3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 7/1/21
Stacks are the backbone of cashing daily fantasy baseball lineups. Correlation drives upside, creating the potential to place high or even win GPPs when your selected stacks explode offensively.
This column will do the digging and the dirty work to determine which stacks are worth rostering each day. Scoring upside will fuel the stacks that get the nod. Sometimes that will lead to chalky selections, but contrarian stacks will get their fair share of love too.
In addition to utilizing the touted daily stacks in handbuilt lineups, numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. Our hitting heat map tool is also available to premium members looking for more stacking options. It provides valuable info such as implied total, park factors, and stats for identifying the quality of the opposing pitcher.
Let's take a look at the top stacks on today's main slate.
Washington Nationals
Tony Gonsolin's season began on the injured list, and it hasn't been the smoothest of sailing since his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sure, his 2.77 ERA looks good, but his 4.75 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), per FanGraphs, tells a different story. Further, he's lacked control, walking a whopping 16.9 percent of batters he's faced.
Tonight could be the night his walk issues bite him in the behind. Nationals Park is a hitter-friendly venue, and the top of the lineup for the Washington Nationals is potent -- especially of late. According to the park factors at FantasyPros, Nationals Park has the fifth-highest park factor for runs (1.066) and sixth-highest mark for homers (1.135).
As for the top of the order, each of Washington's likely first four hitters have a weighted runs created plus (wRC+) of 123 or higher over the last 30 days. Out of that quartet, Kyle Schwarber's ($4,500) been the best. In fact, he's been one of baseball's hottest hitters, recording a .360 on-base percentage, .480 isolated power (ISO), and 193 wRC+ over the last 30 days. The three other hitters who call a top-four spot in the order home and comprise my favorite four-person stacks of Nationals include Trea Turner ($4,400), Juan Soto ($4,200), and Josh Bell ($2,700). The statuses of Turner and Soto will require monitoring after both left yesterday's contest early.
St. Louis Cardinals
There's a game at Coors Field tonight, and a bad pitcher -- Antonio Senzatela -- is toeing the slab. It might seem reductive to say that's grounds for stacking. However, those factors provide plenty of reason to stack the St. Louis Cardinals.
Coors Field is still Major League Baseball's premier hitting venue. It has the second-highest park factor for homers (1.257) and doubles (1.345), and it leads the way in runs (1.362), singles (1.230), and triples (2.177).
As for Senzatela, he's bad. He sports a 4.76 ERA and 4.45 SIERA this year. Predictably, he's also struggled at home in his career. In 273 and 2/3 innings pitched at Coors Field, he has a 4.74 ERA and has yielded a .333 weighted on-base average (wOBA).
As is the case with the Nationals, I'm locking in on the top of the Red Birds' order. Dylan Carlson ($3,300), Paul Goldschmidt ($4,100), Nolan Arenado ($4,200), and Tyler O'Neill ($3,800) make up my favorite four-person stack. Each has performed at an above-average level against righties this year.
O'Neill's been the best of the bunch, recording a .295 ISO and 147 wRC+ against right-handers. Arenado's the other hitter in this quartet who I want to specifically discuss. The former member of the Colorado Rockies has a lengthy track record of raking at Coors Field. I expect him to do just that today in his return to his long-time home ballpark.
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants have cycled through patching holes in their lineup all year. Regardless of who's been called upon to step up, the offense has hummed along, operating like a well-oiled machine. They rank tied for fourth in wRC+ (110) and first in ISO (.195) against right-handed pitchers this year. They're also cruising over the last 30 days, tying for third in wRC+ (121) and siting second in ISO (.204).
They have a plus matchup with middling Merrill Kelly tonight. The veteran righty has a 4.73 ERA and 4.17 SIERA for the year. Additionally, his last start was an ugly, abbreviated turn. Kelly was chased after only three innings, coughing up four runs on four hits, one homer, and three walks.
A Giants stack isn't as centralized as the two previously discussed stacks. Having said that, some of my favorite options include LaMonte Wade Jr ($2,600), Mike Yastrzemski ($2,900), Buster Posey ($3,000), Brandon Crawford ($2,800), Wilmer Flores ($2,400), and Steven Duggar ($2,500). The beauty of the vastness of stacking selections from the Giants is the freedom to pick and choose guys whose salary best fits your roster build.
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.
