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.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are the apple of my eye tonight. Adam Wainwright isn't an obvious good option to stack against. Still, the righty's 3.40 ERA has been more flattering for his work than his 4.48 Expected ERA (xERA), 3.95 xFIP, and 4.19 SIERA. Waino has also relied on called strikes and the Red Birds' D behind him, evidenced by his 6.5 percent swinging-strike rate (11.0 percent is the league average) and 19.0 percent strikeout rate.
In addition, the veteran hurler hasn't thrived in same-handed matchups. In fact, he's coughed up a .325 wOBA to 243 righties. That's not ideal for him against the righty-laden Blue Jays, but it's optimal for Toronto's fantasy-scoring potential.
In addition, Waino has used his curve at a 28.5 percent clip this year. He might find the sledding tough if he uses Uncle Charlie regularly against the Blue Jays. Many of Toronto's hitters have done well against the curve since last year, per FanGraphs.
George Springer ($3,800) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($3,900) are the most desirable options from the Blue Jays. They both crush righties and tee off on curves.
Don't sleep on cap-friendly pick Cavan Biggio ($2,400) if he's in the lineup. Since last year, he's had a .340 OBP and 102 wRC+ against righties. I'm most interested in Biggio's success against curves. Out of 280 hitters with at least 450 plate appearances since 2021, Biggio is tied for 44th in FanGraphs' run-value metric against curves, so he's a good matchup fit against Wainwright.
Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians get another crack at lighting up the scoreboard at hitter-friendly Fenway Park tonight. They didn't waste an opportunity there last night, hanging eight runs on the hosts. The fireworks might extend into tonight against the struggling Nathan Eovaldi.
The flamethrowing righty was placed on the Injured List (IL) in June with lower back inflammation. Before he landed on the IL, he threw five scoreless innings, but his velocity was down. Before that start, his fastball had an average velocity of 96.8 MPH. In Eovaldi's start before his IL stint and in his two since activation, he's had an average fastball velocity of 94.5 MPH.
Most important, Eovaldi has been messy since returning to the Boston Red Sox to face the New York Yankees on July 15. He allowed three runs in only 4 and 1/3 innings to the Bronx Bombers before getting lit up for nine runs in just 2 and 2/3 innings by the Toronto Blue Jays on July 22. Frankly, Eovaldi is wearing a bullseye for stacking against him until he proves he's back to pre-IL form.
The Guardians are the opponent tonight, and Jose Ramirez ($4,100) should be the biggest thorn in Eovaldi's side. Since last year, he's had a .365 OBP, .298 ISO, and 153 wRC+ against righties. Josh Naylor ($3,200) and Franmil Reyes ($2,300) are two more intriguing power sources. The former has a .226 ISO against righties since last year, and the latter has a .229 ISO in that split.
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.