MLB

Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 9/29/20

Josh Shepardson  —  @BChad50 Sep 29th, 2020
The Rays are the top stack on tonight's slate thanks to a matchup with Matt Shoemaker. Which other offenses are worth a look?

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.

Tampa Bay Rays

Among the eight pitchers toeing the rubber for today's MLB playoff action, Matt Shoemaker has the highest ERA (4.71), highest skill-interactive ERA (4.35; SIERA), lowest strikeout percentage (22.6 percent), and highest expected weighted on-base average (.330; xwOBA), according to Baseball Savant. As an added bonus, the 4.68 ERA posted by the bullpen of the Toronto Blue Jays is the highest of the teams playing today.

Enter the Tampa Bay Rays as the team with the offense in the most fantasy-friendly matchup. The Rays don't have a star-studded lineup, save for Brandon Lowe ($3,700), who makes for the top option in their stack. Facing righties since the start of last year, he has a .350 OBP, .255 isolated power (ISO) and 135 weighted runs created plus (wRC+).

Shortstop Willy Adames ($2,700) is my second-favorite stacking option. Interestingly, Shoemaker's been more giving to righties than lefties this year -- with a .303 wOBA coughed up to lefties and a .325 wOBA ceded to righties. For Adames' part, he's also better in same-sided matchups in his career. Against righties since last year, he's amassed a 345 OBP, .177 ISO and 117 wRC+.

Others I'm most interested in stacking from the Rays include Yoshitomo Tsutsugo ($2,700), Randy Arozarena ($3,000) and Nathaniel Lowe ($2,700). Tsutsugo might seem the most out of place with just a 91 wRC+ against righties this season, but his .200 ISO is solid. Also, Tsutsugo's been a tick unlucky on his batted balls with a .304 wOBA and .311 xwOBA.

Cleveland Indians

Postseason baseball means aces galore, and tonight is a great example. Avoiding them all is basically impossible, and the Cleveland Indians have a tough draw with Gerrit Cole.

But Cole hasn't been bulletproof. He's allowed a .319 wOBA and .500 slugging percentage to the 121 left-handed batters he's faced. He'll likely face four hitters who bat left-handed right out of the chute.

Francisco Lindor ($3,600), Cesar Hernandez ($2,800), Jose Ramirez ($4,000), and Carlos Santana ($2,900) are all switch-hitters who will take aim at Cole as left-handed hitters. Lindor and Ramirez are my favorite options in that quartet. Tyler Naquin ($2,500) and Josh Naylor ($2,200) will also have the platoon advantage.

While he won't hold the platoon advantage, Franmil Reyes' ($2,800) elite power makes him a viable option. Since last year, he has a .253 ISO against righties. Also of note for gamers turning to a stack of the Tribe, New York's bullpen has the second-highest ERA (4.51) of the playoff teams playing today.

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.