Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Saturday 9/20

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2025-09-20 13:00:55 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, Grinders! We are down to just 2 weekends left in the Major League Baseball regular season. It’s crazy that we are already near the end of the year. The start of this weekend brings us a back-loaded slate with 11 games this evening with some solid prize pools. FanDuel is excluding the second game of the CLE/MIN doubleheader from their slate, so we have a 10-game slate over there. That could be the least exciting overall game on the slate, so it really doesn’t change things too much. This evening looks to be a relatively balanced slate with some interesting options on both the pitching and hitting sides of the ledger, but the pitching could get a bit tricky.

As has been the case for much of September, this looks to be a very quiet day on the MLB Weather front. Things should be all clear for lineup building, so head on over to our MLB DFS Optimizer and build some winners to pad your bankroll for NFL tomorrow!

Let’s dig in and see what today has to offer!

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Saturday Night Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings

ACES WITH SOME QUESTION MARKS

Tyler Glasnow vs. Giants
Shane Bieber vs. Royals
George Kirby vs. Astros
Framber Valdez vs. Mariners
Carlos Rodon vs. Orioles

We have been spoiled by some pitching-heavy slates for the last couple of Saturdays, but we don’t have the same luxury tonight. We have a fair number of top-tier pitchers, but most of them have at least some question marks. As usual, let’s start with a peek at the 2025 data:

Glasnow – 3.06 ERA, 3.74 xFIP, 29.2% K, 11.6% BB
Bieber – 3.72 ERA, 2.76 xFIP, 26.5% K, 3.5% BB (29 innings)
Kirby – 4.46 ERA, 3.39 xFIP, 24.9% K, 5.8% BB
Valdez – 3.59 ERA, 3.35 xFIP, 23.1% K, 8.3% BB
Rodon – 3.11 ERA, 3.94 xFIP, 25.7% K, 9.6% BB

You can fire off one question mark with all of these pitchers. Tyler Glasnow has a walk rate closing in on 12% for the year. Shane Bieber is expensive for DFS purposes despite having thrown just 29 innings on the season. George Kirby has a 4.46 ERA that hasn’t really corrected despite stronger advanced metrics. Framber Valdez has a 23% strikeout rate that doesn’t feel great to pay up for. Carlos Rodon has command issues of his own and has looked less than stellar in the second half of the season.

You aren’t getting perfection here.

If everyone has faults, give me the faulty pitcher who can get me the most strikeouts. That makes Tyler Glasnow my SP1 in a pitcher-friendly park against the Giants. The Dodgers have yet to clinch the NL West, and Glasnow has actually thrown 100+ pitches in 3 consecutive starts. That might be a record for Dave Roberts. He didn’t have his best command last weekend against the same opponent, but he still finished the game with just 1 run and 3 hits allowed over his 6 2/3 innings. I expect more strikeouts this time around, and I don’t think any of the other pitchers on this slate have the same ceiling as long as we are still getting 100 pitches out of Glasnow.

I want to like Shane Bieber again, but we need to be cautious with his sample size. Remember, in his last season where he made at least 20 starts, his strikeout rate was only 20% — which is well below league average. However, he likely wasn’t fully healthy then, and the 30/4 K/BB ratio over his first 5 starts of 2025 is encouraging. He’s not a must at his salary, but he will absolutely be in my GPP pool.

The other pitcher I kind of like in this tier is George Kirby. Despite that 4.46 ERA, his advanced metrics still look strong. He has held righties to a .278 wOBA this season and matches up very well against the heavily right-handed Houston lineup. I’m putting him behind Glasnow but ahead of Bieber on my wish list, especially with Yordan Alvarez back on the IL for the Astros.

I don’t have much if any interest in Carlos Rodon or Framber Valdez. Both have struggled in the second half, and there isn’t enough of a strikeout ceiling here. Keep them in your MME tournament builds if you want, but they likely fall short of my pool tonight.

I am ranking this tier as Glasnow > Kirby > Bieber >>>>> Valdez > Rodon tonight.

SECONDARY PITCHING OPTIONS

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