We have a fun Friday main slate that's filled to the brim with both top-of-the-line hurlers and alluring matchups for stacking. As of this writing, we have six teams exceeding a 5.20 implied team total.
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 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.
Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers will almost certainly be tonight's chalk stack, as not only do they have the highest implied total (6.21) against right-hander Reynaldo Lopez, but most of their bats are priced at $3,000 and below. With pricey hurlers like Chris Sale ($12,000), Trevor Bauer ($11,500), and Walker Buehler ($11,200) all in fantastic matchups tonight, pairing one of them with a cheap Rangers stack should be a popular strategy.
Even with all that chalk in mind, this is a great spot to attack, as temperatures are expected to reach the mid-90s in Arlington, and Lopez is allowing a whopping 2.10 home runs per nine innings off a 39.0% hard-hit rate and 49.4% fly-ball rate. Throw in a poor 5.10 SIERA and 9.9% walk rate, and we have the stage set for some fireworks from the Rangers.
Texas can also roll out nearly an entire lineup of lefties and switch-hitters, too, and Lopez has historically struggled in such matchups with a career 5.80 xFIP. This season, he's allowing a massive 6.57 xFIP and .376 xwOBA in the split.
Among the cheap bats expected to crack the lineup, we can choose between Nomar Mazara ($3,000), Asdrubal Cabrera ($2,900), Rougned Odor ($2,800), and Ronald Guzman ($2,700), all of whom are capable of taking Lopez deep. Either Danny Santana ($2,900) or Delino DeShields Jr. ($2,700) should slot into the two-hole, as well, offering up even more value.
But if you can afford them, guys like Shin-Soo Choo ($3,700) and Willie Calhoun ($3,400) are also worth the price of admission. Choo hasn't slowed down at age 36, making loads of hard contact while putting up a .396 wOBA and .256 ISO against right-handed pitching this season. After obliterating Triple-A pitching, Calhoun continues to impress at the big league level, pairing a 50.0% hard-hit rate with a mere 12.2% strikeout rate.
Elvis Andrus ($3,800) is expected to be one of the few right-handed bats in the lineup, and while he typically isn't as effective in same-sided matchups, he's showing a solid 39.0% hard-hit rate and .179 ISO in the split this year and always brings added upside with his legs (14 stolen bases).