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
The New York Mets are the top stack against the human embodiment of a pinata. In 10 starts this year, Patrick Corbin has had a career-high 6.30 ERA. In addition, according to FanGraphs, since 2020, he's had a 5.64 ERA, 4.54 Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA), 1.52 WHIP, and ceded 1.66 homers per nine innings.
The veteran southpaw has been comically inept against righties. Since last year, Corbin has allowed a .542 slugging and .382 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) to 769 right-handed batters faced. So, it's easy to see why stacking New York's righties against Corbin is appealing.
The top option is Pete Alonso ($4,100). The right-handed slugger has muscled up for a .308 Isolated Power (ISO) in his career against southpaws. Francisco Lindor is the other blue-chip option. The switch-hitting shortstop has been hot lately, and Corbin is ill-equipped to throw cold water on his heater.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves have a mouthwatering matchup on the docket tonight. Opposing starter Humberto Castellanos has had a 5.22 ERA in 2022 and 5.25 ERA in his career. Moreover, his career 4.93 Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP) and 4.78 SIERA haven't painted a much more favorable picture of his work.
Thankfully, Castellanos has been awful against lefties and righties. Since last year, he's coughed up a .344 wOBA to lefties and .345 wOBA to righties. Thus, Atlanta's lefties and righties are appealing. Further, the Arizona Diamondbacks' bullpen is unlikely to provide relief. They've had the fifth-highest ERA (4.36) in 2022.
Atlanta's offense has many stellar stacking options. However, the best power sources are Austin Riley ($3,600), Matt Olson ($3,400), Marcell Ozuna ($3,500), and William Contreras ($3,300). This year, against righties, they've had a .200 ISO, .207 ISO, .230 ISO, and .405 ISO.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't announced a probable starter as of the penning of this piece at 12:30 am ET. However, FanGraphs' Roster Resource is projecting Mitch Keller to start. Among pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched in 2022, Keller's 6.05 ERA has been the eighth-highest mark.
Additionally, Keller has been hammered by lefties and righties. Since last year, lefties have had a .372 wOBA, and righties have had a .374 wOBA. Also, Pittsburgh's bullpen has been dreadful. This year, they've had a bottom-10 ERA.
The top of the Los Angeles Dodgers' offense is loaded with elite options, such as Mookie Betts ($4,400), Freddie Freeman ($4,100), Trea Turner ($4,200), and Will Smith ($3,400). Still, players who hit lower in the order, like Edwin Rios ($2,600), Chris Taylor ($2,900), and Gavin Lux ($2,500), are outstanding picks.
Namely, Rios' power is head-turning. He's had a .266 ISO against righties in his career.
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.