3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Wednesday 5/18/22
Stacks are an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. They can push a team to the top of a GPP by driving upside. However, they're also viable in cash games, namely smaller (two-person or three-person) stacks that mitigate the volatility of a full four-person stack.
This article is your home throughout the 2022 Major League Baseball season for the day's top stacks. The primary goal is to identify the highest-scoring upside stack. Still, game theory will play a role in contrarian stacks making the cut as GPP options. Nevertheless, chalky stacks will make appearances in this space, too.
Beyond my analysis in this space, I strongly suggest numberFire premium members using our DFS Sharpstack tool and hitting heat map tool. The DFS Sharpstack helps plug stacks into optimized lineups, allowing you to change parameters and lock or exclude players and teams. Meanwhile, the heat map offers a one-stop-shop for the opposing starting pitcher, implied total, park factor, and other notable goodies.
Now, let's look at the top stacks on today's main slate that starts on FanDuel at 6:40 pm ET.
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees have an excellent matchup tonight. Jordan Lyles has cosplayed as a punching bag in recent years. According to FanGraphs, in 276 2/3 innings pitched since 2020, he's had a 5.43 ERA, 4.90 Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP), 4.84 Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA), 1.44 WHIP, and allowed 1.79 homers per nine innings.
Unsurprisingly, he's been beaten like a drum by lefties and righties. Since last year, 391 lefties have had a .497 slugging and .360 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) against Lyles. Meanwhile, righties have touched him up for a .490 slugging and .353 wOBA.
Thus, New York's lefties and righties both have appeal for stacking. Aaron Judge ($4,400) is the top hitter for the Bronx Bombers and slugged a pair of round-trippers yesterday. Giancarlo Stanton ($4,000) is another righty who's excelled in same-handed matchups. Since 2019, he's had a .355 OBP, .249 Isolated Power (ISO), and 142 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) in 635 plate appearances against righties.
Why stop loading up on power hitters with Judge and Stanton? Anthony Rizzo ($3,800) and Joey Gallo ($2,600) are also great picks who can punish Lyles.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are loaded with hitters who have destroyed southpaws. Since 2019, eight players who should be in the starting lineup have hit at least 14 percent better than average. Further, six of those players have had an ISO above .200.
Does that sound like a lineup to seek contact from? No way. Yet, that's how Marco Gonzales lives. The crafty lefty has had a 15.0 percent strikeout rate and 6.5 percent swinging-strike rate in 2022.
Sure, Gonzales's 3.38 ERA in seven starts doesn't sound the alarm to stack against him. However, his 5.40 Expected ERA (xERA), 4.87 SIERA, and 4.83 xFIP are all inviting to pick on.
Truly, the Blue Jays are stackable from one through nine. However, Toronto's two most accomplished hitters against lefties since 2019 are atop the heap. Bo Bichette ($3,400) has had a team-leading 158 wRC+ against southpaws since 2019. Behind him, Teoscar Hernandez ($3,000) has tallied a 152 wRC+. Additionally, Hernandez's .300 ISO has been the best mark on the team.
Finally, Matt Chapman ($2,800) is a great option to chase taters with. Since 2019, he's had a .259 ISO and 27 homers in 436 plate appearances against lefties.
Chicago White Sox
Admittedly, the Chicago White Sox are considerably behind the Yankees and Blue Jays for stacking appeal tonight. Still, Zack Greinke's flukey hot start has come to a screaming halt. In his last two outings, he's allowed 7 earned runs on 18 hits and 7 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings.
In addition, the 38-year-old righty's 3.52 ERA has been in stark contrast to his 5.30 xERA and 4.98 SIERA. So, the ugly starts for Greinke have likely only begun. Further, Greinke has been an even more pitch-to-contact pitcher than Gonzales, owning an 8.9 percent strikeout rate and 6.0 percent swinging-strike rate.
The Pale Hose have plenty of hitters who can make Greinke pay for his approach. Seven players who are likely to start tonight have had a 110 wRC+ or higher against righties since 2019 (or since debuting for hitters who reached the majors after 2019).
Finally, since last year, Greinke has been markedly worse against righties than lefties. He has ceded a .494 slugging and .348 wOBA to 517 righties. So, Tim Anderson ($3,700), Jose Abreu ($2,700), Luis Robert ($3,800), and Andrew Vaughn ($2,600) are appealing stacking options.
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.
