3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 9/17/20

In the world of daily baseball, stacks are often the backbone of the most successful -- and profitable -- lineups. Correlation is the key.

When an offense hangs runs in bunches, it means hitters are scoring runs and teammates hitting behind them are driving them in. By rostering stacks, you’re maximizing the fantasy scoring by essentially double dipping on a run-scoring event.

This is your daily home for the top stacks on the daily fantasy baseball slate. Whether you’re looking to identify the projected highest-scoring stacks or contrarian stacks that can help you separate from the pack in GPPs when they explode, they’ll be thrown under the spotlight here.

Gamers who are numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. The tool allows you to select the team and number of players from that team you’d like to include in your lineup. If you’re looking to identify other potentially high-scoring stacks beyond those featured in this space, check out our hitting heat map, a tool that provides valuable info such as implied total, park factor, and stats to identify the quality of the opposing pitcher.

Without further ado, let’s dive into today’s main slate’s featured stacks.

Cleveland Indians

After making this space facing a southpaw last night, the Cleveland Indians are back with struggling right-handed rookie Casey Mize taking the bump. In five starts totaling 20 innings, Mize has been knocked around for a 5.85 ERA and 4.53 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), per FanGraphs, as well as surrendering a .334 weighted on-base average (wOBA) with an even more hitter-friendly .362 expected wOBA (xwOBA), according to Baseball Savant.

The usual suspects -- Francisco Lindor ($3,500), Jose Ramirez ($3,800), Carlos Santana ($2,900), and Franmil Reyes ($2,900) -- all make the cut as stackable options tonight. I frequently roster Reyes against lefties, but he's a solid source of power in same-handed matchups with a .245 isolated power (ISO) against righties since reaching the Majors in 2018.

A couple of hitters with modest salaries who will help leave cap space for the club's American League Cy Young Award frontrunning ace, Shane Bieber ($11,900), getting the ball tonight are also worth stacking consideration. Josh Naylor ($2,300) has yet to turn his minor-league success into results in the Majors, but he's nearly minimum salary and a correlation option thanks to the potential for ducks on the pond from the aforementioned group.

Tyler Naquin ($2,700) is the more exciting down-order option with a modest salary. The left-handed-hitting Naquin is punishing righties this year with a .333 OBP, .256 ISO, and 134 weighted runs created plus (wRC+). With rostering Bieber in mind, my favorite Indians stack includes Santana, Reyes, Naquin, and Naylor.

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are opposing "starter" Steven Brault tonight, and I opted for the quotation marks around starter because the lefty's responsible for some opener appearances and his season-high for innings pitched in a start is only five. Having said that, he's also been chased from games early such as in his last two turns in which he's coughed up a combined 7 runs on 12 hits and 5 walks in only 8 and 2/3 innings. For the year, he has a 5.06 ERA, 5.50 SIERA, and .344 xwOBA.

Brault's a below-average pitcher who shouldn't be in a rotation, and that makes him a great target to stack against with the Red Birds. The premier hitter to use in a stack against him is Paul Goldschmidt ($3,700). Goldy's a certified lefty-masher. In 515 plate appearances against lefties since 2017, he's amassed a .413 OBP, .289 ISO, and 155 wRC+.

Tommy Edman ($2,900) is my second-favorite option in this stack. The sophomore hitter has a .379 OBP, .287 ISO, and 160 wRC+ against southpaws in his young career. Others to consider include Paul DeJong ($3,100), Rangel Ravelo ($2,500) and Yadier Molina ($2,500) as well as Harrison Bader ($2,400) should you opt for a wrap-around stack.

Houston Astros

My favorite stack on tonight's small-ish slate is the Houston Astros. Jordan Lyles has been a punching bag this year whether used as a traditional starter or a bulk-innings reliever following an opener. In 42 and 2/3 innings, he's been beaten like a drum to the tune of a 7.80 ERA, 5.79 SIERA, and .374 xwOBA. The 101 left-handed batters who've faced him this year have totaled a .338 wOBA, but the 97 righties who've faced him have done even more damage with a .593 slugging and .397 wOBA.

I won't talk you out of using George Springer ($3,700), Jose Altuve ($3,200), or Alex Bregman ($3,500), but I'm honing in on a middle and down-order stack combination. Michael Brantley ($3,200) calls the best lineup spot home of my preferred stacking options, slotting in the third spot in the order. He also has the most impressive numbers against righties of my stacking targets with a .382 OBP, .202 ISO, and 141 wRC+ against them since 2017.

Kyle Tucker ($3,300) has the highest salary of my favorite stacking options, but his combo of power and speed -- 8 homers, a .270 ISO, and 5 stolen bases this year -- makes him a high-ceiling selection. Right-handed hitters Yulieski Gurriel ($2,800) and Carlos Correa ($2,800) round out my favorite quartet for a full four-man stack. They'll both be treated to Lyles' massive struggles with right-handed hitters this season, and both have proven to be above-average hitters in same-handed matchups with Gurriel tallying a 116 wRC+ against righties since 2017 and Correa posting a 120 wRC+ against them in that time frame.

Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.