MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 6/2/22

Josh Shepardson  —  @BChad50 Jun 2nd, 2022
The Braves are the top stack tonight at hitter-friendly Coors Field. Which other squads should you build around?

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 that starts on FanDuel at 6:40 pm ET.

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves visit Coors Field tonight to face a struggling pitcher. Naturally, that's a recipe for an offensive outburst. Coors Field is the top offensive venue, and Austin Gomber has been a mess this year.

According to FanGraphs, in nine starts lasting 47 and 1/3 innings, Gomber has had a 5.51 ERA and 5.36 Expected ERA (xERA). In addition, he's had an 8.4 percent swinging-strike rate that's been markedly lower than the league average, 11.1 percent. So, Gomber's inability to miss bats will likely result in a messy start against Atlanta's potent lineup.

Since 2019 versus lefties, eight of Atlanta's hitters on the active roster have had an Isolated Power (ISO) above .200, with seven of those players tallying at least a .232 ISO. As a result, they're essentially stackable from top to bottom. Still, a couple of top options are Austin Riley ($4,200) and Ozzie Albies ($3,800). Since 2019, against lefties, Riley has muscled up for a .252 ISO, and Albies has had a .249 ISO.

Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals have a great matchup and get a lift from the park factors at Great American Ball Park (GABP). According to FantasyPros, GABP has the third-highest park factor for runs (1.162) and the highest mark for homers (1.352).

As for the matchup, Graham Ashcraft has been overachieving. His 1.65 ERA in Triple-A and 1.69 ERA through two starts for the Cincinnati Reds have been a mirage, evidenced by his 3.92 Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP) in Triple-A and 4.99 xFIP for the Reds. In addition, Cincinnati's bullpen is terrible. This year, they've had the third-highest ERA (4.70).

Sadly, Washington's offense isn't exceptionally deep. Nonetheless, they have a few intriguing hitters and a chance to erupt tonight. The top picks are Juan Soto ($3,800) and Josh Bell ($3,100). Still, Nelson Cruz ($3,000) and Yadiel Hernandez ($2,800) are nifty picks as well. Cruz has snapped out of an early-season funk in a major way. In 88 plate appearances since May 6, he's had a .414 OBP, 158 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), and elite batted-ball numbers.

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs square off with rookie Matthew Liberatore tonight. The matchup might be a good one. Liberatore has made two starts in the bigs, struggling against the Pittsburgh Pirates before blanking the Milwaukee Brewers in five innings.

One constant in both starts was below-average control. Additionally, Liberatore's stats in Triple-A since last year have been ho-hum. Since 2021, in 164 and 2/3 innings in Triple-A, Liberatore has had a 3.99 ERA, 4.16 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), and 1.24 WHIP. So, his stats in Triple-A don't indicate he's a shoo-in to transition to The Show seamlessly.

If Liberatore stumbles tonight, the Cubs can score fantasy points throughout the entire lineup. However, the quartet of Christopher Morel ($3,300), Willson Contreras ($3,600), Patrick Wisdom ($3,500), and Frank Schwindel ($2,800) is the most interesting. Contreras has been the most accomplished hitter against lefties of the group. Since 2019, in 316 plate appearances against lefties, he's had a .367 OBP, .261 ISO, and 139 wRC+.


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.