MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks – Wednesday, June 5th, 2019
By Joe Metz
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!
After a 15-game slate last night that was loaded with top tier pitching and stacks to target, we turn our attention tonight to another hearty slate with 12 games on tap for MLB Daily Fantasy.
Listed below are each of the 12 games on the docket for the main slate with each team’s respective implied run totals (IRTs) at the time of writing (night of June 4th). With that being said, be aware that the IRTs will fluctuate throughout the day, but this serves as a great first impression of where the ownership will flock and where the top offenses to stack may be.
Atlanta Braves (4.9) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (4.7)
New York Yankees (5.0) @ Toronto Blue Jays (3.6)
San Francisco Giants (4.1) @ New York Mets (4.5)
Tampa Bay Rays (4.9) @ Detroit Tigers (3.7)
Minnesota Twins (4.0) @ Cleveland Indians (4.6)
Miami Marlins (3.6) @ Milwaukee Brewers (5.5)
Baltimore Orioles (4.1) @ Texas Rangers (5.5)
Colorado Rockies (N/A) @ Chicago Cubs (N/A)
Boston Red Sox (5.1) @ Kansas City Royals (3.5)
Cincinnati Reds (4.3) @ St. Louis Cardinals (4.8)
Oakland Athletics (4.4) @ Los Angeles Angels (4.7)
Houston Astros (5.0) @ Seattle Mariners (4.1)
The Brewers and Rangers are tied for the slate-high IRT of (5.5) as the Astros as the only other team implied to score 5 or more runs. On the flip side, there are 3 teams implied to score less than 4 runs and everything else in-between, so we should have a rather balanced slate.
As a reminder, this article will include my primary stack, secondary stack and a value stack, followed by the player power rankings for both FanDuel and DraftKings.
MLB Daily Fantasy – Primary Stack: Houston Astros
While the Astros lineup is far from full-strength with Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa all on the shelf, they still provide a heap of value and upside in their matchup with Mike Leake of the Seattle Mariners:
Mike Leake | RHP
K% / SwStr%: 16.5% / 7.9%
SIERA: 4.65
wOBA: 0.370 vs RHB / 0.341 vs LHB
FB% / Hard%: 36.4% / 39.5%
Those are extremely attackable numbers, as Leake has struggled with batters on both sides of the plate this season. Below are the key pieces I will be targeting in an Astros stack:
(1) Derek Fisher (FD: $2900 / DK: $4100)
(2) Alex Bregman (FD: $4300 / DK: $5200)
(3) Michael Brantley (FD: $3900 / DK: $4600)
(5) Josh Reddick (FD: $3300 / DK: $3900)
Alex Bregman has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball since the start of May and has posted a 0.418 wOBA and 0.299 ISO against same-handed pitching this season. Combine that with his 11.5%/16.7% K/BB% and you have arguably the top play on the entire slate.
Michael Brantley has been rather disappointing this season, but holds an elite 6.2% strikeout rate against righties this season and a 41.4% hard-contact rate. This matchup is ripe with get-right potential for Brantley and he comes at a reasonable rate.
Both Derek Fisher and Josh Reddick come at a discount for the upside they bring to the table, as Fisher holds a 0.250 ISO against righties while Reddick has been a contact machine (87.1% contact rate). Fisher also holds some nice stolen base upside and the platoon advantage should drive ownership their way.
Also Consider: Jake Marisnick (quietly putting together a solid season at the back of the lineup)
MLB Daily Fantasy – Secondary Stack: Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers have been absent for quite a while from my stacking pieces, but it’s finally time to write up the hometown team again. They square off with Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins, who has struggled mightily to miss bats this season.
Sandy Alcantara | RHP
K% / SwStr%: 15.0% / 11.6%
SIERA: 5.65
wOBA: 0.301 vs RHB / 0.323 vs LHB
FB% / Hard%: 32.3% / 29.3%
Alcantara is a bit of an enigma, as his wOBAs suggest that he’s a serviceable pitcher in DFS, but his SIERA screams regression. I’ll be counting on the latter tonight and targeting the below players in a Milwaukee stack:
(2) Christian Yelich (FD: $4900 / DK: $6000)
(4) Mike Moustakas (FD: $4000 / DK: $5600)
(5) Yasmani Grandal (FD: $3600 / DK: $5100)
(7) Travis Shaw (FD: $2200 / DK: $2800)
This is the first time I’ve ever seen a player priced at $6,000 on DraftKings, but this may be worth the tag if you can get there. Against RHP this season, Christian Yelich has an absurd 0.503 wOBA, 0.448 ISO and a 14.8% walk rate. He checks every box as the top overall play, he’ll just cost you a pretty penny.
Both Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas have been phenomenal this season, posting wOBAs over 0.370 (Moose leading with a 0.406 wOBA) and ISOs north of 0.230 (Moose leading again with a 0.342 ISO). Both bat in the heart of the order and are reasonably priced on FanDuel to put them atop the mid-tier.
Travis Shaw is a bit of a dart throw, as he returned from the IL last night and has had a dreadful start to the season. We’ve seen the power he possesses last season and perhaps a rehab stint was all he needed. For his price, he’s worth the punt.
Also Consider: Lorenzo Cain, Ryan Braun, Eric Thames
MLB Daily Fantasy – Value Stack: New York Mets
While they offer a heap of value on the slate tonight, I do want to preface by explaining that the Mets always carry just as much risk. With that being said, their matchup against Tyler Beede has the potential to be a beauty.
Tyler Beede | RHP
K% / SwStr%: 20.9% / 11.5%
SIERA: 5.49
wOBA: 0.365 vs RHB / 0.491 vs LHB
FB% / Hard%: 28.6% / 35.7%
While his fly-ball rate is a bit lower than we’d hope, Beede has gotten absolutely brutalized from both sides of the plate and he should see some regression on the way. I will primarily be focused on the lefties, but both sides of the plate are viable for Mets bats.
(1) Jeff McNeil (FD: $2700 / DK: $4300)
(3) Robinson Cano (FD: $2800 / DK: $3200)
(6) J.D. Davis (FD: $2400 / DK: $3800)
Jeff McNeil is a bit of a question mark on whether or not he’ll find himself in the lineup, but if he does and if he leads off on top of that, I’ll have a hard time fading his 0.393 wOBA and sub-10% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching. He’s the first of the lefties I’ll be targeting.
The second is none other than Robinson Cano, making his return from the IL tonight. Before his injury, he posted a 0.335 wOBA and a 44.1% hard-contact rate against right-handed hitting and comes at a super cheap price for his upside.
FInally, J.D. Davis is another question mark in the lineup, but should he slot in, his 0.337 wOBA against righties combined with Beede’s extreme struggles make this an attactive value option.
Also Consider: Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto
MLB Daily Fantasy – Player Power Rankings
Just like the last edition, I wanted to include my player power rankings based off of the players in this article. I have sorted them by salary on both FanDuel and DraftKings respectively.
These are not the only players in my player pool for the evening, simply a way to help you prioritize the players that were broken down in the previous slides.