3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 9/17/21
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 rank second in weighted runs created plus (114 wRC+) and are tied for second in isolated power (.198 ISO) against right-handed pitchers in 2021. In addition, they're Major League Baseball's most potent offense since the trade deadline, tallying a 122 wRC+ and .211 ISO in that time. Their supremely talented lineup is dialed in.
Michael Pineda has the unenviable task of attempting to slow their roll. Color me skeptical of him being the man for the job. In the veteran righty's five appearances (four starts) since August 1, he has a 3.92 ERA that overstates his caliber of pitching. Comparatively, his 4.31 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP) and 4.36 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) lag. Also, he's underwhelmed with a 16.9 percent strikeout rate, which makes him susceptible to Toronto's slugging lineup doing damage on their balls put in play.
You can stack the Blue Jays from top to bottom. Still, my preferred building blocks are George Springer ($3,900) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,400). Springer's creamed righties for a .256 ISO and 139 wRC+ since 2018. Meanwhile, Vladito's breakout campaign has included a .406 on-base percentage, .315 ISO, and 177 wRC+ against same-handed foes. Also, don't sleep on Alejandro Kirk ($2,700) as a cap-relief option.
San Francisco Giants
Usually, the San Francisco Giants are an appealing stack because the salaries of their top bats are pretty friendly. Unfortunately, that's not the case tonight. There's a potential benefit to that, though. It might mean they're contrarian on a full slate.
I'm all about stacking a high-powered offense in a plus matchup when it also projects to be contrarian.
In three starts since being reinstated from the injured list, Ian Anderson hasn't been his electrifying self. He's struck out only 14.5 percent of the batters he's faced. He's compounded the problem by walking 12.9 percent of hitters. Amazingly, he's worked around this dreadful combo, spinning a 3.95 ERA that's drastically lower than his 5.56 xFIP and 5.89 SIERA.
Like the Blue Jays, San Francisco's stackable throughout their lineup. There isn't necessarily a need to be contrarian relative to other gamers stacking the Giants, either. Still, I do dig Evan Longoria ($3,400) as a player who could slip through the cracks even for those stacking the Giants. He hits down in the order and doesn't have the platoon advantage. Nonetheless, he's pummeled righties for a .221 ISO and 128 wRC+ this year.
I also love Brandon Crawford ($3,400). The veteran shortstop's retooled swing and batting stance have resulted in a .394 on-base percentage, .233 ISO, and 150 wRC+ this season. LaMonte Wade Jr ($2,900) is at risk of being lifted early for a pinch-hitter since he's utilized on the heavy side of platoons, but he's still a worthy consideration. Finally, Brandon Belt ($3,900) has been San Francisco's best hitter against righties this year and is locked in of late.
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a top-five offense against southpaws and a top-five unit overall since the trade deadline. They're in a prime position to aid opposing starter Taylor Hearn with forthcoming regression.
In 90 and 1/3 innings pitched between relieving and starting combined, the lefty's recorded a 3.99 ERA. However, his underlying metrics result in a 4.61 xFIP and 4.35 SIERA. Unsurprisingly, all of those marks are worse in his starts. Further, his strikeout rate dips to 19.0 percent in his starts. As a result, he's at risk of getting knocked around by Chicago's potent lineup.
Power is what I'm after, so my favorite options are Yasmani Grandal ($3,600), Luis Robert ($4,000), and Jose Abreu ($3,900). Their marks for ISO against lefties since 2018 (or since debuting last year for Robert) are .247, .260, and .270, respectively. That's a whole lot of thump.
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.
