4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 8/18/15
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 always, the Coors game between the Nats and Rockies is not on this list. However, it's Bryce Harper in thin atmosphere. It would be smart to have ownership there. Here are the other teams you should be targeting in daily fantasy baseball today.
New York Yankees
Just when you think Mike Pelfrey is ripe for the stacking, he'll mess around and toss seven stellar innings. His last time out was no different as he held Texas to just one run on four hits, making my bankroll weep with despair. I'm willing to try this again, though, and see if our luck comes out better this time around.
A big part of the reason Pelfrey has a halfway respectable 3.70 ERA this season is a whole lot of luck with fly balls. They have only left the yard an unsustainable 6.4 percent of the time. I'm just going to go ahead and guess he won't have that same luck at Yankee Stadium, which finished last season at the top of the charts in home run park factor.
When the regression hits, you'll want ownership in Yankee bats. The lefties are the way to go here, especially on FanDuel with Pelfrey's increased walk rate against left-handed batters. Pelfrey also induces more ground balls against righties, so I'll just be loading up on some of those stout left-handed bats for tonight's action, both for their safety and upside.
Seattle Mariners
If you had to guess which team has the highest wRC+ since the All-Star break, what would you say? After watching them light the living daylights out of the American League prior to this weekend, I would have said the Toronto Blue Jays. I would be very wrong, as the Seattle Mariners have put an absolute beat-down on the rest of the league with a wRC+ of 121. That'll play just fine in Arlington against Chi Chi Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is now 49 innings into his Major League career, and he still has issued more walks than he has recorded strikeouts. There are 289 pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings in the majors this year. Of those, 288 have a SIERA of 5.30 or lower. Gonzalez is the exception, with his SIERA floating all the way up at 5.71. Whew, doggies.
As far as what hitters you want to use, you have plenty of options. If there's a cheaper guy at the top of the order, pull the trigger. I know I will have ownership in Robinson Cano, who has been a huge part of Seattle's second-half revival. He has a .349/.410/.623 slash since the break with a 37.8 percent hard-hit rate. He comes at a far cheaper rate than Nelson Cruz, though you'd do well to try to squeeze that bad mamma jamma into your lineup as well.
Boston Red Sox
Vegas be thirsty today, brothers and sisters. This is one of three games on the slate in which the over/under is 9, and that's not counting the 11 mark at Coors. The first two games at 9 were referenced above; the third is the Red Sox and the Indians with the Sox -121.
What's the main reason that Trevor Bauer is a generally effective pitcher? That would be strikeouts. He walks a ton of dudes, and he has a tiny ground-ball rate. Without strikeouts, he would have difficulties staying in the majors. Tonight's not a great matchup for him, with the Red Sox striking out just 16.7 percent of the time against right-handed pitching, the second lowest rate in the league. It could get ugly if he doesn't find a way to keep guys off the bases.
With Bauer's high fly-ball rate, I'm targeting batters who also get some loft on the balls. Obviously, this would include David Ortiz, who has a 40.9 percent fly-ball rate against right-handed pitchers. I'll also be looking at Mookie Betts, though. He has a 44.6 percent fly-ball rate against righties, and his numbers at Fenway are far better than they are on the road. This match-up has some tasty upside, as reflected in Vegas's thirst.
Chicago Cubs
Don't ever let anyone tell you one player can't make a difference. Especially if that person is a sparkly little sunshine of hope like Kyle Schwarber.
On the season, Schwarber has made 28 starts for the Cubs. In those 28 games, the team has averaged 5.18 runs per game. In the 88 games Schwarber hasn't started, that number drops to just 3.61, a decrease of 1.57 runs per game. When they get a match-up with a slipping Anibal Sanchez, the Cubs are hard to pass up.
Sanchez's 4.95 ERA this year really is too high when you look at his peripheral stats, specifically his 3.94 SIERA. However, whether it be because he has taken a confidence hit with the lack of results or what, even Sanchez's advanced stats have taken a dip of late. Over his last eight starts, Sanchez has a 4.47 xFIP with a ton of walks and a 37.6 ground-ball percentage. If he's looking to get this season back on the rails, he may need to wait until after a match-up with this surging Cubs offense.
