3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Monday 9/13/21
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.
Houston Astros
According to FanGraphs, the Houston Astros are the best team in baseball against righties as measured by weighted runs created plus (116 wRC+). Also, they're maintaining a high level of play down the stretch, sporting a 108 wRC+ since the trade deadline. They're a handful for a top-flight pitcher to navigate, and opposing starter Spencer Howard isn't even clearing the bar of an average hurler.
He has a 6.21 ERA, 4.90 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP), and 4.60 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) through 37 and 2/3 innings. Because the sample is small for this year, looking at his entire career numbers for hitter splits can be helpful as well. When doing so, it becomes evident he has struggled with lefties and righties alike. Lefties have recorded a .475 slugging percentage and .352 weighted on-base average (wOBA). Comparatively, righties own a .346 wOBA against him.
As a result of Howard's struggles against all hitters, all of Houston's lineup is stackable. Still, a pair of hitters stand out as priorities. First, Yordan Alvarez (3,600) is a great option from the heart of Houston's order. He's tallied a .381 on-base percentage, .289 isolated power (ISO), and 158 wRC+ against righties since debuting in 2019. Second, fellow outfielder Kyle Tucker ($3,400) is the other hitter I prioritize in this stack. He's kicked his production against righties up a level this year, tattooing them for a .255 ISO and 151 wRC+.
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are breathing down Houston's neck as my second-favorite stack tonight. They're an excellent offense no matter how you slice it, ranking fourth in wRC+ (109) against righties and checking in fifth (120 wRC+) since the trade deadline. Logan Gilbert's ill-equipped to tame them given his present form. The rookie righty has been knocked around for a 7.09 ERA and 1.91 homers per nine innings in his last seven starts.
For the year, his 5.10 ERA isn't a number to avoid, but that number is a bit unlucky, as seen by his peripheral 4.05 xFIP and 3.73 SIERA. Still, the Red Sox can hang runs in bunches, and Gilbert needs to demonstrate he can close the gap between his ERA and his ERA estimators before I pass on the chance to stack the Red Sox against him.
My favorite options from the Red Sox are a pair of lefty sluggers. Kyle Schwarber's ($3,600) teed off on righties for a .359 ISO this season. Rafael Devers ($4,000) isn't too far behind with a .330 ISO. GIven Gilbert's long-ball issues, it only makes sense to use some sluggers against him.
San Francisco Giants
There's a reasonable chance the Astros and Red Sox will be chalky on tonight's medium-sized slate. However, the San Francisco Giants are routinely under rostered because of the lack of highly-concentrated offensive threats and their platoon-heavy approach. Both things create risk and volatility. Therefore, I expect them to be under rostered tonight. Further, opposing Yu Darvish -- Mr. Volatility -- creates even more risk.
Still, with risk comes reward when a high-powered offense like the Giants and a blow-up prone pitcher like Darvish are involved. Therefore, I'm digging stacking the Giants tonight. Further elaborating on San Francisco's offensive excellence, they rank tie for fifth in wRC+ (109) and tied for second in ISO (.198) against righties this year. As for Darvish, before his excellent showing in his last start, he had a 7.57 ERA and 1.84 homers per nine innings allowed in his previous nine starts.
As for who I'm interested in from the Giants, the entire lineup is in play. Yet, I'll specifically call out Brandon Belt ($3,400) and Brandon Crawford ($3,400). The former has been on fire since returning from the injured list on August 5. In 122 plate appearances, Belt's amassed 12 homers, a .369 on-base percentage, .390 ISO, and 166 wRC+. Meanwhile, a reworked swing has helped Crawford crush righties for a .389 on-base percentage, .232 ISO, and 148 wRC+ this season.
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.
