3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 5/27/22

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.

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros have a beautiful draw tonight, despite their underwhelming results against Chris Flexen in two starts this year. Obviously, a two-start sample is tiny. Moreover, Flexen isn't good.

The 27-year-old righty has had a 4.98 ERA in eight starts. And, according to FanGraphs, he's had a 6.22 Expected ERA (xERA). But, digging deeper, he's had a poor 16.6 percent strikeout rate, 8.0 percent walk rate, and coughed up 1.87 homers per nine innings. Those aren't the marks of a pitcher likely to succeed against Houston's elite offense.

According to FanGraphs, since 2019, six hitters who project to be in Houston's lineup tonight have had at least a 127 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) against righties. Therefore, they're stackable throughout their lineup. However, some of the best options include Jose Altuve ($4,100), Yordan Alvarez ($3,800), and Kyle Tucker ($3,600).

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are a top-10 offense against southpaws with a lineup filled with hitters with a lengthier track record against them, too. That's bad news for Trevor Rogers. However, it's great news for stacking Atlanta.

Yet, the specific matchup is good for the Braves as well. This year, Rogers has been roughed up for a 5.20 ERA and 4.98 xERA in eight starts, allowing 1.49 homers per nine innings to boot. Further, Rogers' most recent start was a dud against the Braves. Rogers was chased after four innings in which he allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks, coughing up three dongs.

The health of Ronald Acuna ($4,100) and Marcell Ozuna ($3,500) needs to be monitored, but they're stellar plays if they return to the lineup tonight. However, Ozzie Albies ($3,300) is my favorite pick. Since 2019, he's had a .358 OBP, .247 Isolated Power (ISO), and 143 wRC+ against southpaws.

Finally, gamers shouldn't sleep on three hitters who will probably hit near the bottom of the order if everyone is healthy. Specifically, Adam Duvall ($2,400), William Contreras ($2,700), and Dansby Swanson ($3,300) are excellent picks who might be slightly overlooked in this stack.

San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres aren't a deep stacking option like the Astros or the Braves. Nonetheless, they have a few players worth hooking together against a pitcher due for regression.

Jose Quintana has had a 2.43 ERA in eight starts that greatly overstates his quality of work. Instead, his 4.37 xERA and 4.19 Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA) are more accurate for what to expect from now on.

In addition, the veteran lefty has been a mess against righties since last year. Even with just a .285 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) against them this year, he's had a ghastly .365 wOBA against 349 righties since 2021.

The top stacking option against him is obviously Manny Machado ($4,400). Since 2019, the stud third baseman has torched lefties for a .399 OBP, .289 ISO, and 161 wRC+. Others to consider stacking with Machado are Wil Myers ($2,800), Luke Voit ($2,600), and Austin Nola ($2,600).

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.