3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 4/20/23

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.

Philadelphia Phillies

Despite this being just a five-game slate, we have several good hitting spots, with five teams sporting an implied total of at least 4.89 runs.

The Philadelphia Phillies lead the pack, showing a 5.54 implied total for a home clash with Colorado Rockies righty Ryan Feltner.

Through 117 career innings, Feltner has pitched to a 4.58 SIERA and 20.1% strikeout rate. We can attack him from both sides of the plate -- lefties have tagged him for a 42.8% fly-ball rate over his career while righties own a .381 wOBA.

Philly sits sixth in wOBA (.345) and could have a field day.

Just like we all predicted before the season, Brandon Marsh ($3,700) and Alec Bohm ($3,600) are the Phillies' highest-salaried bats. It's hard to argue with it given their numbers. Bohm has a .397 expected wOBA (xwOBA), and Marsh is sporting a silly .500 wOBA against righties.

However, I'll likely pass on those two and go heavy on Trea Turner ($3,500), Nick Castellanos ($3,200) and Kyle Schwarber ($3,100). Turner is too good to keep running an ugly .297 xwOBA, and yesterday's game may have kickstarted a breakout for him as he notched three hits, including a dinger. Schwarber ended 2022 with a .381 wOBA and 54.6% fly-ball rate versus righties. At this friendly salary, Schwarber is going to be chalk.

Bryson Stott ($2,900) is forecasted to lead off, and Jake Cave ($2,600) is a low-salary lefty who has good pop against right-handers.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Both sides are appealing in today's Los Angeles Dodgers-Chicago Cubs game, a bout with a slate-high 10.5-run over/under. We need to watch the weather, though, for two reasons -- wind and rain. The chance of rain is an issue, but as long as the game plays, a stiff wind blowing out to center should make this a superb DFS environment.

While I could make a case for the Cubs (5.38 implied total) against Michael Grove, I want to highlight LA (5.12). The Dodgers will see Jameson Taillon. The veteran righty is a fine pitcher, but with a 20.7% strikeout rate last year, he's definitely not someone we need to avoid.

Mookie Betts ($3,700) may return today, and he put up a 46.5% fly-ball rate in righty-righty matchups in 2022. Pairing him with Freddie Freeman ($3,600) and Max Muncy ($4,100) gives you gobs up upside. It'll cost a pretty penny, but given the pitching on this slate, the salaries of those three aren't super hard to get to unless you're plugging in Kodai Senga ($11,000).

J.D. Martinez ($3,200) and James Outman ($3,200) are midrange bats who will likely be in the middle of the lineup. David Peralta ($2,200) is my favorite salary-saving option on the slate.

San Diego Padres

The results haven't been there for the San Diego Padres' offense this season. They're 22nd in wOBA (.307) and have just one player -- Xander Bogaerts ($3,800) -- with a wOBA above .351.

But things really aren't that bad. They're being hindered by a .267 BABIP, which is tied for the fourth-lowest clip, and they're expected to get back Fernando Tatis Jr. ($4,500) for tonight's matchup with Ryne Nelson and the Arizona Diamondbacks. As such, San Diego holds a 4.99 implied total.

Now that the Padres have all their big boppers, you can create a four-man stack of Tatis, Bogaerts, Manny Machado ($3,000) and Juan Soto ($3,500). That's as potent of a stack as there is. Those four are a combined $14,800 in salary, which is a lot. But Machado and Soto will likely see their salaries rise over time, and our projections have Soto, Machado and Tatis as top-three bats. Plus, this slate has only one pitcher with a salary over $9,000.

You can also turn to Jake Cronenworth ($2,900) and/or Matt Carpenter ($2,500) for salary relief. Carpenter is eligible at first, third and outfield.

As for Nelson, he has thrown just 35 1/3 MLB innings, but they haven't gone well. He's struggled to a 18.7% strikeout rate for his career while allowing a 50.0% fly-ball rate. He should have a tough time against San Diego.