Million Dollar Musings: MLB DFS Picks Today for Thursday 7/9

by Dave Potts (CheeseIsGood) Last Updated 2026-07-09 15:44:59 Premium Content Part of the product MLB DFS

Whether you are looking for the top pitchers or the best stacks, Dave Potts (aka CheeseIsGood) has you covered with an extensive deep dive into his MLB DFS picks today. Cheese, one of the preeminent baseball minds in all of fantasy sports and a winner of a $1,000,000 1st-place prize on both DraftKings and FanDuel, is here to muse about the July 9, 2026 MLB DFS slate.

Happy Thursday! We’ve got a split slate kind of day, with two smaller slates on each site. The early slate starts at 12:35 PM ET – aka lunchtime – and it includes 5 games on DK and 6 games on FD (as they have added the CHC/BAL game to their slate). The evening slates starts a few minutes earlier than usual at 6:40 PM ET, with 7 games on each site.

Thursday Early Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on DraftKings and FanDuel

This early slate has two pretty good pitchers up top, but it looks like a pretty shaky group overall.

• Gavin Williams at Twins – 28.3% K, 8.3% BB, 3.89 ERA, 3.44 SIERA
• Drew Rasmussen vs. Yankees – 25.4% K, 4.5% BB, 2.78 ERA, 3.33 SIERA
• Michael Wacha at Mets – 19.6% K, 6.7% BB, 3.45 ERA, 4.32 SIERA
• Bryce Elder at Pirates – 20% K, 7.2% BB, 4.01 ERA, 4.27 SIERA
• Anthony Kay vs. Red Sox – 17.6% K, 8.7% BB, 4.29 ERA, 4.69 SIERA
• Sean Manaea vs. Royals – 22.4% K, 7.6% BB, 5.16 ERA, 3.83 SIERA
• Trevor Rogers vs. Cubs (FD) – 18.1% K, 8.1% BB, 4.70 ERA, 4.75 SIERA

I would say that Drew Rasmussen is a better real-life pitcher than Gavin Williams, and although Williams has the higher strikeout rate, it’s closer than I expected it would be three months into the season. We’ve even seen the Rays give Rasmussen more of a leash this season, going 7 innings in 3 straight starts in June and going over 90 pitches in 4 straight starts. I would still say Williams has the higher per-inning ceiling, but with their gap in control and efficiency, we’ve seen more innings from Rasmussen than Williams recently. In general, I’d rather face the Twins than the Yankees, so that’s a slight nod in Williams’ favor, but it’s not as big of a gap as you might expect. The Yankees are a slightly higher-strikeout lineup than the Twins, and with Rasmussen being better in limiting power, that further helps to even out the matchups. It’s close, but I’m taking Rasmussen over Williams. On DK, I would certainly just play them both if salary allows.

Bryce Elder and Michael Wacha are similar pitchers who are decent in real life without much realistic upside. But there is also a pretty good chance that we’re not going to need much upside on this slate. I would be fine with a boring quality start in this price range, and between the two of them, I much prefer…

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