MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 8/5/21

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.

Houston Astros

Last night, the Houston Astros had a tough draw, facing superstar Max Scherzer in his first start for the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, their fortune is much brighter tonight, facing underwhelming rookie Griffin Jax. The 26-year-old righty has split time between starting and relieving in his first year in The Show, making three starts and four relief appearances totaling 26 and 2/3 innings.

According to FanGraphs, he's been beaten like a drum for a 6.41 ERA and 5.08 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA). In addition to those unsightly numbers, he's yielded 2.36 homers per nine innings. Moreover, Jax is a fly-ball pitcher, inducing a grounder on only 29.3 percent of the balls put in play against him.

Jax's massive struggles with taters fuel my interest in Houston's top power options.

Jose Altuve ($4,300) is an elite option at the top of the order, boasting a .270 isolate power (ISO) against righties this year. Kyle Tucker ($3,600) is a pinch behind Altuve, owning a .269 ISO. Meanwhile, Yordan Alvarez ($3,700) packs the most punch with a .272 ISO.

Others who warrant attention include table-setter Michael Brantley ($3,300) and power-packed shortstop Carlos Correa ($3,400).

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are my second-favorite stack tonight. Not coincidentally, they're the second-best offense against righties this year, trailing only the Astros in weighted runs created plus (wRC+). In addition, their stacked lineup is equipped to pile on Triston McKenzie's 2021 struggles.

The 24-year-old righty dazzled last year. His second year in the Majors hasn't gone as smoothly. He has a 6.11 ERA, 4.86 SIERA, and 1.99 homers per nine innings in 15 appearances (14 starts), lasting 63 and 1/3 innings. Beyond the homer woes, his control and issues stranding baserunners have been his undoing. The strand-rate issues posed problems for him back in 2017 in the minors, suggesting they might not be a product of bad luck.

The Blue Jays are more than capable of putting runners on and bringing them around. The lineup's stackable from top to bottom.

Nonetheless, I'm not going to go out on a limb with my two favorite selections, George Springer ($4,200) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,200). Springer's rocked righties for a .355 on-base percentage, .362 ISO, and 163 wRC+ this year. And Vladito's manhandled them to the tune of a .419 on-base percentage, .368 ISO, and 199 wRC+.

Cincinnati Reds

It's a six-game slate tonight, so it's unlikely any viable stack completely slips through the cracks. Nonetheless, I suspect the Cincinnati Reds will be less popular than the Astros and Blue Jays, enhancing their GPP appeal. Further, Cincinnati has ample upside to match the offensive fireworks of the Astros or Blue Jays, namely in their hitter-friendly park in a plus matchup.

According to FantasyPros, Great American Ball Park has the second-highest park factor for runs and is first for homers. As for the pitching matchup, Wil Crowe has a 5.40 ERA, 4.87 SIERA, and 1.88 homers per nine innings. He's nearly in the same tier of struggling young pitchers with Jax and McKenzie.

Jonathan India ($3,600) is a fantastic option. Ditto for the hot Kyle Farmer ($2,900). However, the standouts are the supremely talented lefty duo of Jesse Winker ($4,400) and Joey Votto ($4,400). The former has a .420 on-base percentage, .287 ISO, and 177 wRC+ against righties in 2021. Meanwhile, the latter has a .407 on-base percentage, .346 ISO, and 175 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.