1 · Site & player pool

Contest site

Salaries CSV (required) — the export from the site

📥 Drop the salaries CSV here, or browse

DK: DKSalaries.csv · FD: the players-list CSV

Your projections CSV (optional) — overrides the site's numbers

📈 Drop projections here, or browse

Columns: an id column + a projection column. Matched by player ID.

2 · Trim the pool

Toggle off injured or players you don't want. A shorter list makes cleaner lineups and solves much faster. Players marked OUT are off by default.

Lock (right column) forces a player into every lineup. A locked player is in 100% of lineups, so a lock overrides any exposure cap you set for him — the lock wins. Lock sparingly; each one cuts diversity.

Filter

0 active

Turn off players below salary $

…and / or below projection

Team:

	Pos	Player	Team	Salary	Proj	Order	Lock

3 · Rules

Preset:

Loads sensible defaults for the contest type. Tweak anything afterward — nothing is locked.

Tier 1 · Site rules

# of lineups (max 150) Min salary used (0 = off)

Tier 2 · Within lineup

Force a team stack

Primary stack (hitters from one team)

must be consecutive batters

Secondary stack (0 = off)

must be consecutive batters

Forces the stack into back-to-back spots in the order (e.g. 3-4-5-6) — adjacent batters score together. Needs the Order column filled for the teams you stack; a team without enough in-a-row batters just won't be chosen as the stack.

No hitters vs my pitcher

Starting pitchers only

Uses the site's own probable-pitcher flag (DraftKings Starting, FanDuel/Yahoo Probable Pitcher) to drop relievers, who are priced and projected on season averages but may never take the mound. Applied only to games where the file confirms both starters, so an early download isn't stripped of pitchers.

Max players from one team

Site max by default. Lower to spread hitters across more teams.

Min teams in lineup

Minimum distinct teams represented. 1 = no constraint.

Tier 3 · Across lineups

Max player exposure %

Cap on how many of your lineups any one player can be in. Locked players ignore this — always 100%.

Player cooldown (last K)

A player used in the last K lineups sits out the next one — forces turnover across all spots, pitchers included. 0 = off.

Max stack-team exposure %

Same cap, for the team your stack is built around.

Stack-team cooldown (last K)

A team that anchored the stack in the last K lineups can't anchor again yet.

Rotate pitchers

At least one pitcher must change vs. the previous lineup (not all). For a tighter pitcher spread, use exposure % or the cooldown above.

Min unique players per lineup

Min players that must differ vs. every prior lineup. Higher = more diversity but harder to solve. 1 = only need 1 new player each time.

Lineups

What is this MLB DFS lineup optimizer?

A free MLB DFS optimizer for DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo — no signup, no paywall, no “3 free lineups” teaser. It solves a real mixed-integer program (the same math the paid tools use) to build a set of lineups that are individually strong and collectively different, because in large tournaments one good lineup is easy — twenty different good ones is the hard part.

How it works

Export the salaries/player file from your DFS site and upload it above.
Trim the pool: lock, exclude, or cap exposure on any player, and edit projections.
Set the rules — team stacking (including consecutive batting-order stacks), max hitters per team, and how different each lineup must be from the others.
Generate. You get salary-cap-legal lineups in a CSV formatted for direct re-upload to your site.

A worked example

On DraftKings classic MLB you fill ten slots — two pitchers, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, and three outfielders — under a $50,000 salary cap. Under the hood that is a knapsack problem: maximize projected points subject to the cap and the position rules. Add a 4-hitter stack from one team in consecutive batting-order spots, cap any single player's exposure across your lineup set, and require every pair of lineups to differ — the optimizer handles all of it as hard constraints, not suggestions.

Common questions

Is it really free? Yes — it is a working demo of optimization models I have built for 20+ years. No account, no lineup limit tricks.

Which sites does it support? DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo salary exports, with upload-ready CSV output for each.

Are the projections any good? The optimizer uses the projections in your file — and you can overwrite any of them. Its job is squeezing the most out of whatever projections you trust.

MLB Lineup Optimizer