Curtis Granderson and the New York Mets have a prime opportunity to pile up the runs at Coors Field on Saturday
Stacking in DFS MLB is such an important concept if you’re looking to take down a big tournament on FanDuel or DraftKings. It’s also a good way to diversify cash games because the variance in baseball can mean wild swings (ahem) in the scoring on a particular slate.
The concept is easy. You want to pile players from one or two teams into your lineups because those guys compound scores by helping each other score runs when the going is good.
Stacking isn’t always the easiest thing because pricing is involved. Great offensive teams like the Blue Jays or Tigers (against lefties) will be priced out of robust stacks unless you punt on pitching. We want to keep that in mind when recommending some sneaky stacks.
So let the boys at DFSR look at some stacks you can take advantage of this weekend.
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Friday
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Martin Perez (TEX)
Park – Globe Life Park
This should be the most popular stacking option on Friday. The Blue Jays employ a predominantly righty lineup and will take on one of the weakest lefties (overall pitchers) in the majors.
Perez is walking almost as many batters per nine as he’s striking out (5.05/9 to 5.49/9) and could be in real trouble here. The 4.85 xFIP is significantly worse than the 3.51 ERA so don’t get totally fooled there. He’s living off a .250 BABIP. The Blue Jays are going to a good hitter’s park and everyone is in play here including (but not limited to) Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Kevin Pillar.
Washington Nationals vs. Tom Koehler (MIA)
Park – Nationals Park
Friday is a tough day to stack. There are a great many above average (and better) pitchers going on this slate of games, and it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where to go here. With so many solid arms taking the bump we need to target the weakest arms whenever possible.
Koehler is one of those guys. For his career, he’s struck out less than seven batters per nine while walking close to 3.5 in the same frame. This year’s been much of the same for the guy with a horrendous 5.18 xFIP coming into this game.
He’s equal opportunity sucky against both lefties and righties for his career meaning I’m not worried about any reverse splits for the Nats. Guys like Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rendon all look like attractive options here.
Saturday
New York Mets vs. Eddie Butler (COL)
Park – Coors Field
Butler hasn’t been a complete abomination this season which is in direct contrast to the rest of his career. This season’s he’s actually striking guys out though it’s worth noting he’s been lucky in not having to pitch in Coors yet.
In fact, he’s gone the other way and pitched in three of the best pitcher’s parks in baseball (SF, SD and PIT). Coors is obviously nothing of the like and sometimes home isn’t where the heart is.
The Mets, while having inflated Denver’s pricing, are still in a fantastic matchup here. Guys like Curtis Granderson, Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Neil Walker and even cheaper options like Asdrubal Cabrera should be on your radar today.
Chicago Cubs vs. Jeff Locke (PIT)
Park – Wrigley Field
It’s no secret the Cubs are kicking a fair amount of behind this season. In fact, they’ve more than doubled up their opponents this season in runs at 192-89 (as of Tuesday), and the next closest team in overall runs is a distant second. They’ve had no issues plating batters thanks to insane patience at the plate.
Against lefties this season, they’re striking out only 16% of the time with a 14% BB rate. That’s nuts. They are expensive for sure, but I don’t mind paying for them here against a low strikeout guy in Jeff Locke.
Basically everyone in the lineup is in play for me. Switch-hitters Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler are better against lefties for their career while righty bats like Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez should all provide value.
Doug Norrie is a correspondent at FantasyPros, and he’s also a founder of Daily Fantasy Sports Rankings, a site that gives daily fantasy picks for all of the major sports every day and offers access to its projection system. To hear more from Doug, look out for his weekly column here, or follow DFSR @dailyfantasysr.