{"id":329797,"date":"2026-07-05T09:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/329797\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T09:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:17:10","slug":"mlb-dfs-picks-three-must-start-fantasy-baseball-players-for-sunday-7-5-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/329797\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB DFS Picks: Three must-start fantasy baseball players for Sunday 7\/5\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All 30 MLB clubs are in action on Sunday, highlighted by a nine-game afternoon slate loaded with firepower to fuel your DFS lineups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From bona fide stars to stealthy value plays, let\u2019s take a look at three must-starts for Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here before 12:30 p.m. ET: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.draftkings.com\/draft\/contest\/191981792\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">MLB $150K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>SP Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees ($9,900)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their current form, the Yankees couldn\u2019t hit a ceremonial first pitch tossed out by the Rizzler. Already reeling without Aaron Judge, New York\u2019s offense couldn\u2019t escape its inevitable June swoon. The team has gone just 4\u201312 since June 18, better only than the crosstown rival Mets (3\u201311).\u00a0 In that span, the Yankees rank dead last in MLB in wRC+ (54), OPS (.557), wOBA (.247), xwOBA (.258), batting average (.182), and on-base percentage (.240). As a cherry on top, New York\u2019s 27.9 percent strikeout rate is tops in the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Naturally, Sunday\u2019s series finale in the Bronx offers Twins ace Joe Ryan a chance to pad his stats. The 30-year-old right-hander has posted a respectable 3.61 ERA (3.21 xERA) and a 1.08 WHIP with 113 strikeouts across 18 starts (97.1 IP) in 2026. While he\u2019s battled inconsistency in recent outings, Ryan is a perpetual low-walk, high-strikeout threat that ranks 11th among qualified starters with a 28.2 percent K-rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>3B Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros ($6,500)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How\u2019s this for a lede: Junior Caminero has crushed 11 home runs in his last 11 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The budding Rays superstar, 22, cleared the Crawford Boxes at Daikin Park on Saturday, extending one of the most blistering runs in recent memory. During this stretch, Caminero is hitting .386 with double-digit bombs, 23 RBIs, and 13 runs scored. Tampa Bay is also 9\u20132 in that span.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The All-Star slugger enters Sunday\u2019s series finale against the Astros with 26 home runs \u2014 fourth-most in the majors \u2014 and an OPS north of .920 on either side of the splits in 2026. That spells trouble for Houston right-hander Peter Lambert ($7,900), who has struggled to eschew the long ball in recent outings. Despite coming in with a solid 3.51 ERA (3.69 xERA) in 13 starts (74.1 IP), Lambert has served up eight homers in his last five turns.<\/p>\n<p>C, Endy Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Pirates at Washington Nationals ($3,900)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One half of Endy Rodriguez has arrived. While not much of a threat against southpaws, the switch-hitting Pirates catcher has feasted on right-handed pitching in his third MLB campaign. In the lefty batter\u2019s box, Rodriguez is hitting an exceptional .313 with a 1.008 OPS, five home runs, and 16 RBIs across 98 plate appearances. Two of those homers and five of those RBIs have come in his last four games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But wait, there\u2019s more. Rodriguez\u2019s Baseball Savant profile, albeit unqualified, is painted in a sea of red \u2014 stamped with a .373 xwOBA, a 92.6 mph average exit velocity, and a 17.8 percent walk rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After an off-day on the 4th of July, the 26-year-old Rodriguez returns to the order to face Washington\u2019s Cade Cavalli ($6,500). The right-hander has posted an impressive 3.69 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP across 18 starts (90.1 IP) this year. Still, Cavalli has struggled with dancing around loud contact and owns a .247 xBA and a 4.13 xERA. At only $3,900, Rodriguez makes for a tantalizing value play on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All 30 MLB clubs are in action on Sunday, highlighted by a nine-game afternoon slate loaded with firepower&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[6653,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-329797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-rail","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}