Stacking is an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. Correlation drives upside, giving your lineups a slate-winning ceiling when your stacks explode.
This piece will do the digging and the dirty work each day to determine which stacks are worth rostering on FanDuel's main slate. While we want upside, we also need to factor in game theory, especially in a sport as random as baseball.
Our MLB DFS heat map is a quick way to get a feel for the overall slate and which offenses are in a good spot. You can also check out our daily fantasy baseball projections to identify the slate's best bats.
Let's look at the top stacks for this main slate.
Washington Nationals and Colorado Rockies (Coors Field)
It's hard to fade Coors on this six-game slate. Both the Washington Nationals (5.26) and Colorado Rockies (5.74) have top-three implied totals. You know the drill with Coors -- anyone in either lineup is worth having on our radar.
Colorado is facing lefty MacKenzie Gore. In his brief MLB career, Gore has shown an ability to miss bats but also issues too many walks. That played out in his 2023 debut as he fanned six in 5 1/3 frames but walked four. Free passes can kill a pitcher at Coors.
C.J. Cron ($4,400) and Kris Bryant ($3,900) are the top options for the Rox. Both will have the platoon advantage versus Gore and have been super productive against southpaws over their careers. The rest of Colorado's righties come at modest salaries, including Elehuris Montero ($3,100), Ezequiel Tovar ($3,100), Jurickson Profar ($2,900) and Yonathan Daza ($3,000). Daza may hit leadoff, and if he does, he'll likely be one of the night's most popular bats.
The Nationals' offense will see Jose Urena. Urena is a guy we've picked on a lot in recent seasons, and he didn't record a single strikeout over 2 1/3 frames in his first start of the year.
Washington's offense stinks, but they can mash tonight -- and they won't break the bank. Joey Meneses ($3,700) is the only Nats bat above $3,400. While Menesis is the slate's fourth-ranked hitter, according to our model, Lane Thomas ($3,400), Jeimer Candelario ($3,100) and Dominic Smith ($3,200) are my favorite Washington hitters. Smith is really easy to like as a power bat who will have the platoon advantage and comes at a mid-range salary.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the road against Madison Bumgarner and sport the night's second-best implied total (5.27).
MadBum ended 2022 with a 4.76 SIERA and 16.0% strikeout rate, and he didn't look any better in his 2023 debut, permitting five earned runs in four innings while walking four and punching out two. LA's righties should be the focus as Bumgarner gave up a .366 wOBA and 1.61 homers per nine in the split a year ago.
Will Smith ($4,100) and Mookie Betts ($3,900) are the Dodgers' top righties. Both are excellent options. J.D. Martinez ($3,000) will be a core play for me. The salary is handy, and he's been a righty killer throughout his career. Chris Taylor ($2,500) is a useful piece if he's in the lineup as he's low in salary and is eligible at three positions (OF/2B/SS). Trayce Thompson ($2,900) is off to a good start and is worth a look, as well.
Even though Freddie Freeman ($3,700) and Max Muncy ($3,100) are lefties, we need to consider them. MadBum probably won't be long for this game, so these two could face righties later in the contest. Plus, Bumgarner had a mere 15.7% strikeout rate in lefty-lefty matchups in 2022.
Toronto Blue Jays
The masses are likely to load up on Coors and the Dodgers, so if you hit on another stack, it can give you a huge leg up in tournaments. I love the idea of turning to the Toronto Blue Jays when they'll be overlooked -- especially when they're matched up with a lefty.
Toronto is facing Patrick Sandoval. While Sandoval is a fine pitcher, he's also far from overpowering, recording a 23.7% strikeout rate last season.
George Springer ($3,800), Bo Bichette ($3,700) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($3,900) are projected to hit 1-2-3, respectively, for the Jays. Springer had a 40.9% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage in 2022. Vladdy struck out just 9.8% of the time in the split last season while generating a 38.8% hard-hit rate. Bichette owned a .341 wOBA against left-handers.
Matt Chapman ($3,400), Alejandro Kirk ($2,900) and Danny Johnson ($2,400) are three other Toronto right-handers to consider.