4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 9/18/20
In the world of daily baseball, stacks are often the backbone of the most successful -- and profitable -- lineups. Correlation is the key.
When an offense hangs runs in bunches, it means hitters are scoring runs and teammates hitting behind them are driving them in. By rostering stacks, you’re maximizing the fantasy scoring by essentially double dipping on a run-scoring event.
This is your daily home for the top stacks on the daily fantasy baseball slate. Whether you’re looking to identify the projected highest-scoring stacks or contrarian stacks that can help you separate from the pack in GPPs when they explode, they’ll be thrown under the spotlight here.
Gamers who are numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. The tool allows you to select the team and number of players from that team you’d like to include in your lineup. If you’re looking to identify other potentially high-scoring stacks beyond those featured in this space, check out our hitting heat map, a tool that provides valuable info such as implied total, park factor, and stats to identify the quality of the opposing pitcher.
Without further ado, let’s dive into today’s main slate’s featured stacks.
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are at home in their homer-friendly digs against a rookie righty, Jonathan Stiever, a pitcher who has only 3 2/3 innings of big-league experience after pitching no higher than High-A prior to this season. Elaborating on the homer-friendly nature of Great American "Small" Park, it's the fourth-most homer friendly with a park factor of 1.186 for dingers, per FantasyPros.
The dinger-amplifying nature of the park could prove especially noteworthy with Stiever's mediocre ground-ball percentages in the minors, according to his batted-ball data at FanGraphs. Power is the name of the game in this stack, and the Reds have it in spades.
Joey Votto ($3,100) is having something of a power bounce-back season with a .227 isolated power (ISO) against righties this year. Eugenio Suarez ($3,400) has been on paternity leave without a timetable to return, but if he's back tonight, his .274 ISO against righties this year fits the bill of what we're looking for in this stack. Ditto for the .277 ISO sported by Jesse Winker ($2,800) and the team-high .280 ISO tallied by Nick Castellanos ($3,200) against righties.
Cleveland Indians
Make it three nights in a row that the Cleveland Indians are appearing in this space. Tonight is the most favorable pitching matchup of the recent span. Michael Fulmer has been lit up like a Christmas tree this year with a 9.27 ERA and 5.52 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) in 22 1/3 innings pitched. He's also served up a .448 weighted on-base average (wOBA) that is only a little unlucky when compared to his sky-high .426 expected wOBA (xwOBA).
After ripping a couple dingers last night, Jose Ramirez ($3,800) should be a popular selection tonight, and he's a great player to include in a stack of the Tribe. Francisco Lindor ($3,700) and his .243 ISO and 115 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against righties since 2017 is worth a look, too. Really, the entirety of the Indians' lineup is stackable, but my other favorite option is slugger Franmil Reyes ($2,900). Reyes sports a .244 ISO against righties since reaching the Majors in 2018.
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are healthy again, and their lineup is deep with thump. It's also loaded with right-handed hitters who will hold the platoon advantage tonight against lefty Martin Perez. Perez has yielded only a .315 wOBA to right-handed batters this year, but he's struck out just 17.1 percent of the, opening the door to thunderous contact from the Bronx Bombers.
Perez will have his hands full right out of the chute with DJ LeMahieu ($4,200). The veteran second baseman is tearing the cover off of the ball this year with a .423 OBP, .268 ISO and 187 wRC+. He smashed his 10th homer of the year last night after bashing a pair the night before and slugging one the night before that. He's locked in.
Aaron Judge ($4,000) and Giancarlo Stanton ($3,800) bring prodigious power to the table, with the former owning a .298 ISO against lefties since 2017 and the latter boasting a bloated .383 ISO. Like LeMahieu, Luke Voit ($4,300) is also obliterating baseballs this year with a .378 ISO, .344 OBP, 165 wRC+ and 20 dingers -- including one last night. Don't forget about the likes of Aaron Hicks ($3,200), Gleyber Torres ($3,000), Giovanny Urshela ($3,200) and/or Clint Frazier ($3,700), too.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are at the hitters' paradise known as Coors Field tonight. It's the clear-cut top offensive venue with a park factor of 1.335 for runs, 1.249 for homers, 1.168 for singles, 1.313 for doubles, and 2.140 for triples, per FantasyPros. The tantalizing park factors are the biggest check in the pros column for stacking the Dodgers tonight, but a matchup with righty Ryan Castellani is sweet, as well.
The rookie has a 4.46 ERA in 34 1/3 innings pitched this year that belies his more horrific 5.95 SIERA. He's been homer prone, too, coughing up 2.36 jacks per nine innings. Additionally, he's responsible for a .394 xwOBA that screams "stack against me." The Dodgers have a loaded lineup that has given righties fits this year and ranks fourth with a 123 wRC+. They're stackable from top to bottom.
Corey Seager ($4,200), Mookie Betts ($4,700) and Max Muncy ($3,900) are a few of my favorite options with a wide range of salaries -- albeit all quite high with the Coors inflation baked in. Among qualified hitters this year, Seager is tied for the top spot in percentage of barrels per plate appearance, according to Baseball Savant. Betts is enjoying a fantastic first season with the Dodgers and is tied for 15th among qualified hitters with a 157 wRC+. As for Muncy, his .197 ISO and 100 wRC+ this year underwhelm, but he's pummeled righties since 2017 with a .377 OBP, .284 ISO and 141 wRC+.
Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.