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. We won't talk about Coors in this piece. The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks have the top implied totals on this slate, but you don't need me to tell you to get exposure to Coors.
Milwaukee Brewers
The slate's top non-Coors implied total resides with the Milwaukee Brewers, who are showing a 4.79 implied total for their home date with Tyler Anderson.
Anderson, a southpaw, was solid in 2022 (4.04 SIERA) but has been miserable so far in 2023, struggling to a 5.95 SIERA and 12.0% strikeout rate. He's never been a high-strikeout guy, either, boasting just a 19.5% strikeout rate during his quality campaign last year.
Righties need to be our focus, and the Brewers might start eight of them.
Willy Adames ($3,000) and Michael Brosseau ($2,400) will be core pieces to my Milwaukee stacks. Adames put up a 51.0% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage last year. Brosseau has long been a lefty killer and is likely to hit leadoff.
William Contreras ($2,800) and Brian Anderson ($3,200) are plenty viable while Luke Voit ($2,400), Owen Miller ($2,100) and Joey Wiemer ($2,500) are handy value plays. Miller is especially useful as he's eligible at second, third and outfield.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers carry a 4.75 implied total into their clash with righty Jack Flaherty.
Flaherty used to be a pitcher we wouldn't stack against very often; that's no longer the case. Since the start of 2022 (60 2/3 innings), Flaherty has struck out just 21.1% of hitters while amassing a 5.17 SIERA.
The Dodgers are expected to get Max Muncy ($4,400) back today, and while the salary is way up there, Muncy has earned this tag, generating a gaudy .462 wOBA with a 40.9% hard-hit rate and 52.3% fly-ball rate. His return would be a boost to LA's lineup.
Mookie Betts ($3,600) has gained second-base eligibility while both Freddie Freeman ($3,500) and James Outman ($3,500) will hold the platoon advantage versus Flaherty.
J.D. Martinez ($3,100), Chris Taylor ($2,700), Miguel Vargas ($2,500) and David Peralta ($2,400) provide some much-needed value options. Peralta is the lone lefty of the group and is my favorite play of the foursome.
Tampa Bay Rays
Lucas Giolito is a pretty good pitcher. But he's off to a slow start, and the Tampa Bay Rays are just that good.
Through his first 28 innings of the campaign, Giolito's 11.3% swinging-strike rate is his lowest clip since 2018. He's also giving up a 50.0% fly-ball rate. This is a rematch for Giolito, who faced the Rays last time out and was tagged for four earned runs -- including two jacks -- in seven innings.
While Tampa's 4.59 implied total is nothing to get too excited about, it's actually the third-best non-Coors implied total of the night.
If you have the salary, Randy Arozarena ($4,400), Wander Franco ($3,700), Brandon Lowe ($3,700) and Yandy Diaz ($3,600) are expected to be the top-four hitters in the lineup, and each is an excellent option. Lowe and Franco own a slight edge over the others, in my eyes, due to Giolito permitting 2.13 homers per nine to left-handers so far in 2023. Lowe blew up for 47.1 FanDuel points on Thursday.
Isaac Paredes ($2,800) is struggling but still has a 48.4% fly-ball rate, and lefty Luke Raley ($2,700) would be another appealing value if he's back in the lineup after donging yesterday.