4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 8/27/15
Each day here on numberFire, we'll be providing you with four potential offenses to stack in your daily fantasy lineups. These are the offenses that provide huge run potential on that given day based on matchups and other factors.
After reading through these suggestions, make sure to check out our daily projections. These can either let you know which players to include in each stack, or which guy best complements said stack.
Another great tool is our custom optimal lineups, which are available for premium subscribers. Within the tool, we've added the option to stack teams -- you choose the team you want to stack, show how many players you want to use within the stack, and the tool will create a lineup based on this that you can then customize.
Now, let's get to the stacks. Here are the teams you should be targeting in daily fantasy baseball today.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Taking the hill against the Dodgers is Cincinnati's Anthony DeSclafani, who hasn't exactly been lighting it up lately. In fact, not since April has DeSclafani had a month in which he posted an ERA of under four. The month of August has been particularly ugly, with a 5.09 ERA in four starts heading into Thursday afternoon's matchup against the Dodgers. Particularly bothersome for him has been right-handed hitters, against whom he has a FIP of 5.05 and an xFIP of 4.82.
He'll face a Dodgers team that has the third-best wOBA against right-handers in baseball this year, at .326. Only two likely starters who will cost you more than $3,000 on FanDuel, and that's Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner at $3,100. Step up to the plate, Andre Ethier ($2,400), you and your team-best .384 wOBA and wRC+ of 148 against right-handed pitching. He's also sporting an .892 OPS, with all 12 of his home runs this year coming off right-handed hitters. And he's been red-hot this month overall, hitting .353/.400/.588 for a .988 OPS in 55 plate appearances this month.
San Francisco Giants
Dan Haren is not exactly what you would call a "bat-misser" anymore, striking out just 6.31 batters per nine innings, his lowest total since he became a full-time starter in 2005. And while his ERA is respectable, at 3.76, the peripherals tell a different story, especially against lefties, who are hitting .280/.321/.544 against him this year. He's also been prone to the longball, giving up 28 jacks on the year, one short of the Major League lead, held by Detroit's Anibal Sanchez.
He'll be facing a San Francisco lineup with a few dudes who like to mash right-handers. Specifically, Brandon Belt, whose .854 OPS against right-handers is second-best on the team (after Buster Posey) among qualified players. And Belt has been hot this month, hitting .274/.365/.560 for an OPS of .924 and a wRC+ of 161. Make sure to include Belt in your stacks.
Kansas City Royals
The Orioles' Chris Tillman is simply not doing good baseball things right now. He comes into Thursday's game against the Royals with a 4.51 ERA and a FIP of 4.28 that isn't a whole lot better. He's striking out a career low 6.32 batters per nine innings, but his reverse-splits are interesting. Against left-handers he has an xFIP of 4.47, but against right-handed batters it's 4.54. A lot of that has to do with his home run-per-fly ball ratio, which is a miniscule 2.7% against left-handers but a whopping 16.4% against right-handers.
However, I'm still including the Royals in these stacks because, even though Tillman does have reverse splits this season, Kansas City's lineup is loaded with left-handers who do big damage against righties. And Tillman isn't blowing anyone away, righty or lefty. One guy to keep an eye on is Kendrys Morales, who has actually hit right-handed pitching well for a righty. Perhaps his .861 OPS and wRC+ of 138 against right-handers can counter the reverse mojo of Tillman's splits.
Tampa Bay Rays
Minnesota's Tommy Milone is yet another pitcher on this list who pitches to a lot of contact, with just a 6.41 K/9 ratio. Although his 3.69 ERA isn't too shabby, his FIP of 4.71 and xFIP of 4.23 leads one to think he's been a bit lucky so far this year. And while left-handers are hitting just .163/.221/.274 against him this year, right-handers are having a ball, slashing .279/.336/.492 for a FIP of 5.13 and an xFIP of 4.40.
Look, the Rays aren't an offensive juggernaut, and if we weren't dealing with a shortened schedule, they may not have made the stacks. But they do like themselves some left-handed pitching, with the fourth-best wOBA against southpaws in the Majors this year, and their FanDuel prices are more than fair. The usual suspects Evan Longoria and Logan Forsythe are obvious targets, but one under-the-radar guy to consider is Brandon Guyer, who is destroying left-handers with a wRC+ of 134 and an .806 OPS.
