4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 8/31/15

Each day here on numberFire, we'll be providing you with four potential offenses to stack in your daily fantasy lineups. These are the offenses that provide huge run potential on that given day based on matchups and other factors.

After reading through these suggestions, make sure to check out our daily projections. These can either let you know which players to include in each stack, or which guy best complements said stack.

Another great tool is our custom optimal lineups, which are available for premium subscribers. Within the tool, we've added the option to stack teams -- you choose the team you want to stack, show how many players you want to use within the stack, and the tool will create a lineup based on this that you can then customize.

Now, let's get to the stacks. As always, these do not include today's game at Coors between the Diamondbacks and the Rockies. But, baby, you best believe you will need some ownership there; I just don't need to tell you that because y'all are smart cookies. Here are the other teams you should be targeting in daily fantasy baseball today.

Chicago Cubs

I don't think the Reds like Michael Lorenzen very much. He gets sent down to the minors, has a couple of decent games, and now he comes back just in time to face one of the hottest offenses in baseball. They owe him a hug.

This year has been a work in progress for Lorenzen. In 90 2/3 Major League innings prior to his demotion, Lorenzen had a 5.12 xFIP, thanks in large part to a crazy high 5.26 walks per nine innings. The scariest part? He has a 6.11 xFIP against lefties, and the Cubs may have one or two left-handed sluggers who could take advantage.

Most of the time, I've been pumping Chris Coghlan as a play here against righties. That's still true, but I don't want to beat the living poo out of that point. I'm getting giddy over Dexter Fowler, mostly because I own him way too much in season-long, and he's also slashing .299/.436/.535 since the All-Star break. His pricing is reflecting said Gucciness ($3,100 on FanDuel), but he's still one of the best cash-game plays tonight and an integral part of a Cubs stack.

Boston Red Sox

The New York Yankees are certainly in play here, as well, in what figures to be a hot, high-scoring day in Boston. After Rick Porcello's first start off the disabled list was fairly good, I'm going to be cautious and roll with the Red Sox instead.

Since coming back from Tommy John surgery, Ivan Nova hasn't quite been able to find his groove. He is averaging only 5.66 strikeouts and 3.34 walks per nine innings, leading to a 4.68 xFIP. He does still hold a solid 49.7 ground-ball percentage, but when the opposing team is able to get so many base runners, it's difficult to keep them off the board.

This is an especially dangerous matchup against the Red Sox who have the second lowest strikeout percentage in the league against right-handed pitchers. They're also 10th in wOBA against righties and third in wOBA at home. David Ortiz has excelled both at home and against righties, but so has (gasp!) Pablo Sandoval. Panda's first year in Boston has been an utter trainwreck, but he can still be a valuable asset in DFS tonight for the low, low price of $2,200 on FanDuel.

Houston Astros

Why the Seattle Mariners need Felix Hernandez to be fresh for September when they are eight games out of the second wild card spot, I can assure you I have no idea. But they are, choosing to trot Vidal Nuno out instead. It may not make sense, but whatever. Let's do it.

Nuno has been fine over the past few years when he has been in the bullpen. When he moves to the rotation, however, his strikeouts go down, taking his effectiveness with them. He has a career 17.9 strikeout percentage in 194 innings as a starter, leading to a 4.25 xFIP. It's that low strikeout percentage that makes him exciting against the Astros.

Although it'd be crazy sweet if George Springer were to magically come off of the disabled list, Jed Lowrie can slide in dem tourney rosters just nice as a replacement. Lowrie has had soft-hit rates of 7.0, 8.6, 10.6 and 14.3 percent against lefties over the past four seasons, and his fly-ball rate has never been lower than 36.8 percent. His pricing has come back to Earth at $2,300 on FanDuel. With that pricing, his positive spot in the batting order, and his potential dongability, Lowrie is one of many Astros who is a serviceable option tonight.

Los Angeles Dodgers

If you're scared off by the park factor in Los Angeles (always a legitimate concern) or their recent utter hatred of hits, the Tampa Bay Rays could serve as a good alternative to this as our fourth option. Everything else aligns in this one, though, with the third-ranked team in wOBA against righties facing Jake Peavy's 4.45 xFIP.

Prior to Peavy's decline, he was able to keep runs off the board by holding good walk totals and getting enough strikeouts to skate through. As his age has increased, though, his strikeouts have come down with the walks moving in the opposite direction. All of that is coupled with his low ground-ball rate, leading to an xFIP that has increased every season from 2011 to 2015. He can still get the job done, but it's a tall task when facing the Dodgers, no matter how they have hit the past 14 days.

I'm almost always in favor of rostering Andre Ethier against right-handed pitchers, but dude has increased this thirst by absolutely going off in the second half. Since the All-Star break, he's slashing .344/.386/.505 with a 15.8 strikeout percentage and a 34.6 percent hard-hit rate. Pricing hasn't quite caught up to Ethier (whose success truly spans the whole season when just looking at righties) as he is only $2,300 on FanDuel. Not even park factor can scare me out of plopping him into my lineups.