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.
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds have a drool-inducing matchup tonight, despite Zach Davies' 4.30 ERA this season suggesting it's merely a mediocre draw. The 28-year-old righty's 5.61 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), per FanGraphs, paints a much prettier picture for Cinci's outlook tonight. Additionally, Davies' underwhelming 15.5 percent strikeout rate and ugly 11.9 percent walk rate are numbers worth stacking against.
Still, it gets better. Davies isn't particularly good against lefties or righties. He's allowed a .325 weighted on-base average (wOBA) to lefties, and he's coughed up a .339 wOBA to righties.
Cincinnati's lineup isn't loaded, yet I feel it's stackable from top to bottom. I do have my favorite plays, though. First, white-hot Joey Votto ($3,700) is my favorite option. He ripped multiple homers last night and is in the midst of a four-game homer streak. He's also having a resurgent season against righties.
Jesse Winker ($4,200) also blasted off last night. After a dry spell, he's heated up. Overall, he's recorded a .412 on-base percentage, .281 isolated power (ISO), and 173 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against righties in 2021. The other hitter I'll specifically call out is Aristides Aquino ($2,500). He was out of the lineup against a righty last night. However, he's been in the lineup frequently against righties while Nick Castellanos has been on the shelf.
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox have been one of Major League Baseball's most fearsome offenses against southpaws this year, ranking tied for third with a 112 wRC+. Tonight, they face below-average lefty Kris Bubic, placing them firmly on my stacking radar. Bubic pitched at a solid-if-unspectacular level as a rookie in 2020. However, he's slumped in his sophomore campaign.
Bubic's spent time in the bullpen and starting this year. He's been at his worst starting. In nine starts lasting 44 and 1/3 innings, he's allowed a 5.68 ERA, 5.02 SIERA, 1.62 WHIP, and 2.84 homers per nine innings. Obviously, those numbers aren't going to cut it. So I'll gleefully stack the Pale Hose against him.
Namely, I'm locked in on Tim Anderson ($3,700), Andrew Vaughn ($2,900), and Jose Abreu ($3,600). Anderson's not having a banner year against lefties. Regardless, he has a track record of success against them, and he's locked in atop the order. Vaughn slotted second the last time the White Sox faced a lefty, and he's punished them in his rookie season, amassing a .400 on-base percentage, .305 ISO, and 176 wRC+. Finally, Abreu is responsible for a .326 ISO and 138 wRC+ against southpaws this season.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a top-10 offense against lefties this year, ranking tied for eighth with a 104 wRC+. Additionally, they have a favorable matchup against Patrick Corbin tonight. The veteran lefty has been dreadful since last year. In 30 starts totaling 169 and 2/3 innings since last year, he has a 5.30 ERA, 4.60 SIERA, 1.50 WHIP, and allowed 1.54 homers per nine innings.
Looking at this year, he's had no answer for right-handed hitters. The 357 righties who've faced Corbin in 2021 have recorded a .506 slugging percentage and .369 wOBA. So understandably, I'm most excited about some of Philly's righties tonight.
It starts at the top with Jean Segura ($3,200). The club's leadoff hitter has a .384 on-base percentage and 138 wRC+ against southpaws this year. Hitting cleanup, Andrew McCutchen's the most accomplished hitter on the team against southpaws this year, ripping them for a .414 on-base percentage, .325 ISO, and 175 wRC+. J.T. Realmuto ($3,500), Rhys Hoskins ($3,800), and Alec Bohm ($2,500) are others I'm intrigued by tonight.
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.