3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Monday 5/24/21

Stacks are the backbone of cashing daily fantasy baseball lineups. Correlation drives upside, creating the potential to place high or even win GPPs when your selected stacks explode offensively.

This column will do the digging and the dirty work to determine which stacks are worth rostering each day. Scoring upside will fuel the stacks that get the nod. Sometimes that will lead to chalky selections, but contrarian stacks will get their fair share of love too.

In addition to utilizing the touted daily stacks in handbuilt lineups, numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. Our hitting heat map tool is also available to premium members looking for more stacking options. It provides valuable info such as implied total, park factors, and stats for identifying the quality of the opposing pitcher.

Let's take a look at the top stacks on today's main slate.

Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox have been baseball's best offense against southpaws this year, as measured by weighted runs created plus (131 wRC+), per FanGraphs. MLB.com doesn't have a starter listed for the St. Louis Cardinals, but Kwang-Hyun Kim lines up for the start, and ESPN lists him as the projected probable starter for tonight's contest.

Kim's a decent starter with a 2.73 ERA. However, he's the polar opposite of an innings-eater with just 26 and 1/3 innings pitched in six starts. Further, his 3.96 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) is considerably less impressive than his sterling ERA. All of this considered I'm touting this stack because of the hitting prowess against lefties of the Pale Hose rather than any shortcomings Kim possesses.

It starts at the top of the order with Tim Anderson ($3,400). He has a .356 on-base percentage, .214 isolated power (ISO), and 139 wRC+ against southpaws since 2018. My other favorite options include, in order of preference and, coincidentally, lineup spot, Jose Abreu ($3,700), Yermin Mercedes ($2,800), and Andrew Vaughn ($2,300). Abreu's the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, and he has a .379 on-base percentage, .261 ISO, and 154 wRC+ against lefties since 2018.

Mercedes and Vaughn are a pair of rookies. They've taken full advantage of the platoon advantage against lefties this year. Mercedes has ripped them for a .487 on-base percentage, .222 ISO, and 220 wRC+. Meanwhile, Vaughn's tallied a .421 on-base percentage, .267 ISO, and 169 wRC+.

Oakland Athletics

Ranking only a few spots lower than the Pale Hose in excellence against lefties this year are the Oakland Athletics, ranking fourth with a 118 wRC+. They also rank second in ISO (.198) against lefties in 2021. Oakland's lineup is lethal against lefties.

Yusei Kikuchi is a solid enough pitcher with a 4.32 ERA, 3.72 SIERA, and 1.10 WHIP, but he can be bit by the dinger-bug, yielding 1.62 homers per nine innings this year. He's allowed one or more homers in six of eight starts, and he's coughed up two homers in three turns. I wouldn't go out of my way to stack against Kikuchi with a mediocre offense, but the A's are a top-five offense against lefties.

My favorite options are their top-four hitters in wRC+ against lefties since 2018. Chad Pinder ($2,200), Matt Chapman ($2,700), Ramon Laureano ($3,600), and Mark Canha ($3,300) have recorded a 117 wRC+, 127 wRC+, 133 wRC+, and 140 wRC+ against lefties since 2018, respectively. The entire quartet's in great form against lefties this year, too.

Baltimore Orioles

I have the most reservations about stacking the Baltimore Orioles among the teams featured in this space. Frankly, they haven't impressed against righties this year, ranking only 28th in wRC+ (80). Having said that, they have arguably the softest pitching matchup on the slate. Hence, I'm inclined to give them a shoutout.

Matt Shoemaker's 6.08 ERA and 2.25 homer per nine innings allowed are the second-highest marks among today's probable pitchers. His 5.40 SIERA is the highest mark. Shoemaker isn't dazzling of late, either, despite a five-inning scoreless start and a quality start in his last three turns. This month, he's made four starts lasting 20 and 1/3 innings, getting knocked around for a 6.64 ERA and 5.76 SIERA.

In May, he has three more stats on his resume that fuel my interest in stacking the O's. He's struck out only 12 percent of the batters he's faced, walked 10.9 percent of them, and surrendered 2.21 homers per nine innings. The combination of failing to punch hitters out, issuing free passes, and coughing up taters is an elixir for a blowup offensive performance from the opposition.

The Orioles lack star power and hitters with eye-popping numbers against righties. With that in mind, the most hitter-friendly lineup spots are influencing my preference for who to stack. Leadoff hitter Cedric Mullins ($2,600) is my favorite option. I'm also digging Austin Hays ($3,200), Trey Mancini ($4,200), Anthony Santander ($2,500), and Freddy Galvis ($2,500). D.J. Stewart ($2,300) is also worthy of consideration if he's back in the heart of the order after riding the pine for a three-game series in a National League park from Friday through Sunday.

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.