first glance.

The weather is heating up again around the United States, and with that comes those pesky summer thunderstorms. As usual, you will want to check out our MLB weather page before lock to make sure you have all the latest updates.

Let’s dig in and see what this Saturday evening slate has to offer!

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Saturday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings

TOP TIER PITCHERS

Jacob deGrom vs. Phillies
Jesus Luzardo vs. Rangers
Michael King vs. Red Sox

We have a trio of aces at the top of the board this evening, with a pair of them facing off against each other with Jacob deGrom and Jesus Luzardo in a fun head-to-head battle. As usual, let’s kick things off with a peek at the 2025 data:

deGrom – 2.80 ERA, 3.31 xFIP, 27.1% K, 5.8% BB
Luzardo – 4.32 ERA, 3.30 xFIP, 27.2% K, 8.1% BB
King – 2.59 ERA, 3.64 xFIP, 28.4% K, 7.6% BB (55 innings)

Let’s get the easy part out of the way. Michael King is a very good major league pitcher, but he is making his first start in several months due to injury. He threw just 61 pitches in his latest rehab start, so we are probably looking at something like 70-75 pitches tonight. He doesn’t come at any sort of massive discount, and he’s facing a hot Red Sox team. I just don’t see any reason to use him outside of a deep multi-entry GPP flier with the hope that everything breaks the right way and no pitcher puts up a big score. It’s a tough sell.

That brings us to the head-to-head matchup between deGrom and Luzardo. Jacob deGrom has the better surface numbers, with a 2.80 ERA compared to Luzardo’s 4.32, but those metrics are a bit skewed. Luzardo has been victimized by a .342 opposing BABIP this year, a mark that is well above his career average. Their xFIP and strikeout numbers are basically identical, with the only separation between them being a higher walk rate for Luzardo.

I’ll let matchup be my guide here, so we can dig deeper into that:

Phillies vs. RHP – .328 wOBA (6th), .166 ISO (11th), 9.2% BB (9th), 20.3% K (24th)
Rangers vs. LHP – .279 wOBA (28th), .123 ISO (25th), 7.1% BB (27th), 25.0% K (5th)

This makes the decision clear for me. The Rangers have been woeful against left-handed pitching this year, while the Phillies are a top-10 offense with low strikeouts against right-handed pitching. It feels weird, but given their similar metrics and the obvious difference in matchup, I think Luzardo is the clear choice over deGrom. I totally understand if you want to play deGrom for safety in cash games, but the decision is obvious for my GPP builds. Go with Luzardo.

SECONDARY PITCHING OPTIONS

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