Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Sunday 4/13

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2025-04-13 14:24:30 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 Sunday, Grinders! It’s great to be back with you for another season of MLB articles here on RotoGrinders! As always, thanks to Cheese for covering for me for a few weekends while I finished up tax season in my day job as a CPA. I appreciate his help with that, especially yesterday with his Bunco Brunch-o party that sounded like a pile of fun. Normally, you will see me here on the weekends (and the occasional weekday when Cheese needs a breather).

My first baseball article of the year brings us a fun 10-game slate on a Sunday, with plenty to like on all sides of the ledger. Weather doesn’t seem to be a major factor this afternoon, but you can always check those details on our MLB weather page to make sure nothing changes before lock. A lot of teams are starting their fourth turns through the rotation today, so we have a lot of good pitching to choose from. Let’s dig in and see what today has to offer!

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Sunday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings

TOP TIER PITCHING

There’s an absolute pile of good pitching to choose from today, so we have some fun options in the ace category.

Zack Wheeler vs. Cardinals
Garrett Crochet vs. White Sox
Hunter Greene vs. Pirates
Chris Sale vs. Rays

I am going to cut off the list of aces at those four, though there are plenty of other pitchers who fall just short of that status. Here’s a peek at their numbers from last season, as I feel like that data is still a bit more reliable than three starts from 2025. I will likely transition to 2025 data in these tables in a week or two.

Wheeler – 2.57 ERA, 3.30 xFIP, 28.5% K, 6.6% BB
Crochet – 3.58 ERA, 2.38 xFIP, 35.1% K, 5.5% BB
Greene – 2.75 ERA, 4.19 xFIP, 27.7% K, 9.3% BB
Sale – 2.38 ERA, 2.64 xFIP, 32.1% K, 5.6% BB

If we were just going off last year’s numbers, it would be a clear case where Garrett Crochet and Chris Sale are at the top of the list, and they would be your top SP options today. However, we must at least take some look at the starts that these pitchers have had to 2025. Wheeler has been his usual consistent self. Crochet and Sale have fallen off a little in terms of their strikeouts. Meanwhile, Hunter Greene has looked like perhaps the most dominant pitcher in baseball. So far, he has faced San Francisco (twice) and Texas, and he has posted a 1.31 ERA and 0.63 WHIP to go along with a 23/3 K/BB ratio. He already got up to 104 pitches in his last start, and he could very easily lead the league in pitches per start.

The best sign with Greene has been the decrease in walks. He looks to be finally putting it all together, and I love this matchup against a mediocre Pirates lineup. He is my overall SP1 today, especially on DK where he comes in at a noticeable discount. Crochet is not far behind because of his ceiling and his REVENGE matchup against the White Sox. While the revenge factor is great, the “pitching against the White Sox” factor is even better. Crochet is a close SP2 for me, and it’s almost a “1A” and “1B” scenario.

The dip in strikeouts for Chris Sale is a bit more concerning, especially at his age. I am still cautiously optimistic in the long run for 2025, and I don’t mind sprinkling some GPP exposure to him.

Zack Wheeler is perfectly fine, but this is a loaded pitching slate where he is very expensive (especially on DK). He will be in my pool, but I can’t see fitting him into a cash game or single-entry build over any of the other pitchers in this tier. If salary wasn’t a thing, sure, but it is a thing that we need to navigate.

As such, I have this tier ranked as Greene > Crochet > Sale > Wheeler, and I feel confident in setting them that way.

SECONDARY PITCHING OPTIONS

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