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.
Boston Red Sox
The Kansas City Royals haven't officially announced a starter as of Friday morning. Jackson Kowar lines up for today and was previously scheduled to start. That doesn't mean he's a lock to start, but it makes him a possibility. He could also be used as a bulk-inning option behind an opener. Regardless, the Royals lack an option who should dissuade gamers from stacking the Boston Red Sox.
Assuming Kowar or another righty toes the slab for tonight's game, they'll have their hands full. According to FanGraphs, Boston's tied for the sixth-highest weighted runs created plus (106 wRC+) against right-handed pitchers this year.
My favorite four-person stack is Boston's 2-5 hitters -- Alex Verdugo ($3,300), J.D. Martinez ($4,300), Xander Bogaerts ($4,200), and Rafael Devers ($3,900). The lowest isolated power (ISO) among them against righties this year is .231, and their lowest wRC+ is 153. It's a murderer's row against righties.
If a lefty gets the surprise start, I'm still all over Martinez and Bogaerts. Further, you can consider Enrique Hernandez ($3,000) and Bobby Dalbec ($2,500) as alternatives to Verdugo and Devers, as the former duo would have the platoon advantage against a southpaw.
Houston Astros
Usually, when suggesting a stack, I'm open to a few options. In this case, I've narrowed my focus to a specific trio of Houston Astros. This is likely to be a contrarian stack in a brutal matchup with Carlos Rodon. Rodon's been nothing short of brilliant this year, spinning a 1.89 ERA. It's a real deal breakout.
That's the first reason why this is likely to be a contrarian stack. Additionally, the Astros are down a couple of key regulars, Alex Bregman ($3,100) and Kyle Tucker ($3,000). I'm out on lefties Michael Brantley ($2,900) and Yordan Alvarez ($3,400), because Rodon's been too good against lefties, holding them to a .146 weighted on-base average (wOBA).
The trio I'm locked in on is Jose Altuve ($3,700), Carlos Correa ($3,200), and Yulieski Gurriel ($2,800). Using these three against Rodon has an unstoppable-machine-versus-immovable-object vibe. While Rodon's great, these three have superb exploits against southpaws. Altuve's been the least productive member of the suggested three-person stack with only a 144 wRC+. Correa boasts a 157 wRC+, and Gurriel's destroyed them for a 186 wRC+. This is a high-risk but potentially high-reward stack that should be used in only GPPs.
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants didn't enter the year as a vaunted offense. However, they're playing like a juggernaut. They rank tied for sixth in wRC+ (106) against righties. They've also been locked in of late, ranking fourth in wRC+ (117) over the last 30 days.
Opposing starter Vincent Velasquez has pitched adequately. He has a 4.25 ERA and 4.35 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA). But he's not the caliber of pitcher I expect to slow down the Giants. Velasquez's biggest warts are his 12.9 percent walk rate and 1.85 homers per nine innings allowed. I'm confident the Giants can exploit those warts.
The best options to attack Velasquez with are San Francisco's lefties. First, they hold the platoon advantage. Second, Velasquez has been dreadful against lefties, ceding a .363 weighted on-base average (wOBA) to them.
The Giants have a bevy of left-handed-hitting options. Mike Yastrzemski ($3,000), Brandon Crawford ($2,900), and Brandon Belt ($2,700) are a cut above the rest. They each have a .285 ISO or higher and a 140 wRC+ or higher. LaMonte Wade Jr ($2,400) and Steven Duggar ($2,600) are appealing stacking selections, too.
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.