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4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 9/7/18
Despite his reputation, Jon Lester is a great matchup for the Washington Nationals. Which other offenses should you be targeting?

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.

Washington Nationals

Jon Lester still has a lot of brand name value, so you may get the Washington Nationals under-owned here. But the truth is that, despite his reputation, Lester hasn't pitched well this season. He's got a lowly 8.4% swinging-strike rate to pair with his 37.6% fly-ball rate.

The Nationals rank 4th in walk rate against southpaws with a 9.7% rate.

Bryce Harper ($4,600) comes into play with a 38.6% fly-ball rate and 42.1% hard-hit rate to go along with 11 steals. Anthony Rendon ($4,100) has been absolutely unreal against left-handed pitching this year, with a 52.4% fly-ball rate and 47.6% hard-hit rate to go with just a 17.4% strikeout rate. The 19-year-old Juan Soto ($3,800) has 16 home runs this year in fewer than 100 games, thanks in part to a 34.5% hard-hit rate.

Trea Turner ($3,700) has a 114 wRC+ this year against southpaws, thanks to a 12.0% strikeout rate, 40.0% fly-ball rate, and 36.1% hard-hit rate. Oh, and he has 116 steals in 338 career games. Adam Eaton ($3,700) boasts a 16.5% strikeout rate and 33.2% hard-hit rate this year. Ryan Zimmerman ($3,400) has been a force against left-handed pitching when he's been healthy. In that split he has a 223 wRC+, a 14.3% walk rate, 15.7% strikeout rate, 36.7% fly-ball rate, and 49.0% hard-hit rate.

Detroit Tigers

Austin Gomber has allowed a 37.7% fly-ball rate and 35.0% hard-hit rate on the year. Add with that 10.2% walk rate you have a recipe for base runners that's ripe for stacking purposes.

The Detroit Tigers boast the 6th lowest strikeout rate in baseball against left-handed pitching, with a 20.4% clip.

Nick Castellanos ($3,700) has been unconscious this year against left-handed pitching. He's got a 189 wRC+ against them, including a 19.7% strikeout rate and 49.0% hard-hit rate. Jeimer Candelario ($3,300) has been quite good himself in that split, as he's got a 119 wRC+ against left-handers thanks to a 38.0% hard-hit rate in the split. Niko Goodrum ($3,200) has shined as a bit of a breakout player in a rebuilding year for Detroit. He's got 16 home runs and a 38.0% hard-hit rate to go along with 11 steals.

Ronny Rodriguez ($2,900) boasts a 110 wRc+ against southpaws, including a 17.0% strikeout rate, 33.0% fly-ball rate, and 30.8% hard-hit rate. JaCoby Jones ($2,500) has an unreal 50.7% hard-hit rate against lefties on the year. I'm convinced Victor Martinez ($2,500) will be a terrific hitter for decades to come -- he still has it in his age-39 season. He's got a 9.6% strikeout rate, 36.5% fly-ball rate, and 34.9% hard-hit rate.

There are even more cheap options in the lineup too. Mikie Mahtook ($2,400) has a 36.4% fly-ball rate and 30.3% hard-hit rate against left-handed pitching this year. James McCann ($2,200) is sitting on a 38.8% fly-ball rate and 32.4% hard-hit rate this year against left-handed pitching.

Minnesota Twins

Heath Fillmyer has allowed a 41.2% hard-hit rate this season. He also has a 7.7% swinging-strike rate, which explains why his strikeout rate is sitting at just 14.6%. Another major concern is the elevated 10.6% walk rate.

The Minnesota Twins rank 2nd in fly-ball rate (39.5%) and 6th in hard-hit rate (38.3%) against right-handers this year.

You need to monitor the health with Eddie Rosario ($3,500), but manager Paul Monitor expects him back for this series opener. He's been a stud against right-handed pitching, as he's got a 128 wRC+, 45.5% fly-ball rate, and 38.6% hard-hit rate in that split this year. Jorge Polanco ($3,300) is also terrific against right-handed pitching, as he's sitting on a 136 wRC+ against them, thanks to a 17.6% strikeout rate and 42.9% fly-ball rate. Similar to Rosario, Miguel Sano ($3,000) is expected to be a go on Friday. He's got monster power with a 41.2% fly-ball rate and 42.5% hard-hit rate.

Joe Mauer ($2,800) can still hit right-handed pitching. He's done so this year with just a 14.3% strikeout rate and a 43.7% hard-hit rate. Mitch Garver ($2,600) enters play with a 37.6% fly-ball rate and 38.8% hard-hit rate on the season. Jake Cave ($2,500) has a 121 wRC+ against right-handed pitching this year, as well as a 37.3% hard-hit rate. Meanwhile, Max Kepler ($2,200) has smashed righties to the tune of a 46.7% fly-ball rate, 38.3% hard-hit rate, with just a 14.4% strikeout rate.

Oakland Athletics

Yovani Gallardo comes into play Friday night having allowed a 37.0% hard-hit rate on the year. This, combined with a Bartolo Colon-esque 5.7% swinging-strike rate and poor 10.8% walk rate, is why he has a 5.49 SIERA and is a great pitcher to stack against.

The Oakland Athletics have a ridiculously productive offense. They rank 1st in fly-ball rate (39.7%) against right-handed pitching and 2nd in hard-hit rate with a 39.6% mark. As a result, they rank 3rd in wRC+ in that split, with a 110 mark.

Khristopher Davis ($4,000) has at least 40 home runs and 100 RBI in each of the past 3 seasons. He has a 48.6% fly-ball rate and 45.5% hard-hit rate this year. Matt Chapman ($3,900) is a stud. Not only is he a defensive wizard at third base, he also owns a 40.4% fly-ball rate and 44.3% hard-hit rate this year. Jed Lowrie ($3,800) enters play with a 143 wRC+ against right-handed pitching, including a 44.3% fly-ball rate and 38.0% hard-hit rate.

Stephen Piscotty ($3,500) boasts a deadly combination of contact and power, with an 18.8% strikeout rate and 41.8% hard-hit rate this year. It helps that he is a guy we can all root for. Matt Olson ($3,300) is a beast. He's got a 117 wRC+ against right-handed pitching, including a 45.8% fly-ball rate and 49.0% hard-hit rate. Mark Canha ($3,000) has a 41.3% fly-ball rate and 37.5% hard-hit rate this year. Pretty solid for the 6th most expensive guy in a lineup.



Akash Bhatia is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Akash Bhatia also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username tenswimrun1. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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