Each day here on numberFire, we'll be providing you with four potential offenses to stack in your daily fantasy lineups. These are the offenses that provide huge run potential on that given day based on matchups and other factors.
After reading through these suggestions, make sure to check out our daily projections. These can either let you know which players to include in each stack, or which guy best complements said stack.
Another great tool is our custom optimal lineups, which are available for premium subscribers. Within the tool, we've added the option to stack teams -- you choose the team you want to stack, show how many players you want to use within the stack, and the tool will create a lineup based on this that you can then customize.
Now, let's get to the stacks. Here are the teams you should be targeting in daily fantasy baseball today.
Baltimore Orioles
Jered Weaver's fall from 2014 to this year has been pretty drastic. His average fastball velocity is down to 83.6 miles per hour from 86.3 last year. This has crammed his strikeouts down to 4.36 per nine through 43.1 innings and inflated his FIP to 4.99 from 4.19 last year. He is coming off of a complete-game shutout, but things are still looking ugly.
These struggles have been especially true for left-handed batters. They're chomping away at a .313/.340/.586 clip with six home runs out of 103 batters faced. This should provide some sweet value to guys like Chris Davis and Jimmy Paredes, who will hit left-handed against a right-handed fly ball pitcher.
Even with this potentially plush performance, the pricing is pleasurable for this puppy. Not a single Orioles hitter will cost you more than $4,500 on DraftKings. Paredes is at $4,400, Davis is $4,100, and Alejandro De Aza, who is less terrible against righties, is $3,100. You could almost assemble an entire stack with Gucci platoon advantages while keeping the cost low. Life is good, y'all.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Rise. Grind. Stack the Dodgers. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Capiche? #Blessed.
Even though the game's not at Coors, Eddie Butler is not a bad stack option. In his 20 road innings this year, he does have a 3.15 ERA, but it's coupled with a 4.74 FIP and a 5.13 xFIP. There's still value there, even without the grotesque park factor.
The other thing about Butler is that lefties have obliterated him throughout his brief career. The first 101 left-handed batters that have faced Butler have slashed .349/.446/.612 off of him. Then you have good ol' Joc Pederson and his .273/.430.670 line off of righties, and you have a match dripping in perfection. They shall create little dong babies that will eventually rule the world, and I, for one, could not be happier to submit to their greatness.
Arizona Diamondbacks
I'll generally try to avoid teams like the Diamondbacks when they're playing on the road because they lose their park advantage, but this is a bit different. Chad Billingsley is on the bump, and the balls could be flying.
Billingsley has only thrown 22 innings in the Majors since 2012, allowing 14 earned runs over that time. That's not ideal. Additionally, the D'Backs' offense really isn't totally inflated by Chase Field. They rank ninth in wOBA against right-handers and seventh in wOBA on the road. That's certainly enough with which to stack.
I feel as though I pump him every time I talk about Arizona, but David Peralta still provides crazy value. He's priced at $3,900 on DraftKings, even though he has crushed right-handers at a .304/.367/.580 slash this year. He, specifically, fares better at home than the road, but in this match-up, I'd be all in on this dude.
Cleveland Indians
Third time's the charm, right? Stacking against Wandy Rodriguez can't possibly go wrong for a third consecutive attempt, right? Well, we shall see.
I don't get how 36-year-old Wandy, who hasn't seen an up-tick in his velocity, whiff rate, or any other peripheral statistics, can post a sub-3.00 ERA and a sub-4.00 FIP. Part of the answer would lie in his regression indicators. Opponents have a .217 BABIP against him, even though the league average is .295. He has also stranded 82.6 percent of runners, more than 10 percentage points above the league average. Those are the two areas where the crashing will occur, and it could do so tonight.
Even with the regression in mind, I'd prefer to plop the Indians stack in tourneys because it's not entirely safe. They rank 15th in the league in wOBA against left-handed pitching, which isn't quite as high as I'd want it for a 50-50.
Michael Brantley doesn't have the platoon advantage, but he has crushed lefties with a .361/.452/.639 slash this year. He should be a good play, as should Ryan Raburn if he's in the lineup. He's hitting .429/.457/.714 off of lefties through his first 46 plate appearances, and he only costs $3,400 on DraftKings. That, my friends, is beauty.