MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 9/30/21

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.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a fantastic matchup tonight. Vincent Velasquez has been rocked for a 6.22 ERA in 89 and 2/3 innings pitched in 2021. Further, his ERA estimators are grotesque as well. According to FanGraphs, he has a 5.05 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP), 4.81 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), and coughed up 1.91 homers per nine innings.

The 29-year-old righty isn't anything special against right-handed batters, allowing a .471 slugging percentage and .336 weighted on-base average (wOBA). However, lefties have even easier sledding. Velasquez has been punished by left-handed hitters to the tune of a .536 slugging percentage and .392 wOBA.

The Dodgers are a stackable group from top to bottom. Nonetheless, I have favorite options. Star among them is Max Muncy ($3,800). The left-handed slugger has a .370 on-base percentage, .277 isolated power (ISO), and 137 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against righties since 2018. Corey Seager ($3,900) is another stellar option with the platoon advantage.

Also, I love Will Smith ($3,300), despite not having the platoon advantage. The right-handed hitting backstop has a reverse platoon split, and he's teed off in same-handed matchups for a .387 on-base percentage, .309 ISO, and 156 wRC+ since debuting in 2019.

Cleveland Indians

The Kansas City Royals are reportedly summoning lefty Angel Zerpa from the minors for his big-league debut.

I suspect the decision is a product of being on the 40-man roster rather than proving his readiness. The 22-year-old lefty coughed up three earned runs in his only Triple-A start lasting and 1 and 1/3 innings, and he has a 5.96 ERA in 13 starts lasting 45 and 1/3 innings at the Double-A level this season.]

The Cleveland Indians make for an attractive stacking option if Zerpa being unready for his big-league debut proves true. Cleveland's lineup isn't stacked. Yet, if Zerpa struggles badly enough, he can make all of Cleveland's hitters look good. Nevertheless, I'll declare Jose Ramirez ($4,400) and Franmil Reyes ($3,400) the premier building blocks. Facing lefties since 2018, Ramirez has a .357 on-base percentage, .248 ISO, and 136 wRC+, and Reyes owns a .370 on-base percentage, .227 ISO, and 136 wRC+.

New York Mets

The New York Mets were a disappointment yesterday, scoring only two runs. Unfortunately, they stranded an army, leaving nine men on base. Thankfully, they have another plus draw to redeem themselves.

Rookie Edward Cabrera toes the slab for the Miami Marlins, and he's been rough around the edges -- to say the least -- in six starts. He's amassed a 5.79 ERA, 5.49 xFIP, 5.63 SIERA, walked 15.9 percent of the hitters he's faced, struck out only 20.6 percent of them, and ceded 1.93 homers per nine innings to the opposition. There's a lot to unpack there, and it all paints an unfavorable picture of Cabera's debut stint.

The right-handed hurler has been downright awful against left-handed hitters. He's faced 59 of them, and they've collectively knocked him around for a .609 slugging percentage, .442 wOBA, and four homers. Predictably, I'm focusing on the Mets' lefties tonight.

That starts at the top of the order with Brandon Nimmo ($3,000). The left-handed-hitting outfielder has a .386 on-base percentage and 131 wRC+ against righties this year. Second, fellow left-handed-hitting outfield Michael Conforto ($2,300) went deep last night, and he has a .346 on-base percentage, .194 ISO, and 116 wRC+ against righties this year.

Others I consider worth mentioning are switch-hitter Francisco Lindor ($3,500) and righties Javier Baez ($3,300) and Pete Alonso ($3,800). While I acknowledged Cabrera's massive struggles against lefties, I failed to note he's below-average against righties as well, allowing a .335 wOBA.


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.