3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 9/3/21
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.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves scored six runs in the first game of their series at Coors Field last night. They're in for another plus matchup against Antonio Senzatela in the offensive paradise tonight. The veteran righty's 4.18 ERA isn't too shabby. However, his 4.36 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), per FanGraphs, is a pinch worse.
In addition, Senzatela has been no great shakes at home in his career. To that point, he has a 4.68 ERA and 4.45 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP) in 292 and 1/3 innings pitched at Coors Field in his career. He's done adequately against lefties at home, holding them to a .307 weighted on-base average (wOBA). Still, I'm not discouraging you from using Atlanta's lefties against him. Rather, I prefer their righties, attacking Senzatela's .492 slugging percentage and .356 wOBA ceded to them at home in his career.
Austin Riley ($4,000) and Jorge Soler ($3,800) are my favorite pieces of a Braves stack tonight. Riley has teed off on righties this year to the tune of a .393 on-base percentage, .257 isolated power (ISO), and 154 weighted runs created plus (wRC+). Meanwhile, Soler homered last night, and he entered yesterday with 14 homers, a .367 on-base percentage, .329 ISO, and 151 wRC+ in the second half. He's cooking with gas, and I'm all over him tonight.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros must be licking their chops with Jake Arrieta getting the ball tonight. Arrieta pitched his way off of the Chicago Cubs, and he no longer belongs in a big-league rotation. He's coughed up a 7.13 ERA, 2.21 homers per nine innings, a 4.78 xFIP, and 4.93 SIERA in 21 starts this year.
Perhaps most promising (for Houston), he's been beaten like a drum by lefties and righties. Left-handed batters have ripped him for a .554 slugging percentage and .405 wOBA. Conversely, righties have a .575 slugging percentage and .397 wOBA.
The entirety of Major League Baseball's best offense against righties in 2021 is in the mix for stacking. Nonetheless, I'll specifically call your attention to Carlos Correa ($4,000) and Kyle Tucker ($3,300). Both are punishing righties this year. The former has a .352 on-base percentage, .223 ISO, and 133 wRC+. The latter's been even better, recording a .353 on-base percentage, .249 ISO, and 143 wRC+.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are another elite pivot away from Coors Field tonight. They're second to only the Astros in wRC+ (111) against righties. Further, they're rolling since the trade deadline, ranking fourth with a 123 wRC+ and adding an eye-popping .240 ISO for good measure. They should have little trouble steamrolling Randy Dobnak.
The pitch-to-contact righty is making his return from the 60-day injured list. He's struck out only 12.5 percent of the hitters he's faced, and the approach hasn't worked out in his favor, resulting in a 7.83 ERA, 4.41 xFIP, and 4.61 SIERA.
Additionally, onlookers can be forgiven for questioning if he's throwing batting practice, as he's coughed up 2.27 homers per nine innings. Finally, like Arrieta, he's been a disaster against lefties and righties alike. Lefties have amassed a .633 slugging percentage and .430 wOBA, and righties have teed off for a .547 slugging percentage and .379 wOBA.
The Rays are stackable from top to bottom. My two favorite options are Brandon Lowe ($3,900) and Austin Meadows ($3,400). Lowe's creamed righties this year for a .369 on-base percentage, .303 ISO, and 154 wRC+. Meadows has been a tad worse, but his .345 on-base percentage, .295 ISO, and 144 wRC+ are nothing to sneeze at.
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.
