3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 10/1/21

Stacks are the backbone of cashing daily fantasy baseball lineups. Correlation drives upside, creating the potential to place high or even win GPPs when your selected stacks explode offensively.

This column will do the digging and the dirty work to determine which stacks are worth rostering each day. Scoring upside will fuel the stacks that get the nod. Sometimes that will lead to chalky selections, but contrarian stacks will get their fair share of love too.

In addition to utilizing the touted daily stacks in handbuilt lineups, numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. Our hitting heat map tool is also available to premium members looking for more stacking options. It provides valuable info such as implied total, park factors, and stats for identifying the quality of the opposing pitcher.

Let's take a look at the top stacks on today's main slate.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Baltimore Orioles don't have a listed probable starter. Thus, I'm expecting them to utilize a bullpen game. Thankfully, that's great news for the Toronto Blue Jays. According to FanGraphs, the O's have Major League Baseball's highest bullpen ERA (5.64). In addition, they've coughed up 1.43 homers per nine innings.

As a result, I'm expecting Toronto's juggernaut offense to light up the scoreboard tonight. The Blue Jays boast a top-five offense against lefties and righties alike. Further, over the last 30 days, they lead the way with a 128 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) and .243 isolated power (ISO). No matter how you slice it, this is one of the game's best offenses.

My favorite hitter from their loaded lineup is their top bopper, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,300). The wunderkind has a .403 on-base percentage, .284 ISO, and 166 wRC+ this season. Marcus Semien ($4,000) and George Springer ($3,800) are the others I'm using as building blocks, with the former recording a 134 wRC+ and the latter amassing a 129 wRC+ this year.

Chicago White Sox

The Detroit Tigers have received a pleasantly surprising 3.13 ERA in 17 starts from veteran innings-eater Wily Peralta. Still, I'm not buying it. The righty's underlying numbers don't support his sterling ERA. For instance, his 4.89 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP) and 5.19 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) paint a different picture. Therefore, I'm trusting the underlying metrics better representing what to expect from Peralta.

Understandably, I want to stack against his ugly ERA estimators. It doesn't hurt that the Chicago White Sox are a top offense. Chicago's sixth in wRC+ (107) against righties in 2021, and they're seventh over the last 30 days with a 114 wRC+.

The White Sox have a deep lineup. It's stackable throughout. Still, my favorite options include Yasmani Grandal ($3,800), Eloy Jimenez ($3,400), and Gavin Sheets ($2,700). Grandal's tattooed righties this year for a .282 ISO and 150 wRC+. Righty Jimenez is an excellent power source with a .208 ISO in same-handed matchups. Finally, Sheets is unloading on righties for a .308 ISO and 146 wRC+ in his rookie campaign.

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves clinched the National League East last night. However, with Major League Baseball's roster changes this year, I'm not overly concerned about a "hangover" lineup. Still, they could sit a starter or two, so pay extra attention to their lineup before lock.

They're facing a rookie righty, Tylor Megill, who's scuffling to the finish line and is atrocious against lefties. Over his last 10 starts, Megill's been crushed for a 6.75 ERA, 4.12 xFIP, 3.99 SIERA, and 2.74 homers per nine innings. Sure, his ERA estimators are acceptable. However, I think they fail to capture his massive shortcoming against lefties. Left-handed hitters have teed off for a .637 slugging percentage and .432 weighted on-base average (wOBA).

Predictably, I advise firing up Atlanta's left-handed hitters. The best among them is Freddie Freeman ($3,900). The reigning National League Most Valuable Player has a .416 on-base percentage, .221 ISO, and 149 wRC+ against righties in 2021. Ozzie Albies ($4,200) is a superb option. Finally, I also like Eddie Rosario ($3,100). The veteran outfielder has a .206 ISO against right-handed pitchers this year.

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.