3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 8/31/20

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.

Washington Nationals

Spencer Howard has been overwhelmed as a rookie. With just 30 and 2/3 innings under his belt in Double-A and zero innings pitched at the Triple-A level, he's stumbled in making the jump to the Majors. Through three starts spanning 11 and 2/3 innings, he has a 6.17 ERA, coughed up 3.09 homers per nine innings, and tallied a 5.03 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA).

His homer woes will be amplified tonight at Citizens Bank Park. With a park factor of 1.251 for homers, per FantasyPros, Citizens Bank Park is the most homer-friendly MLB park. Left-handed batters have especially befuddled Howard, ripping off a .500 OBP, .846 slugging, and .549 weighted on-base average (wOBA). Suffice to say, Juan Soto ($4,700) is the piece to roster in a Washington Nationals stack. Among qualified hitters this year, he ranks second in isolated power (ISO) with a .384 ISO and .444 OBP as well as first in weighted runs created plus (wRC+) with a 210 wRC+, according to FanGraphs.

Switch-hitter Asdrubal Cabrera ($2,800) is my second-favorite -- albeit a distant second -- stacking option due to batting left-handed against Howard and hitting in the heart of the order. Adam Eaton ($2,900) has been bumped down the order but remains worth a look, and Eric Thames ($2,300) is priced just a few hundred above the minimum salary and has the power to warrant usage even if he returns to his customary down-order spot in the lineup after hitting cleanup yesterday.

The right-handed hitters worth a look in Nats stacks include Trea Turner ($3,900), Howie Kendrick ($2,900), and whichever catcher starts, Yan Gomes ($2,600) or Kurt Suzuki ($2,100). Even Victor Robles ($2,400) has some contrarian appeal from the last spot in the order as a wrap-around stack option. So, yeah, the entire lineup is stackable.

Philadelphia Phillies

The host Philadelphia Phillies will be treated to the same homer-friendly conditions as their visiting opponents touted above. They, too, have a favorable pitching matchup. Erick Fedde's 3.57 ERA in six appearances (three starts) spanning 22 and 2/3 innings this year is smoke and mirrors. His 5.96 SIERA indicates he's been exceptionally lucky, and his walk and strikeout numbers are incredibly bad with Fedde striking out only 5.9 percent of the batters he's faced while issuing a free pass to 9.8 percent of them.

Further, he's had good fortune on batted balls. Fedde's .329 wOBA is 55 points lower than his .384 expected wOBA (xwOBA), per Baseball Savant. Since last year, lefties have pummeled him to the tune of a .373 OBP and .353 wOBA, and he's hardly been death on righties with a .323 wOBA yielded to them.

Bryce Harper ($4,300) is the top option. Since 2017, he owns a .400 OBP, .266 ISO, and 140 wRC+ against righties. He's in great form this year and ranks tied for 14th among qualified hitters with a 165 wRC+. Beyond Harper, the rest of the lineup can be stacked interchangeably.

In fact, I'm really digging the cheap options behind Harper, starting with number-five hitter Didi Gregorius ($3,000). The left-handed-hitting shortstop has plus power with a .224 ISO against righties since 2017. He's clubbed five homers while racking up a .228 ISO this year.

Rookie Alec Bohm ($2,500) makes for a nifty bargain option at the hot corner. The rookie third baseman has made the most of his 40 plate appearances against righties this year with a .450 OBP and 163 wRC+. Sandwiched between Gregorius and Bohm in the order is Jean Segura ($2,800). Segura's 95 wRC+ against righties since 2017 leaves something to be desired, but he's a stellar correlation play when used with Gregorius and Bohm.

While I dig the cheap off-the-wall down-order-ish stack, Andrew McCutchen ($3,100), Rhys Hoskins ($3,500), and J.T. Realmuto ($3,800) all warrant consideration as well. I fully expect fireworks in Philadelphia tonight and plan to stack the Nationals and Phillies together.

Chicago White Sox

Rich Hill has made only three starts spanning 12 and 2/3 innings this year, and the 40-year-old lefty's 3.55 ERA is in stark contrast to his 5.63 SIERA. His strikeout percentage has nosedived from 29.8 percent in 2019 to 15.7 percent this year. The slide coincides with his 10.7 swinging-strike percentage in 2019 dipping to 5.5 percent this year. The contact he's allowing has resulted in a .409 xwOBA that's ripe for stacking against.

Tim Anderson ($3,800) jumpstarts the stack from the leadoff spot. In 511 plate appearances against lefties since 2017, he has a .349 OBP, .207 ISO, and 135 wRC+. Sensational sophomore Eloy Jimenez ($3,800) is nestled into the two-hole against lefties and makes for a great stacking option with his .234 ISO against southpaws in his young career.

The top option, however, is Jose Abreu ($4,000). Abreu has mashed against lefties with a .395 OBP, .256 ISO, and 163 wRC+ against them since 2017. Burgeoning superstar rookie Luis Robert ($3,400) is a great stacking target, and veteran Edwin Encarnacion ($2,700) is a cheap piece of this stack. Whichever catcher starts, either James McCann ($2,700) or Yasmani Grandal ($2,900), has merit for inclusion in a Pale Hose stack as well.

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.