In the world of daily baseball, stacks are often the backbone of the most successful -- and profitable -- lineups. Correlation is the key.
When an offense hangs runs in bunches, it means hitters are scoring runs and teammates hitting behind them are driving them in. By rostering stacks, you’re maximizing the fantasy scoring by essentially double dipping on a run-scoring event.
This is your daily home for the top stacks on the daily fantasy baseball slate. Whether you’re looking to identify the projected highest-scoring stacks or contrarian stacks that can help you separate from the pack in GPPs when they explode, they’ll be thrown under the spotlight here.
Gamers who are numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. The tool allows you to select the team and number of players from that team you’d like to include in your lineup. If you’re looking to identify other potentially high-scoring stacks beyond those featured in this space, check out our hitting heat map, a tool that provides valuable info such as implied total, park factor, and stats to identify the quality of the opposing pitcher.
Without further ado, let’s dive into today’s main slate’s featured stacks.
Colorado Rockies
Robbie Ray gets the ball tonight for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he's been completely out of sorts through three starts spanning 13 and 1/3 innings this year. He's been rocked for a 9.45 ERA and 5.41 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), and free passes (16.7 percent walk percentage) and homers (4.05 per nine innings), according to FanGraphs, are at the center of his problems. Coors Field and a date with the Colorado Rockies is hardly the elixir for righting his ship.
The lefty hurler has been hammered for a .344 weighted on-base average (wOBA) by right-handed batters since last year. He's been tougher on lefties in that time frame with a .293 wOBA yielded to the 181 of them he's faced, but his general struggles and the dreamy hitting conditions at Coors Field make all of the Rockies worth stacking against Ray, regardless of their handedness.
A quartet of Rockies make up my preferred full, four-man stack, though. Matt Kemp ($3,300) is the cheap option of my favorite full stack. He's been only a bit above average against lefties in recent years, but his value gets a huge lift from the park factors and batting right-handed against Ray.
The remaining three players who make up my favorite full Rockies stack are the who's who of Rockies -- Trevor Story ($4,200), Charlie Blackmon ($4,400) and Nolan Arenado ($4,200). Each has a lengthy track record of eye-popping numbers against southpaws at home. Against lefties at home since 2017, Story has amassed a .399 OBP, .431 isolated power (ISO), and 166 weighted runs created plus (wRC+). Blackmon's been responsible for a .426 OBP, .296 ISO, and 158 wRC+. Arenado's been the most dangerous of the trio with a .460 OBP, .420 ISO, and 200 wRC+. All three have standalone value tacked onto any of the forthcoming stacks, but if Ray remains a mess, they collectively have GPP-winning upside.
Los Angeles Angels
Sean Manaea was rather lucky in his five starts for the Oakland Athletics last year, but regression has more than reared its ugly head for him this year. In three starts totaling 12 and 1/3 innings, Manaea's been rocked for a 8.03 ERA and 3.29 SIERA. The huge gap in ERA and SIERA suggests he's due to enjoy success as opposed to continuing to get rocked, but he's coughed up a 42.9 percent hard-hit percentage and watched his swinging-strike percentage tank from 11.9 percent in 2019 to 9.6 percent this year. Missing fewer bats and giving up lots of hard contact is a recipe for continued struggles.
Any Los Angeles Angels' stack should obviously start with Mike Trout ($4,500). He's the most expensive hitter on the slate, and that's for good reason. In 451 plate appearances against lefties since 2017, he's popped off a .432 OBP, .250 ISO, and 156 wRC+. He's also doing typical elite things this year with a .345 OBP, .327 ISO, and 162 wRC+ in 55 plate appearances.
New star teammate, Anthony Rendon ($4,000), is the second stud from this stack. He hasn't lagged far behind Trout in production against southpaws since 2017 with a .408 OBP and 153 wRC+, and he's even bested him with a .296 ISO. Rendon's a great pivot from Arenado or can be stacked along with rostering Arenado by using him in the utility spot.
Other stacking options from the Angels who appeal to me include leadoff hitter David Fletcher ($3,600) and, if he's back in the lineup, Justin Upton ($2,600). Fletcher gets a lineup spot boost hitting in front of Trout and Rendon, and Upton brings the thump to the table with a .226 ISO against lefties since 2017. Top prospect Jo Adell ($2,100) hasn't made a smooth transition to the Majors, but his raw talent, matchup with a struggling Manaea, and a near-minimum salary also put him in the mix as a stack option.
Oakland Athletics
First things first, it's important to note Ramon Laureano ($3,500) charged the Houston Astros' dugout yesterday after getting hit by a pitch for the second time. At the time of writing, MLB hasn't levied any suspensions. However, gamers will obviously need to stay abreast of suspension news and who the Oakland Athletics use in their lineup if suspensions are handed out. Regardless, as you can see in this table of A's hitters and their statistics against right-handed pitchers since 2017, they're a supremely talented and deep group that can be stacked from top to bottom.
Opposing starter Julio Teheran is ill-equipped to tame the A's bats. He made his season debut last Wednesday and was chased after only 2 and 2/3 innings in which he allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs with 2 strikeouts against the unimposing lineup of the Seattle Mariners. Last year, he spun a 3.81 ERA in 174 and 2/3 innings, but that looks rather fluky compared to his 5.11 SIERA.
As I noted above, the A's are stackable throughout the entirety of their lineup. However, my absolute favorite option is Matt Olson ($3,500). He's crushed righties since 2017 to the tune of a .356 OBP, .290 ISO, and 143 wRC+. If Laureano isn't serving a suspension, he's among my other favorite stacking options along with Matt Chapman ($3,400), Marcus Semien ($2,700), and Mark Canha ($2,800).
Detroit Tigers
If you're rooting around in the bargain bin for a stack to complement the pricier stacks already listed, look no further than the Detroit Tigers. Unlike the other starting pitchers opposing my favorite stacks tonight, Dallas Keuchel has been sharp with a 2.55 ERA and 3.64 SIERA in three starts totaling 17 and 2/3 innings for the Chicago White Sox.
The appeal of stacking the Tigers is primarily rostering underpriced hitters who are above-average against southpaws. Additionally, though, Keuchel is somewhat at the mercy of batted balls with a pitch-to-contact approach and 15.5 percent strikeout percentage this year after a 18.7 percent strikeout percentage last year. Further, he's no great shakes against right-handed hitters with a .328 wOBA surrendered to 459 right-handed batters faced since last year.
My interest in stacking the Tigers is limited to only their first four hitters, starting with leadoff man Niko Goodrum ($2,800). He's been an excellent table-setter when facing lefties since reaching the Majors in 2017, tallying a .382 OBP against them. Two-hole hitter Jonathan Schoop ($3,100) brings a different dimension to the table with a .233 ISO against lefties since 2017.
Miguel Cabrera ($2,900) and C.J. Cron ($3,300) bring the best of all worlds to the table against lefties. Since 2017, Cabrera has a .423 OBP, .189 ISO, and 152 wRC+ against lefties. Facing lefties during that same time frame, Cron has a .355 OBP, .277 ISO, and 144 wRC+. With a lack of an elite ace who should draw a chalky ownership rate on this slate, I suspect the Tigers' value stack could fly under the radar from an ownership perspective.
Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.