3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Monday 7/17/23

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.

San Francisco Giants

Monday's top implied total belongs to the San Francisco Giants, and their 5.43 clip is nearly a half-run above any other team's (as of early Monday). The Giants are taking on southpaw Brandon Williamson, and they get a huge park-factor boost at Great American Ball Park.

Through 46 2/3 innings this year, Williamson is checking a lot of boxes as far as what we're looking for in pitchers to stack against. He's giving up a 43.1% fly-ball rate and 1.54 homers per nine. The rookie lefty isn't missing many bats, either, recording a meh 19.0% strikeout rate. Put that profile in Great American Ball Park, and it should be a great night for San Fran.

The Giants have no expected starters over $2,900, so they're awfully handy. Even if you don't want to full-on stack them, San Fran is a great place to go to save salary via one-offs or mini stacks.

Wilmer Flores ($2,700), J.D. Davis ($2,900), Patrick Bailey ($2,900) and Austin Slater ($2,600) will be my go-to pieces for the Giants.

Slater typically leads off against lefties while Flores has a long track record of success in the split and can be deployed at three positions (third, second and first). Our model has Flores as the slate's second-best point-per-dollar bat. Davis is having a solid year with a .346 expected wOBA (xwOBA) overall, and he's popped four jacks in 84 plate appearances versus southpaws. Bailey, a switch-hitter, will be swinging from his stronger side as he's put up a .427 wOBA against left-handers in 2023.

Luis Matos ($2,400) is a value righty who owns a .348 xwOBA through his first 91 MLB plate appearances. Mike Yastrzemski ($2,900) is worth a look despite the lefty-lefty matchup. He's not good in the split (.264 wOBA) but is projected to start and could see a righty (.363 wOBA) later in the game.

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers haven't made many appearances in this article in 2023, particularly when they're facing a righty, but they're a team we can feel good about today. Detroit sports a 4.99 implied total, the night's second-highest, in a clash with Jordan Lyles.

Lyles has been a pitcher we've picked on for a few seasons, and nothing has changed this campaign. In fact, his numbers are worse this year than last as he's struggled to a 5.18 SIERA, 16.7% strikeout rate and 49.7% fly-ball rate. The fly-ball rate is a career-worst mark, and it's led to Lyles permitting 1.86 dingers per nine.

While anyone in the Tigers' lineup needs to be on our radar, left-handed hitters deserve a special mention due to Lyles giving up a .361 wOBA and 2.28 homers per nine in the split.

As was the case with the Giants, the Tigers are a budget-friendly stack with no bats over $3,000.

Zach McKinstry ($2,400), Riley Greene ($3,000) and Kerry Carpenter ($2,900) are forecasted to be in three of the first four spots in the order. Carpenter has three dongs in three games since the break, and he's been sneaky-good this year, posting a .363 wOBA and 41.1% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage. McKinstry usually leads off against righties, and our model slots him as the night's premier point-per-dollar hitter.

Javier Baez ($2,700) is having another rough season, but with strikeouts not as big of a concern against Lyles, he's not a horrible dart throw. Spencer Torkelson ($2,900), Nick Maton ($2,300) and Akil Baddoo ($2,300) are viable, as well. Maton and Baddoo will hit from the left side and save a lot of salary.

Los Angeles Dodgers

If you're saving salary with the Giants or Tigers, you should have room to jam in the high salaries of the Los Angeles Dodgers. LA is on the stacking radar most nights, and Monday is no different as they're showing a 4.77 implied total against Grayson Rodriguez.

A top-shelf prospect coming into 2023, Rodriguez was just OK in his first taste of the bigs earlier this year, registering a 4.10 SIERA and 10.9% swinging-strike rate. He ended up getting sent back down, and he dominated in Triple-A, pitching to a staggering 18.2% swinging-strike rate. Despite the upside Rodriguez possesses, the Dodgers are a brutally tough matchup.

Our model really likes Mookie Betts ($4,400) and Freddie Freeman ($4,300) today, ranking them as the slate's two best bats. With a .409 wOBA, 49.5% fly-ball rate and a spot atop one of the game's best lineups, Betts checks all the boxes. Oh, and he is still eligible at short and second in addition to outfield. Freeman owns a .388 wOBA against right-handers.

Max Muncy ($3,800), Will Smith ($3,700) and J.D. Martinez ($3,900) will likely follow Freeman and Betts in the Dodgers' lineup. Of those three, Muncy is the one I'm most into. He's got a .359 wOBA, 40.0% hard-hit rate and 52.5% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage.

James Outman ($2,800) and David Peralta ($2,500) are always solid salary-savers whenever the Dodgers see a righty. Outman has a 48.9% fly-ball rate in the split this season.

Other top options: Baltimore Orioles (vs. Emmet Sheehan), Cleveland Guardians (vs. Quinn Priester), Chicago Cubs (vs. MacKenzie Gore)