3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Monday 6/21/21
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.
Houston Astros
This year, the Houston Astros have been Major League Baseball's second-best offense against southpaws, trailing only the Chicago White Sox with a 123 weighted runs created plus (wRC+), per FanGraphs. They're without lefty-killer Alex Bregman ($3,000). Still, they have ample firepower to rough up a below-average starter like Keegan Akin.
The 26-year-old southpaw sits on a 5.76 ERA and 4.37 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) for the season. Over the last 30 days, his ERA has been slightly better at 5.64. However, his SIERA has slipped to 4.73. Akin's the caliber of pitcher to stack against with even a mediocre offense, and the Astros are leaps and bounds above mediocre.
Jose Altuve ($4,400) is a superb option for this stack right out of the gate, leading off for the Astros. He on a tear over the last 30 days, hammering opposing pitchers for a .312 isolated power (ISO) and 155 wRC+. Yulieski Gurriel ($3,300) is my favorite stacking option from the Astros. He's torched southpaws this year for a .404 on-base percentage, .281 ISO, and 180 wRC+.
The other stud I'll specifically mention is Yordan Alvarez ($3,700). He's excelled in same-handed matchups against lefties, and Akin's has faltered in them. The lefty pitcher has coughed up a .351 weighted on-base average (wOBA) to left-handed batters this year.
Cincinnati Reds
In his age-38 season, J.A. Happ appears to be washed. He has a ghastly 6.12 ERA and 5.11 SIERA this year. Over the 30 days, he's been punched in the mouth, coughing up a 7.20 ERA and 2.52 homers per nine innings.
The Cincinnati Reds are no great shakes against lefties. However, I'm not sure that matters, considering how poorly Happ's pitching. They also have only a few hitters I'm specifically keying in on using.
I'm dialed in on the top four hitters from Cincinnati's lineup the last time they opposed a lefty, Jonathan India ($2,800), Aristides Aquino ($2,100), Nick Castellanos ($4,200), and Tyler Stephenson ($2,500). Aquino offers valuable salary relief without sacrificing upside. Ditto for Stephenson. Castellanos is the star of the stack, though, sporting a .383 on-base percentage, .298 ISO, and 177 wRC+ against lefties with a track record of obliterating them throughout his entire career.
Baltimore Orioles
The Astros are my favorite stack tonight. However, their opposition, the Baltimore Orioles, aren't bereft of upside in a plus matchup at their hitter-friendly home digs.
Jake Odorizzi has struggled, totaling a 5.68 ERA and 3.99 SIERA in 25 and 1/3 innings pitched. The gap in ERA and SIERA suggests bad luck has undone the veteran righty. Regardless, I'm not willing to cut him much slack after getting lit up for a 6.59 ERA in four starts totaling 13 and 2/3 innings last year. He's struggling to strand baserunners and coughing up homers (1.78 homers per nine innings), both issues he's exhibited at various times in his career.
My preferred stacking options all hold the platoon advantage, batting lefty against Odorizzi. The right-handed hurler's coughed up a .360 wOBA to lefties this year. The top option on the O's is Cedric Mullins ($3,800). Baltimore's leadoff hitter has a .395 on-base percentage, .249 ISO, and 163 wRC+ against righties in 2021. He's also white-hot, amassing a .364 on-base percentage, .313 ISO, and 203 wRC+ over the last 30 days. I also wouldn't be giving him full credit if I failed to acknowledge his 12 stolen bases this year.
Others in the mix for stacking include Freddy Galvis ($2,700), Anthony Santander ($2,600), and D.J. Stewart ($2,500).
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.
