3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 8/13/21

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.

Toronto Blue Jays

According to FanGraphs, the Toronto Blue Jays are the second-best offense against righties this season, amassing a 114 weighted runs created plus (wRC+). Unsurprisingly, they're a power-packed bunch, too. Toronto has the second-highest isolated power (.198 ISO) against righties. Further, they're in great form. Toronto's 124 wRC+ since the all-star break is tops in Major League Baseball.

I'm head over heels about their matchup with Chris Flexen. The veteran righty has made a successful return stateside after pitching well in the Korean Baseball Organization last year. However, his pitch-to-contact recipe for success could be his undoing against Toronto's powerful offense. Flexen's 8.1 percent swinging-strike percentage and 16.5 percent strikeout rate are well short of the 2021 Major League Baseball averages of 11.3 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.

Further, Flexen's been at his worst in same-handed matchups, facing right-handed batters. He's coughed up a .474 slugging percentage, and .355 weighted on-base average (wOBA) to 273 right-handed batters faced. Toronto's righty-laden lineup is positioned to pounce on his shortcoming.

When stacking the Blue Jays, I'm locking in on their thumpers. Namely Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,600), George Springer ($4,300), and Marcus Semien ($4,000). Guerrero has a .347 ISO against righties this year. Springer's been even more powerful with a .387 ISO. Semien lags behind both. However, that's an exceptionally high bar to clear, and there's nothing wrong with his .258 ISO.

Teoscar Hernandez's ($3,500) .144 ISO in same-handed matchups is markedly lower than the aforementioned trio. Nonetheless, he can put a charge into the ball, and his hard-hit percentage isn't too far off from Springer's and Semien's marks.

Boston Red Sox

I'm not suggesting salary-cap-friendly stacks tonight. Thankfully, I'm digging some of the higher-risk hurlers with low salaries. On that note, the Boston Red Sox join their American League East rivals as one of my favorite stacks tonight in a mouthwatering matchup.

Rookie righty Spenser Watkins has a 4.22 ERA in 32 innings pitched. At first blush, that's not too shabby. However, his 5.17 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) is a far more enticing number to stack against. Further, like Flexen, Watkins struggles with missing bats, owning an 8.6 percent swinging-strike percentage and 16.2 percent strikeout rate.

Fire up the thumpers from the BoSox. Specifically, my favorite options are J.D. Martinez ($4,000) and Rafael Devers ($4,400). Martinez has hammered righties for a .269 ISO, and Devers has been even better with a .350 ISO. Also, don't sleep on Alex Verdugo ($2,800). It sounds like he would have returned to the active roster yesterday if he arrived in time for the game. So, I'm expecting him back in the lineup tonight. He has a stellar .212 ISO against righties in 2021.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are hitting at an above-average clip in the second half, recording a 104 wRC+ that's tied for 12th best. That's not a world-beater number, yet it's good enough to have confidence in them getting the better of a punching bag like Mitch Keller.

Keller's been beaten like a drum this year, and the tune of the drum is a 7.06 ERA and 5.08 SIERA. Additionally, the right-handed hurler is inept against lefties and righties. He's coughed up a .508 slugging percentage and .388 wOBA to lefties and a .522 slugging percentage and .391 wOBA to righties.

Milwaukee's lineup isn't especially deep or loaded. Therefore, I suggest focusing on the top of the order. Additionally, my favorite option is easily Willy Adames ($3,300). In 197 plate appearances against righties since joining the Brewers, he has 13 homers, a .386 on-base percentage, .279 ISO, and 159 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.