Welcome back to the MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks article. In this article, I will run you through the best stacks to build your cash and GPP lineups around and narrow down your player pool!
What’s going on everyone?! We’ve had a handful of rather unappealing slates as of late and tonight is no different, as we are presented with a 4-game early slate locking at 1:10pm ET and a 3-game main slate locking at 7:05pm ET. Below are the scheduled games;
Early-Only
Washington Nationals @ New York Mets
Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers
New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox @ Oakland Athletics
Main Slate
Cincinnati Reds @ Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago Cubs @ Atlanta Braves
Texas Rangers @ Los Angeles Angels
Because of the slate size, we will be diving in to a new format to cover both slates, with the top 2 stacks from the early slate to build lineups around and the top overall stack from the 3-game main slate.
This will help you condense your player pool from an already limited pool of eligible players without highlighting half the plays on the slate.
Let’s get to it!
MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks – Early-Only Top Stack: New York Yankees
Ah, finally! In what we initially expected to be the Opening Day matchup, we will finally have the Yankees step into the box against the infamous Alex Cobb, who is far from his days as the reliable arm that he was in Tampa Bay. Below are his 2018 numbers;
Alex Cobb | BAL
K%: 15.4%
SwStr%: 7.3%
SIERA: 4.62
wOBA: 0.359 vs RHB / 0.330 vs LHB
FB%: 31.5%
Hard%: 32.2%
While the fly-ball and hard-contact rates don’t seem too bad, everything else sure does and boy oh boy look at those reverse splits! This caters right into the wheelhouse of Aaron Judge and a few other powerful bats in the Yankees lineup below;
(1) Brett Gardner (FD: $3,300 / DK: $4,300)
(2) Aaron Judge (FD: $4,900 / DK: $5,500)
(3) Luke Voit (FD: $4,500 / DK: $4,700)
While three of the above hitters are in fact lefties, they should all be able to do ample damage against Cobb. Aaron Judge leads the pack with a 0.387 wOBA and a 0.238 ISO against righties in 2018 with a whopping 45.8% hard-contact rate.
Leadoff man Brett Gardner posted an elite 87.7% contact rate last season against righties, while Luke Voit had a 0.432 wOBA and a 0.301 ISO against righties. If you want to expand this stack a bit, Gary Sanchez, who had a bit of a down season last year, is another viable piece in the heart of the order while Clint Frazier comes in at minimum price on FanDuel and could be a massive leverage play in the chalkiest offense.
MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks – Early-Only Secondary Stack: Boston Red Sox
Looking towards another high-powered offense, albeit one that’s been ice cold, the Boston Red Sox square off with a hit-or-miss lefty in Brett Anderson, whose 2018 numbers are below;
Brett Anderson | OAK
K%: 14.1%
SwStr%: 7.6%
SIERA: 4.13
wOBA: 0.335 vs RHB / 0.317 vs LHB
FB%: 24.8%
Hard%: 35.4%
The numbers above are just about as inconsistent as Anderson’s play has been, as he either gets rocked or pitches lights out – no in-between. These Red Sox, however, have had his number. In 35 at bats, they are hitting 0.429 with a 0.435 wOBA. The below players are key cogs to a Red Sox stack:
(1) Mookie Betts (FD: $4,800 / DK: $5,400)
(3) J.D. Martinez (FD: $5,000 / DK: $5,200)
(5) Steve Pearce (FD: $2,800 / DK: $3,800)
The two obvious plays here are Betts and Martinez, as each of them posted a wOBA north of 0.410 and ISOs over 0.240 (Betts ISO was 0.368). While it’d be tough to fit both, even just one could be enough.
If you are looking to save a bit of salary, it’s hard to not love the World Series MVP Steve Pearce in his return to the lineup. At an extreme discount, and $1,000 discrepancy on FD compared to DK, his 0.410 wOBA and 0.255 ISO against lefties make him a virtual lock in all formats across the slate.
MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks – Main Slate Top Stack: Atlanta Braves
This may not be a popular stack, but on a 3-game slate, differentiating yourself is going to be pivotal and this may be the best way to do it. Yu Darvish had a start to forget last outing, so let’s take a look at some of his rates from this outing;
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Yu Darvish | CHC
K%: 25.0%
SwStr%: 5.3%
SIERA: 10.82
wOBA: 0.517 vs RHB / 0.475 vs LHB
FB%: 40.0%
Hard%: 40.0%
Obviously those numbers are going to change, and we can fully expect them to improve, but they’re alarming nonetheless. Building off of that, Darvish only threw 38 of his 75 pitches for strikes as he has been battling a blister issue since Spring. Whether or not this will carry over remains to be seen, but I’m perfectly fine attacking him here on what should be a GPP-only slate with the below stack;
(3) Freddie Freeman (FD: $4,400 / DK: $4,600)
(4) Ronald Acuña (FD: $4,500 / DK: $4,800)
(5) Nick Markakis (FD: $3,200 / DK: $3,500)
As long as his control remains, well, out of control, we can attack Darvish from both sides of the plate. Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña both posted wOBAs over 0.375 against rihties last season while Acuña paired that with his 0.246 ISO and 46.3% hard-contact percentage.
Nick Markakis was one of the more low-key assets last season, posting a 0.361 wOBA and a 89.8% contact percentage (made contact 89.8% of the time he swung).
To go one step further, Ender Inciarte should be back in the leadoff role with the platoon advantage. He brings a heap of steal upside should he get on base with a pitcher that lacks control and comes at a reasonable salary with what I project to be minimal ownership.
Thanks for reading the MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks article for the split slates on Thursday, April 4th! For more MLB DFS Breakdowns, make sure to follow @FantasyCPR on Twitter and myself, @JMetz34, for any questions!
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