MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 5/20/22

Stacks are an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. They can push a team to the top of a GPP by driving upside. However, they're also viable in cash games, namely smaller (two-person or three-person) stacks that mitigate the volatility of a full four-person stack.

This article is your home throughout the 2022 Major League Baseball season for the day's top stacks. The primary goal is to identify the highest-scoring upside stack. Still, game theory will play a role in contrarian stacks making the cut as GPP options. Nevertheless, chalky stacks will make appearances in this space, too.

Beyond my analysis in this space, I strongly suggest numberFire premium members using our DFS Sharpstack tool and hitting heat map tool. The DFS Sharpstack helps plug stacks into optimized lineups, allowing you to change parameters and lock or exclude players and teams. Meanwhile, the heat map offers a one-stop-shop for the opposing starting pitcher, implied total, park factor, and other notable goodies.

Now, let's look at the top stacks on today's main slate.

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are an offensive juggernaut this year. Tonight, they oppose a hurler whose approach is not conducive to success against them. In fact, Dallas Keuchel's approach hasn't been successful often since the beginning of 2021.

According to FanGraphs, in Keuchel's last 188 innings, he's had a 5.31 ERA, 4.75 Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP), 5.01 Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA), 1.59 WHIP, 8.7 percent walk rate, 13.1 percent strikeout rate, and allowed 1.34 homers per nine innings. In addition, everyone has roughed him up. Since last year, the 173 lefties Keuchel has faced have had a .382 OBP and .368 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA). Meanwhile, 675 righties have had a .470 slugging and .356 wOBA against the veteran lefty.

The Bronx Bombers are flush with stacking options. Nonetheless, Aaron Judge ($4,500) and Giancarlo Stanton ($3,700) are the premier choices. They're both on fire this year, and they've tattooed lefties in recent years. Since 2019, Judge has had a .405 OBP, .319 Isolated Power (ISO), and 175 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+). Stanton has also been awesome, tallying a .364 OBP, .229 ISO, and 137 wRC+.

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners scored six runs last night at Fenway Park. But, unfortunately, the Boston Red Sox hung a Dunkin Donuts dozen on them. Still, last night's fireworks perfectly encapsulate the scoring potential at hitter-friendly Fenway Park.

So, obviously, it's not the optimal park for a pitcher to return from an Injured List stint and hope to find his footing. Yet, that's what's being asked of Michael Wacha. He last pitched on May 3. Further, Wacha has spun a 1.38 ERA in 2022, but it has been lucky. The veteran righty's 4.23 xFIP and 4.60 SIERA better represent his work. As a result, he's due to turn into a pumpkin.

The Mariners are unlikely to be one of tonight's most popular stacks with a game at Coors Field and other popular stacks like the previously discussed Yankees. Thus, gamers don't have to get cute. So, some of the top options are Ty France ($3,400), J.P. Crawford ($2,900), Jesse Winker ($2,800), and Eugenio Suarez ($3,000). They're likely to hit second through fifth in Seattle's lineup.

New York Mets

The New York Mets are the visitors to Coors Field tonight. As a result, they get the typical upside boost of playing in MLB's premier hitting location. But, of course, facing German Marquez and the Colorado Rockies' bullpen is splendid, too.

In seven starts this year, Marquez has had a 6.16 ERA, 4.90 Expected ERA (xERA), 1.53 WHIP, and coughed up 1.66 homers per nine innings. Additionally, Colorado's relievers have had the highest ERA (5.30) in 2022, the only team with a bullpen ERA north of 5.00. So, the sky is the limit for New York's offense tonight.

Gamers can stack any part of the Mets' lineup. However, leadoff man Brandon Nimmo ($3,700) and cleanup hitter Pete Alonso ($4,400) are arguably the best options. Nimmo has had a .391 OBP and 151 wRC+ in 153 plate appearances this season. Finally, Alonso has drilled righties for a .270 ISO and a 139 wRC+ since reaching The Show in 2019.


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.