Stacking can be a controversial topic in many daily fantasy sports, but you can count baseball as a glaring exception. Here, it's universal.
Using multiple players on the same team on a given day presents you with the opportunity to double dip. If one of your players hits an RBI double, there's a good chance he drove in another one of your guys. When you get the points for both the run and the RBI, you'll be climbing the leaderboards fast.
Each day here on numberFire, we'll go through four offenses ripe for the stacking. They could have a great matchup, be in a great park, or just have a lot of quality sticks in the lineup, but these are the offenses primed for big days that you may want a piece of.
Premium members can use our new stacking feature to customize their stacks within their optimal lineups for the day, choosing the team you want to stack and how many players you want to include. You can also check out our hitting heat map, which provides an illustration of which offenses have the best combination of matchup and potency.
Now, let's get to the stacks.
Boston Red Sox
It's a bullpen day for the Tampa Bay Rays, as Ryne Stanek will be the first pitcher to take the mound for them. While he can miss some bats, a 10.6% walk rate is likely to get him in trouble. He's also allowed a 52.4% fly-ball rate and 42.9% hard-hit rate. Stanek even pitched in yesterday's ballgame against the New York Yankees, so he and the rest of the bullpen will be stretched to their limits tonight against the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox's offense against right-handed pitching has been unreal this season. They have the lowest strikeout rate (18.7%), the second-best walk-to-strikeout ratio (0.47), and the best wRC+ (118). So, while some of their options are pricey, it's for good reason. Fenway Park being a top-three park for offense doesn't hurt either.
It pains me to say this as a New York Yankees fan, but both Mookie Betts ($5,100) and J.D. Martinez ($4,900) are legitimate MVP candidates, ranking first and third in wRC+, respectively (Mike Trout is second). Martinez ranks first, and Betts fourth, in barrels per plate appearance as well, a strong metric to indicate power.
Andrew Benintendi ($3,900) isn't so shabby himself, as he is one of just 6 players in all of baseball with 15 home runs and 20 steals. After hitting just 10 home runs in 148 games in 2017, Xander Bogaerts ($3,600) has taken a big step forward in terms of power this year. Bogaerts has maintained a 17.6% strikeout rate, but he's also got an impressive 38.4% hard-hit rate. If he cracks the lineup, Steve Pearce ($3,400) has just a 16.8% strikeout rate, to go with his 36.1% fly-ball rate and 40.2% hard-hit rate.
Mitch Moreland ($3,300) is posting a 116 wRC+ against right-handed pitching this season, along with a 20.3% strikeout rate, 39.3% fly-ball rate, and 35.9% hard-hit rate. Rafael Devers ($3,200) is another left-handed hitter who is significantly better against right-handed pitching. In that split, he has a 41.4% fly-ball rate, 36.8% hard-hit rate, and 116 wRC+,