3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 8/6/21
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.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros let us down in a plus matchup last night. I have a short memory, though, and I'm going back to the well in another good matchup tonight. Houston ranks first in weighted runs created plus (119 wRC+) against righties this year, and Bailey Ober is a young hurler who shouldn't deter us from stacking Houston.
The rookie righty has a 4.94 ERA and 3.94 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), and he has coughed up 2.9 homers per nine innings per FanGraphs. Ober's .282 weighted on-base average (wOBA) yielded to righties isn't a mark to go out of your way stacking against. However, he's inept against lefties, coughing up a .562 slugging percentage and .401 wOBA to them.
Queue up the lefties from the Astros. I'm dialed in on the trio of Michael Brantley ($3,300), Yordan Alvarez ($3,700), and Kyle Tucker ($3,700). This year, all three have hammered righties, headlined by Brantley's 175 wRC+, followed by Tucker's 161 wRC+, and rounded out by Alvarez's 142 wRC+. Tucker and Alvarez also offer immense power, with the former amassing .279 isolated power (ISO), and the latter responsible for a .267 ISO.
Cincinnati Reds
While the Astros disappointed as a touted stack last night, the Cincinnati Reds delivered the goods, taking advantage of their hitter-friendly confines. The Reds rank third in wOBA (.343) at home this year, and they're hosting tonight's contest. Further elaborating on Great American Ball Park, it has the second-highest park factor for runs and highest for homers, per FantasyPros.
The Reds' matchup with JT Brubaker shouldn't scare us away. On the contrary, he's been thoroughly mediocre this year with a 4.49 ERA, 3.85 SIERA, and 1.85 homers per nine innings. In addition to his mediocrity standing out for stacking against in Cincy, Brubaker's ho-hum .322 wOBA ceded to lefties and .319 wOBA allowed to righties indicate he's been run of the mill against all hitters.
Nick Castellanos ($3,500) is a defensible option after returning from the injured list last night. However, my favorite pieces are Jonathan India ($3,700), Jesse Winker ($4,400), and Joey Votto ($4,200). The lefty duo of Winker and Votto have hammered righties this season. Winker's smashed them for a .419 on-base percentage, .286 ISO, and 176 wRC+. Votto's been nearly Winker's equal with a .408 on-base percentage, .344 ISO, and 174 wRC+.
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up tonight's top stacks in a plus matchup with Mike Minor. The veteran southpaw is responsible for a 4.20 SIERA and 5.31 ERA this year. He's been especially dreadful since Major League Baseball began instituting in-game checks for foreign substances on June 21, recording a 4.89 SIERA and 7.15 ERA in seven starts (39 innings) in that span.
Minor's been a below-average hurler against righties, allowing a .321 wOBA to them. That's especially noteworthy given the righty-heavy nature of the Cardinals' lineup. So, you can stack this lineup from top to bottom.
Still, my favorite options are Tommy Edman ($2,800), Nolan Arenado ($3,900), and Harrison Bader ($3,400). Edman kicks things off from the leadoff spot. He has a .344 on-base percentage, .262 ISO, and 142 wRC+ against lefties. Arenado's hammered lefties in his first year away from Coors, recording a .368 on-base percentage, .333 ISO, and 169 wRC+. Bader's the least accomplished of the group. Nonetheless, his .273 ISO against lefties is a drool-inducing mark, making him a great stacking target.
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.
