MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Wednesday 9/1/21

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.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays flubbed a plum draw last night. Holding a grudge for getting burned is a bad move, though. But, conversely, going back to the well to stack against Matt Harvey is wise.

The veteran righty's 3.53 ERA in the second half is a farce. Instead, his 4.85 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP) and 4.55 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), per FanGraphs, better represent his true level of pitching. In addition, his full-season totals and numbers in recent years are dreadful. Therefore, he's a pitcher to stack against gleefully.

But what about Harvey having the platoon advantage against the largely righty-laden Blue Jays' lineup? Don't sweat it—Harvey's at his worst against righties. The 295 of them he's faced this year have hammered him for a .500 slugging percentage and .373 weighted on-base average (wOBA).

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,400) is easily the top play. He homered again last night after reaching the seats twice on Monday night. I also like Teoscar Hernandez ($3,800) tonight. The right-handed-hitting outfielder's .213 isolated power (ISO) against righties since 2018 is an alluring number to use against Harvey.

Beyond these two, the rest of the lineup is stackable. Still, I'll specifically call your attention to Alejandro Kirk ($2,100). He received a breather last night. However, I suspect he'll be back in the lineup tonight, and I'll gladly roster his 106 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against righties in his young career at nearly the minimum salary.

Minnesota Twins

Like the Blue Jays, the Minnesota Twins disappointed gamers like me who stacked them. Also, as is the case with Toronto, I forgive them for their slip-up, rostering them again tonight.

Minnesota has a plus matchup tonight, squaring off with reliever-turned-starter Justin Steele. The lefty pitcher's transition to the rotation hasn't gone smoothly, resulting in a 6.39 ERA, 4.95 xFIP, and 5.08 SIERA in his three starts. Further, he's coughed up 2.84 homers per nine innings. Finally, the lefties struggled against righties, yielding a .500 slugging percentage and .343 wOBA.

Queue up some of Minnesota's right-handed hitters as my targets. Byron Buxton ($3,700) and Josh Donaldson ($3,200) are the elite options. The former has a .250 ISO and 143 wRC+ against southpaws this year, and the latter owns a .361 on-base percentage, .250 ISO, and 133 wRC+.

Robert Refsnyder ($2,100) is a viable option as an average hitter against lefties since 2018 who gets a sizable value boost from his near-minimum salary and lineup spot, hitting third. I'm also intrigued by a wrap-around stack, incorporating Willians Astudillo ($2,200) and Andrelton Simmons ($2,100). This stack meshes perfectly with the Blue Jays, opening the door to rostering an ace if you include players with low salaries.

Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles aren't an offense that comes to mind when discussing the best offenses in baseball. However, they're a top-10 group against lefties, ranking eighth with a 104 wRC+. They've also been a few ticks above average since the trade deadline, tallying a 102 wRC+.

Given their lack of top-flight hitters, mediocre implied total, and viable alternatives on the slate, I expect them to be a contrarian stack. As such, they have some GPP appeal. Additionally, Steven Matz is average, producing a 3.81 ERA, 3.99 xFIP, and 4.12 SIERA. Thus, he's not a pitcher to go out of your way to avoid.

Three members of their lineup, Cedric Mullins ($3,400), Trey Mancini ($3,100), and Ryan Mountcastle ($3,500), have a 133 wRC+ or higher. Further, Mancini and Mountcastle have plus power, recording a .256 ISO and .263 ISO, respectively. This trio highlights my favorite options. Ramon Urias ($2,400) is also somewhat intriguing as a fourth option for a four-person stack.


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.