3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Wednesday 8/31/22

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.

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves faceplanted as a popular stack last night in a dope matchup with Jose Urena, pushing across just two runs. It's a reminder how weird baseball can be.

We shouldn't hesitate at all to go back to Atlanta tonight against Ryan Feltner.

The owner of a 4.33 SIERA and 18.8% strikeout rate, Feltner doesn't have anything in his profile that should scare us. He's given up 1.61 dingers per nine in 2022 and 1.86 per nine for his career. He's not good, and he's facing one of the game's best offenses.

Atlanta's 4.99 implied total is the night's second-best, and the only negative with the Braves is that they have five guys salaried at $3,600 or above, making it difficult to stack them alongside either Jacob deGrom ($12,000) or Gerrit Cole ($11,100), the two guys I want to have a lot of.

Eddie Rosario ($2,200) is a handy value target if he gets in the lineup. Robbie Grossman ($2,500) might be the only other starter salaried below $3,000. Of course, guys like Matt Olson ($4,000), Ronald Acuna ($3,900), Austin Riley ($3,900), Michael Harris II ($3,600) and Dansby Swanson ($3,800) are superb picks if you have the salary.

Riley (0.44) and Olson (0.40) have the two best homer projections on the slate, according to our model.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies have the night's top implied total (5.01). They are on the road against Tommy Henry, and while they're not the smashing values they were last week, the Phils' salaries fit a little better alongside an ace than Atlanta's do.

A left-hander, Henry has pitched to a 5.09 SIERA across his first 27 2/3 MLB innings. In 108 innings at Triple-A this year, he struck out only 21.9% of hitters while posting a 5.19 xFIP. Yikes.

While Bryce Harper ($4,200) and Kyle Schwarber ($3,700) are certainly in play despite the lefty-lefty spot, I like the idea of zeroing in on the Phillies' right-handed bats for both the matchup and for their lower salaries. J.T. Realmuto ($3,600) and Rhys Hoskins ($3,400) are high-upside plays, and Nick Castellanos ($3,100) is super appealing at his salary if he gets back in the lineup.

Outside of those guys, you can turn to Jean Segura ($3,100), Edmundo Sosa ($2,000), and Matt Vierling ($2,500) -- all of whom swing it from the right side.

Seattle Mariners

One of my favorite stacks tonight and an offense I'm planning on loading up on, the Seattle Mariners fit perfectly on this slate.

As I said earlier, I want to use Cole and deGrom in a lot of my lineups. Plugging in deGrom leaves you an average of $2,875 per bat while the number rises to $2,988 if you roster Cole. In short, if you're using those two, you need a modest-salaried stack.

That's where the M's come in.

Six of Seattle's projected starters are salaried under $3,000. And it's not just about the cap relief -- the Mariners have a legit fantastic matchup against Tyler Alexander and sport a solid 4.68 implied total.

Alexander, a lefty, has struck out just 12.3% of hitters this year. His SIERA is 4.99, and he's conceded 1.42 homers per nine. The guy isn't good, and Seattle can feast.

Ty France ($2,900), Carlos Santana ($2,300), and Abraham Toro ($2,000) are great low-salary building blocks -- with Toro's minimum salary coming in super handy.

Using some combination of that trio makes it a lot easier to get to Seattle's studs -- Julio Rodriguez ($3,600), Mitch Haniger ($3,500), and Eugenio Suarez ($3,500). All of these guys will have the platoon advantage against Alexander.