4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 7/24/15
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. As a note, these do not include the game in Coors. You should most definitely have ownership there, but most of y'all know that, so I'm not about to bore you with three paragraphs on it. Here are the other teams you should be targeting in daily fantasy baseball today.
Boston Red Sox
Let me level with y'all right here: this is not a stack with which I'm super comfortable. Like, at all. The Boston offense has been super stanky as of late, and Justin Verlander is quickly becoming less so. However, Vegas has set the over/under at nine with the Red Sox -132. Vegas isn't always right, but I'm not afraid to admit that they're smarter than I am. So let me sort through this so that we can optimize the stack if we do roll with it.
There are a few things working in Boston's favor here. First, they are much better against right-handed pitching than they are lefties. Second, their wOBA swoops up to .331 when they're playing in Fenway Park, as they are tonight. Finally, a big key to Verlander's improvement has been an uptick in his strikeout totals, but the Red Sox have the second-lowest strikeout rate in the league against right handers. It's not great, but it's enough to consider the stack.
Over the past three years, Verlander has been a reverse-platoon-split pitcher. It just so happens that Mookie Betts also has reverse splits, and he has been far more successful in Boston than on the road. He's only $4,100 on DraftKings, so even if I'm not totally sold on this stack, I'm sold on having Betts in a good chunk of my lineups.
Houston Astros
Jeremy Guthrie is a low-strikeout, high-fly-ball pitcher. He is what Preston Tucker dreams of when he shuts his eyes at night.
There is not a single qualified pitcher in the entire league who has a higher SIERA than Guthrie. He has the third-lowest strikeout rate and the sixth-lowest ground-ball rate, largely because he allows line drives on a league-leading 27.7 percent of batted balls. I already love stacking the Astros, but when they're in a match-up like this, I get a little teary-eyed.
The last time the aforementioned Tucker found himself in this column, he double donged like the beautiful little sack of loveliness that he is. Even with that, he's still only costs $3,500 on DraftKings. I don't understand it, and I don't agree with it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make me giggle with delight.
Los Angeles Angels
As a note, I did consider rolling out the Yankees instead of the Angels. I got scared off because of the disadvantages left-handed batters face at Target Field, but you can still totally roll them out if you so choose. For me, this is too good of a matchup for the Angels to ignore.
Over the past 30 days, only the Brewers and Tigers have higher wOBA's than the Angels. They have busted out 34 home runs over that time and have a .178 isolated slugging. Part of that success comes out of a game back on July 5th when the Angels pumped out 10 runs against the opposing starter in four innings. That starter was Colby Lewis, who brings his 4.13 SIERA to the mound tonight.
The one downside of Lewis is that much of his struggles come from facing left-handed batters, and the Angels don't have a lefty-heavy lineup. I'm not going to fade Mike Trout or Albert Pujols, but I'll definitely be giving a bump to Kole Calhoun, Erick Aybar and Matt Joyce.
Chicago Cubs
This stack should be awesome. Instead, it's the dreaded Wrigley Field Friday afternoon game, which will only be available on all-day slates. Why must you hurt me so, Cubbies?
Anyway, let's break this down for all of you that are busting out the all-day games. Jerome Williams is back off the disabled list after about a month, and it is quite the joyous day indeed. He and his 4.64 SIERA are welcome to chill in my hot tub any time.
Williams has shown reverse splits this year in his slash stats, but he actually has lower strikeout, higher walk, and similar batted-ball numbers against left-handed batters. Because of this, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber are magically delicious options. At the same time, don't sleep on Chris Coghlan. He has the lowest soft-hit rate on the team against righties and a below-average strikeout rate. Ya dig? I dig.
