4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 9/23/20

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.

Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles are back in this space after leaving something to be desired when touted last night. They're squaring off with Nathan Eovaldi and his ho-hum 4.25 ERA and 3.59 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) in eight starts totaling 42 and 1/3 innings this season, per FanGraphs. At first blush, his numbers don't suggest he's a good target to stack against. A look under the hood provides reason for optimism stacking the Orioles.

First, he's homer prone. Eovaldi's coughed up 1.70 homers per nine innings. Second, his .335 weighted on-base average (wOBA) allowed is in line with his .334 expected wOBA (xwOBA), according to Baseball Savant, making him run of the mill. Mediocrity isn't good enough to fade at hitter-friendly Fenway Park. Yes, Fenway Park suppresses homers with a park factor of 0.880, but it boosts doubles significantly with a 1.291 park factor for two-baggers and bumps run-scoring with a park factor of 1.043 for runs, per FantasyPros.

My three-favorite options are the same three from yesterday, Cedric Mullins ($2,300), Ryan Mountcastle ($3,600), and D.J. Stewart ($2,900).

Minnesota Twins

The number-one pick in the 2018 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, Casey Mize, has found his first taste of big-league coffee quite bitter. In six starts totaling 23 and 2/3 innings, he's been rocked for a 6.08 ERA, 5.00 SIERA, and 1.90 homers per nine innings. Further, his .359 wOBA has actually been a bit lucky in comparison to his .384 xwOBA.

Mize has been especially giving to left-handed batters in his rookie season, coughing up a .560 slugging and .408 wOBA to them. Enter Max Kepler ($2,900) and Eddie Rosario ($3,100) as my favorite left-handed-hitting options from the Minnesota Twins. Since 2017, Kepler owns a .230 isolated power (ISO) and 113 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against righties, while Rosario bests his marks with a .248 ISO and 122 wRC+ during that time frame.

Also, while they won't hold the platoon advantage as righties facing a righty, Nelson Cruz ($3,900) -- if he returns from knee soreness --, Josh Donaldson ($3,000), and Byron Buxton ($3,000) all offer stacking appeal with plus power. Cruz's and Donaldson's power are well established and generally known, but Buxton's might not be as obvious. The toolsy outfielder has amassed a .209 ISO against righties since 2017, though, and he's belted 13 homers with a .341 ISO this year.

Tampa Bay Rays

Michael Wacha's 3.90 SIERA isn't too shabby, but the actual results haven't matched up with an unsightly 6.75 ERA. He's probably not as bad as his ERA, but I'm reluctant to hand-wave away his ugly ERA. Last year, he tallied a 4.76 ERA and 5.08 SIERA, and he's been homer prone in back-to-back years with 1.85 homers per nine yielded in 2019 and 2.25 homers per nine ceded this year.

The Tampa Bay Rays are a bit banged-up, but they still offer a few intriguing stacking options. Brandon Lowe ($3,800) headlines their hitters with a .362 OBP, .287 ISO, 151 wRC+, and 13 homes this year. Willy Adames ($2,900) is my second-favorite stacking option with a .332 OBP, .231 ISO, 125 wRC+, and 8 homers plus two stolen bases this season.

Others who warrant stacking usage include Yoshitomo Tsutsugo ($2,800), Joey Wendle ($2,600), and Nathaniel Lowe ($2,900).

San Francisco Giants

Oracle Park in San Francisco underwent ballpark renovations prior to this year, and the early results are shocking. It was a ballpark where offense went to die prior to this year, but the renovations have resulted in a 1.096 park factor for runs that's ninth-highest this year and a 1.103 park factor for homers that's tied for ninth-highest, per ESPN. The new hitter-friendly conditions coupled with a bad pitcher, Ryan Castellani, taking the bump for the visiting Colorado Rockies, thrusts the San Francisco Giants into the stacking mix tonight.

Further elaborating on Castellani being a bad pitcher, his early-season good luck has run out, and he's now the owner of a 5.59 ERA and 6.12 SIERA as well as 2.56 homers per nine innings and .404 xwOBA coughed up to opposing hitters. The Giants' offense lacks star power, but they ran ninth in wRC+ (108) against righties this year.

The lack of stud hitters opens the door to a wide array of stacks. However, my favorite stacking options include Alex Dickerson ($2,800, Brandon Belt ($3,000), and Wilmer Flores ($3,200). All three have hit for power this year with Flores' .223 ISO bringing up the rear, Belt's .271 ISO sandwiched in the middle, and Dickerson's .275 ISO leading the way. Flores' 114 wRC+ is decent this season, but Dickerson and Belt are hitting at a top-shelf level with a 147 wRC+ and 165 wRC+, respectively.

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.