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.
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres have a mouthwatering matchup against Chad Kuhl tonight. It's the perfect opportunity to show off their revamped offense for the home crowd. Kuhl has been terrible lately.
In Kuhl's last 10 starts, he's had a 5.58 ERA, 5.45 xFIP, 5.42 SIERA, 1.70 WHIP, 10.8 percent walk rate, and 14.7 percent strikeout rate. Kuhl has blended a below-average strikeout rate with lousy control. Moreover, Kuhl has been bad against righties and lefties, coughing up a .322 wOBA to the former and a .365 wOBA to the latter.
The Colorado Rockies have the second-highest bullpen ERA this season, too.
San Diego's bolstered lineup is genuinely stackable from top to bottom. Still, I'm prioritizing Juan Soto ($3,900) and Manny Machado ($4,000). Since 2021, Soto has teed off on righties for a .473 OBP, .257 ISO, and 176 wRC+. Machado hasn't matched Soto's excellence, but his .347 OBP, .209 ISO, and 130 wRC+ have been stellar, as well.
St. Louis Cardinals
Unfortunately, the St. Louis Cardinals don't have a cushy matchup. Justin Steele has had a 3.86 ERA and 3.88 xFIP in 19 starts this year. Additionally, he's had a 2.65 ERA and 3.91 xFIP in his previous nine starts.
Regardless, the Cardinals can wallop any lefty. St. Louis is second in wRC+ (123) against lefties in 2022. They have the chops to get the better of Steele tonight and have one of the night's higher implied totals (4.69).
Additionally, they have intriguing cap-friendly options to use with Soto, Machado, Shohei Ohtani, Julio Urias, or Blake Snell. Thus, they're a nifty standalone stack or option to blend with the Friars and an ace.
Paul Goldschmidt ($4,200) is the crown jewel of this lineup. However, I'd rather use Soto and Machado with Ohtani, rendering Goldy a tough cut in some stacks. Still, anyone pivoting from Ohtani in GPPs to Urias or Snell can use Goldschmidt with the studs from the Padres.
As I promised, there are stellar cap-friendly picks. Namely, I love Dylan Carlson ($2,700) and Albert Pujols ($2,400).
Carlson has had a .394 OBP and 154 wRC+ against lefties in his career. Meanwhile, Pujols has had a .252 ISO and 122 wRC+ against lefties since 2019. Also, Carlson should hit leadoff with Pujols batting fifth, meaning both have fantasy-friendly lineup spots.
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.