MLB Wild Card DFS Picks: Best Value Plays for Tuesday, September 29th

The 2026 MLB Playoffs have arrived with the Wild Card round, giving us daily action to target for daily fantasy contests. We’re going to be using DraftKings pricing to build the best lineups to try to cash in on a large-field tournament. Don’t forget to check out our MLB daily trends page for game odds, data and insights.

On the Tuesday slate, we’ve got no shortage of action with four games on tap, including the Phillies-Braves, White Sox-Astros, Red Sox-Yankees, and Cubs-Padres. With that in mind, let’s dive into my best DFS picks for Game 1 of the Wild Card round of the 2026 MLB Playoffs.

MLB Playoffs DFS Picks

Pos	Player	Matchup	FPPG	Salary
P	Chris Sale	PHI @ ATL	23.9	$10,000
P	Cam Schlittler	BOS @ NYY	23.5	$9,600
C	Yainer Diaz	CWS @ HOU	6.4	$3,500
1B	Christian Walker	CWS @ HOU	7.0	$3,700
2B	Nico Hoerner	CHC @ SD	6.9	$3,700
3B	Isaac Paredes	CWS @ HOU	7.6	$4,300
SS	Colson Montgomery	CWS @ HOU	6.9	$3,500
OF	Fernando Tatis Jr.	CHC @ SD	9.4	$5,900
OF	Austin Hays	CHC @ SD	4.8	$3,000
OF	Lucas Spence	CWS @ HOU	6.9	$2,700

Chris Sale – ATL/SP ($10,000)

We’re paying up for pitching for this slate, starting with Chris Sale. The veteran left-hander had a phenomenal season, putting up a 2.16 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with 31 walks and 200 strikeouts in 162.2 innings. We saw Sale face the Phillies in back-to-back outings in September, combining for 13 innings with nine hits, five earned runs, three walks, and 13 strikeouts.

The Braves are nearly -200 favorites in a game with a 6.5-run total, making Sale the clear-cut top pitcher on the slate. There’s a good chance that we’re getting around six innings with 7-8 strikeouts here.

Cam Schlittler – NYY/SP ($9,600)

Staying with the theme of paying a premium for pitching, we’re going with Cam Schlittler as our SP2. The Yankees’ ace is the clear-cut AL Cy Young favorite, putting up a 1.95 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP with 49 walks and 239 strikeouts in 193.2 innings. When he faced the Red Sox on August 28th, he tossed 5.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts.

The Yankees are -140 favorites in a game with a 6.5-run total, so there’s a good chance that we see a quality outing from Schlittler, with a decent chance of racking up a win.

Yainer Diaz – HOU/C ($3,500)

Since we paid up for pitching, we’re looking for salary relief on offense. The Astros hitters are priced reasonably, starting with their catcher, Yainer Diaz. While DIaz’s season-long numbers are underwhelming, he’s coming in hot, including six two-hit games in his last seven. That works out to a blistering 12-for-32 (.375 BA).

Diaz has been hitting in the No. 5 spot, putting him in a great position to rack up counting stats. The White Sox are likely going with a bullpen game, including Grant Taylor and Erick Fedde. This game has an 8.5-run total, which is the highest on the slate, making an Astros stack look appealing, especially at this price on Diaz.

Christian Walker – HOU/1B ($3,700)

We’ll pair Diaz with Christian Walker, who hit 29 home runs in 635 plate appearances this season. Walker has been on a power surge lately, homering four times in his last six games. Hitting in the No. 6 spot, he’s a great pairing with Diaz because he hits right behind him, giving him a chance to drive him in.

As with Diaz, we’re trying to exploit the fact that the Astros are -130 favorites in a game with an 8.5-run total.

Nico Hoerner – CHC/2B ($3,700)

Taking Nico Hoerner is a bet on an undervalued player who hit eight homers with 23 steals in 689 plate appearances this season. He has mostly hit in the No. 5 or No. 6 spot, set to go up against Padres’ right-hander Michael King.

Hoerner has a higher batting average against righties (.266 BA) than lefties (.255 BA), making this a more appealing matchup. With the other players on my lineup, Hoerner is the best fit at cost at second base.

Isaac Paredes – HOU/3B ($4,300)

The third piece to my Astros stack is Isaac Paredes, who hit 25 home runs in 659 plate appearances this season. He’s homered four times in his last eight games, so he’s in top form for this one.

On top of that, Paredes hits in the No. 3 spot, so he’s close enough to Diaz (5th) and Walker (6th) that we can accumulate points on one swing of the bat, preferably from a three-run homer from Walker, where both Paredes and Diaz score.

Colson Montgomery – CWS/SS ($3,500)

Colston Montgomery is only included in this lineup because he’s the best fit at cost. Given that we paid up for pitching and in our outfield, Montgomery makes the most sense here. While the .197 batting average and 35.6% strikeout rate is ugly, he still hit 31 homers.

We’ll take a shot that he can go yard with the Astros going with a bullpen game.

Fernando Tatis Jr. – SND/OF ($5,900)

Here’s the reason why we had to settle for a slugger like Montgomery at shortstop. I just couldn’t miss out on Fernando Tatis Jr., who has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball.

Tatis put up an otherworldly 172 wRC+ in the second half. He also has a 173 wRC+ against lefties, and he’ll likely face one in this spot in Matthew Boyd, who is expected to start for the Cubs. That makes paying a premium on Tatis worth it here.

Austin Hays – SND/OF ($3,000)

Austin Hays put up a 123 wRC+ in 61 plate appearances in a short stint with the Padres this season. What I like about choosing him is the salary relief, pairing with Tatis, and the fact that he’s also a lefty masher.

Hays hit .380 against southpaws this season. We’ve sometimes seen him hit as high as 5th in the lineup, which would put him near Tatis (1st). While there’s risk that Hays can be pinch-hit later in the game, I’m willing to take the shot at this cost.

Lucas Spence – HOU/OF ($2,700)

Lucas Spence is only included because he’s a sub-$3K player. Firing him up helps me go with a Sale-Schlittler-Tatis star-studded lineup. We saw Spence homer three times back on September 24th, showing us his power potential.

He’s been hitting in the seventh hole lately, giving us the No. 3, 5, 6, and 7 hitters on the Astros to complete our stack. As always, though, monitor the final lineups to make sure guys like Spence and Hays are included. We don’t want to be taking zeros.

Photo Credit: REUTERS