MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 7/22/21

Josh Shepardson  —  @BChad50 Jul 22nd, 2021
The Red Sox are coming off a big night at the plate and should keep the momentum going against lefty Jordan Montgomery on Thursday. Which other teams should we prioritize for our stacks?

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.

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a top-10 offense against lefties this year. According to FanGraphs, they rank tied for ninth in weighted runs created plus (105 wRC+). Last night, they roughed up southpaw Robbie Ray. Tonight, they square off against a lefty, Jordan Montgomery, who hasn't matched Ray's excellence this season.

Further, they're returning home for tonight's game. According to the park factors at FantasyPros, Fenway Park has the third-highest park factor for runs. Boston's upside is immense tonight.

Their lineup tonight is likely to feature four hitters with a wRC+ north of 120 against lefties in 2021, starting with Enrique Hernandez ($3,200). The team's leadoff hitter has a 123 wRC+. He's joined by J.D. Martinez ($4,000), Hunter Renfroe ($3,300), and Xander Bogaerts ($3,900). They boast marks of a 136 wRC+, 152 wRC+, and 162 wRC+, respectively. They also all have top-shelf power, with each tallying an isolated power (ISO) of .210 or higher. These four comprise my favorite four-person stack.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are the sixth-best offense against righties in 2021, amassing a 106 wRC+. Their matchup is tantalizing tonight, too. Opposing starter Cal Quantrill's 4.05 ERA in 66 2/3 innings doesn't jump off the page as a mark to stack against. However, it's heavily influenced by his work in the bullpen to open the year. As a starter, he's recorded a ghastly 5.68 ERA.

Quantrill's especially giving to left-handed hitters. The right-handed hurler's coughed up a .346 weighted on-base percentage (wOBA) to lefties this season. With Quantrill's shortcomings against lefties in mind, my favorite options from the Rays are left-handed hitters.

Brandon Lowe ($3,100) and Austin Meadows ($2,900) are my top two targets in this stack. Lowe has creamed righties for a .374 on-base percentage, .283 ISO, and 150 wRC+ this season. Meadows is nipping at his heels, recording a .351 on-base percentage, .298 ISO, and 146 wRC+.

Others to consider include Joey Wendle ($2,300), Ji-Man Choi ($2,400), and right-handed-hitting outfielder Randy Arozarena ($2,800).

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves have arguably the most favorable pitching matchup tonight. Matt Moore's 5.65 ERA as a starter this year is the third-highest mark among tonight's probable pitchers. However, the lefty's 5.03 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) and 1.71 WHIP are the highest marks. He's also coughed up 1.88 homers per nine innings as a starter.

Moore's been tough on left-handed batters, holding them to a .289 wOBA. He's had no answer for righties, though. Moore's yielded a .590 slugging percentage and .410 wOBA to 117 right-handed batters faced this season.

Switch-hitter Ozzie Albies ($3,600) headlines my favorite options from the Braves. He has a .348 on-base percentage, .295 ISO, and 155 wRC+ against lefties this year. Dansby Swanson's ($3,300) power, represented by his .238 ISO against southpaws this year, is stacking-friendly. Austin Riley ($3,000) isn't having a banner year against lefties. Still, he has the power to punish Moore.

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.