3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Tuesday 7/20/21

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.

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox hung a baker's dozen on the Toronto Blue Jays last night. They chased starter Ross Stripling after he recorded only one out. Ultimately, the Blue Jays needed seven relievers to complete the game. Yikes.

The Blue Jays haven't announced a starter at the time I write this. However, Tom Hatch is the expected starter. He wasn't used yesterday.

The 26-year-old righty hasn't pitched in the majors this year. However, he did pitch 26 and 1/3 innings last year, making 16 relief appearances and one start. His 2.73 ERA for the Blue Jays in 2020 greatly overstates the quality of his work, though. Hatch's 4.80 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) is likely more indicative of what to expect. Further, he had the benefit of pitching in relief rather than starting.

I have a hard time believing he'll slow Boston's high-octane offense down tonight. According to FanGraphs, Boston ranks 10th in weighted runs created plus (103 wRC+) and fourth in isolated power (.185 ISO) against right-handed pitching this year. He'll also have to navigate the hitter-friendly conditions of Toronto's temporary home in Buffalo, New York.

The Red Sox can be stacked from top to bottom. However, my favorite four-person stack includes their second through fifth hitters in last night's lineup. Namely, Jarren Duran ($2,200), Xander Bogaerts ($4,100), Rafael Devers ($3,700), and J.D. Martinez ($4,000). Duran hit his first big-league homer last night, and Bogaerts, Martinez, and Devers have hammered righties this year to the tune of a 142 wRC+, 153 wRC+, and 168 wRC+, respectively.

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds also draw a favorable matchup with a fill-in starter, likely Robert Stock.

Mets are leaning toward Robert Stock for tomorrow’s start in Cincinnati. Stock threw one inning for Syracuse yesterday.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) July 19, 2021

Stock has made only two starts in the majors this year, lasting only eight innings. He was roughed up for a 7.88 ERA, 6.47 SIERA, and 2.25 homers per nine innings. In short, he's not the caliber of pitcher I expect to navigate hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park unscathed. According to the park factors at FantasyPros, Great American Ball Park has the second-highest park factor for runs and highest for homers.

The Reds reached double-digit runs last night. Expecting a repeat against the visiting New York Mets is ambitious. Still, I wouldn't put it out of reach. As for my favorite stacking options, I'm honed in on Jonathan India ($2,700) atop the order, Jesse Winker ($3,200) behind him in the second spot, resurgent former stud Joey Votto ($2,800), and Tyler Naquin ($2,200).

Out of that quartet, Winker and Votto are my two favorite options. They have the platoon advantage and have raked against righties this year. Winker's scorched them for a .402 on-base percentage, .287 ISO, and 170 wRC+. Votto hasn't reached those heights. Still, his .376 on-base percentage, .221 ISO, and 135 wRC+ are nothing to scoff at.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Red Sox and Reds are my favorite stacks tonight, for full disclosure. But, if pivoting off of them, the Toronto Blue Jays possess the sky-high ceiling to warrant a look. In fact, Toronto's been a better offense this year against righties than either of my favorite stacks, ranking tied for second with a 115 wRC+. They're also the leaders with a .196 ISO against righties.

Improving their outlook tonight specifically is a matchup with Garrett Richards. He pitched above his skis for an extended stretch from late April through early June. However, the underlying metrics suggested regression would rear its ugly head. As expected, it did, resulting in a 7.43 ERA and 5.52 SIERA in his last six starts totaling 26 and 2/3 innings.

Toronto's righty-laden lineup should tee off on Richards' eye-popping .388 weighted on-base average (wOBA) yielded to 245 right-handed batters this year. Gamers can stack anywhere in Toronto's loaded lineup. Still, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,500) is the obvious crown jewel of the lineup. He's smashed 26 homers with a .432 on-base percentage, .382 ISO, and 209 wRC+ in 285 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers this season. Marcus Semien ($4,100) is an elite option, 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.