3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Wednesday 6/8/22
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.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers face overachieving Johnny Cueto tonight and can knock him down a few pegs. The 36-year-old righty has had a 2.92 ERA in four starts spanning 24 and 2/3 innings. However, according to FanGraphs, he's also had a 3.86 Expected ERA (xERA), 3.90 Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP), and 4.10 Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA). Cueto's ERA estimators haven't been terrible, but they aren't elite, either.
In addition, Cueto is reliant on his fielders, striking out only 18.4 percent of the batters he's faced. Since last year, he's also been below-average against lefties and righties. Cueto has allowed a .336 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) to lefties and a .332 wOBA to righties.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are slightly top-heavy, but Cody Bellinger ($2,900), Chris Taylor ($3,000), and Gavin Lux ($2,400) are usable options lower in their order. However, the top choices are stars Mookie Betts ($4,600), Freddie Freeman ($3,700), Trea Turner ($4,100), and Will Smith ($3,100). Since 2019, versus righties, Turner has had a 125 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), Smith has tallied a 143 wRC+, Betts has recorded a 148 wRC+, and Freeman has been the best, with a 158 wRC+.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are likely the best stack tonight. They are greeting a 28-year-old southpaw making his MLB debut. Jared Koenig was a 35th-round pick in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft but played multiple seasons in independent ball before debuting in Double-A in the Oakland Athletics organization last year.
Last year, in 121 and 1/3 innings, he had a 3.26 ERA that was much better than his 4.88 xFIP. This year, he's had a 2.21 ERA in 53 innings in Triple-A, that's markedly better than his 4.20 xFIP. Additionally, his Triple-A manager, Fran Riordan, lauded Koenig's understanding of how to pitch while mentioning "nothing jumps out" about his stuff.
Perhaps, Koenig's pitching acumen will be enough to navigate Atlanta's lefty-smashing lineup. However, it's probably more likely he takes some lumps. The Braves are deep and have power from top to bottom in their lineup. Of course, Ronald Acuna ($4,200) is an excellent pick after his multi-homer effort last night. Still, there are seemingly endless stacking options behind Atlanta's leadoff hitter, namely if Koenig's ho-hum stuff fails to get the better of the Braves.
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox face a lefty again tonight. While no one can take away Reid Detmers' no-hitter spun on May 10, he's otherwise been a below-average starter in his young career. The 22-year-old lefty has had a 4.20 ERA, 4.21 xERA, 4.64 xFIP, and 4.65 SIERA this year. Further, his ERA and ERA estimators have been better than in his five starts last year.
The lefty hasn't been any great shakes against righties. The 216 right-handed batters he's faced have had a .323 wOBA against him. Thus, Boston's hitters with the platoon advantage are the primary stacking focus.
The top options are J.D. Martinez ($3,700), Xander Bogaerts ($3,900), and Trevor Story ($4,200). Since 2019, versus lefties, Bogaerts has ripped off a 136 wRC+, which has been outdone by Story's 140 wRC+ and has been headlined by Martinez's 160 wRC+. Additionally, Bobby Dalbec ($2,000) is a sneaky pick at the bottom of the order. The team's ninth hitter against lefties has had a .282 Isolated Power (ISO) and 131 wRC+ in 255 plate appearances against southpaws in his career.
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.
