Stacks are an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. They can push a team to the top of a GPP by driving upside. However, they're also viable in cash games, namely smaller (two-person or three-person) stacks that mitigate the volatility of a full four-person stack.
This article is your home throughout the 2022 Major League Baseball season for the day's top stacks. The primary goal is to identify the highest-scoring upside stack. Still, game theory will play a role in contrarian stacks making the cut as GPP options. Nevertheless, chalky stacks will make appearances in this space, too.
Beyond my analysis in this space, I strongly suggest numberFire premium members using our DFS Sharpstack tool and hitting heat map tool. The DFS Sharpstack helps plug stacks into optimized lineups, allowing you to change parameters and lock or exclude players and teams. Meanwhile, the heat map offers a one-stop-shop for the opposing starting pitcher, implied total, park factor, and other notable goodies.
Now, let's look at the top stacks on today's main slate.
New York Mets
Patrick Corbin has been dreadful since 2020. He has a 7.16 ERA this year despite good luck with limiting homers. However, since 2020, according to FanGraphs, Corbin has had a 5.67 ERA, 4.51 Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA) and has allowed 1.63 homers per nine innings. The New York Mets should demolish the struggling lefty.
Specifically, the righties should have their way with Corbin. Since last season, Corbin has surrendered a .541 slugging and .381 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) to 693 right-handed batters faced.
The cream of the crop of this stack is Pete Alonso ($3,800). In 479 plate appearances against southpaws in his career, he's mashed 36 taters with a .306 Isolated Power (ISO) and 128 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+).
Frankly, the Mets are stackable from top to bottom, with Alonso representing the best player. Still, Mark Canha ($2,600) and J.D. Davis ($2,500) stands out as a pair of salary-cap-friendly selections. Since 2019, Canha has had a 119 wRC+ against lefties, and Davis has been better with a 123 wRC+.
New York Yankees
The Mets' city mates, the New York Yankees, have a good matchup with a below-average lefty tonight, too. Yusei Kikuchi's 4.35 ERA in 2022 isn't good, but it's markedly better than his 5.31 Expected ERA (xERA) and 4.67 SIERA. Further, he has been homer-prone, yielding 1.74 homers per nine innings and 1.63 for his career.
Like the previously discussed Corbin, Kikuchi has been his worst with the platoon disadvantage. Since last year, Kikuchi has allowed a .478 slugging and .359 wOBA to 590 right-handed batters faced. Therefore, the Bronx Bombers' righties are the best stacking picks.
The clear-cut top option in this stack is Aaron Judge ($4,400). He's hammered southpaws for a .408 OBP, .327 ISO, and 179 wRC+ since 2019. Next, infielders DJ LeMahieu ($3,300) and Gleyber Torres ($2,600) are stellar picks. Yet, Giancarlo Stanton ($3,500), Josh Donaldson ($3,200), and Aaron Hicks ($2,600) are also outstanding selections. Still, Judge is the must-use player in a Yankees stack.
San Francisco Giants
It is frequently maddening stacking the San Francisco Giants. San Francisco platoons a few of their starters, creating the risk of a starter getting lifted early for a reserve. Nonetheless, a matchup with Antonio Senzatela is too good to ignore completely.
Senzatela has had a respectable 3.75 ERA in 2022, but his 6.49 xERA and 5.31 SIERA are inviting numbers to stack against. In addition, he's been taking pitching to contact to the extreme, striking out only 6.4 percent of the batters he's faced. Finally, Senzatela is below-average against all hitters, allowing a .346 wOBA to lefties and a .328 wOBA to righties since 2021.
While each of the previous stacks had a no-brainer pick, the Giants do not. If Brandon Belt ($3,500) returns from his neck issue, he's a superb pick. Additionally, LaMonte Wade Jr ($2,300) is an excellent selection. Since breaking out with the Giants last year, Wade has had a .342 OBP, .257 ISO, and 132 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers.
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.