3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Monday 9/20/21
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 have a pair of notable feathers in their cap. First, according to FanGraphs, they have Major League Baseball's highest weighted runs created plus (117 wRC+) against righties in 2021. Second, their 128 wRC+ over the last 30 days is the highest mark during that time. So they're elite, and they are locked in.
They face below-average starter Jaime Barria tonight, and Barria's struggling mightily lately. To that point, he has a 5.46 ERA, 4.86 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP), 5.02 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), and coughed up 1.52 homers per nine innings in his last seven starts. In addition, he's inept against lefties and righties. The righty's surrendered a .361 weighted on-base average (wOBA) to lefties and a .354 wOBA to righties this year.
As a result of Barria's struggles against all hitters, seemingly everyone in Houston's lineup is an attractive stacking option -- save for defense-first catcher Martin Maldonado ($2,100). The studs in the top and heart of the order, including Jose Altuve ($4,200), Alex Bregman ($4,000), and Yordan Alvarez ($3,800), are great options.
However, I'm intrigued by stacking lower in the order, too. Carlos Correa ($3,500) is a superb target, tallying a .351 on-base percentage, .228 isolated power (ISO), and 134 wRC+ against righties this year. Also, don't sleep on punt-priced outfielders Jake Meyers ($2,200) and Chas McCormick ($2,200). The former has a 114 wRC+ against righties this year, and the latter's responsible for a 108 wRC+.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves have a drool-inducing matchup tonight. Rookie righty Humberto Castellanos has a 4.91 ERA in two starts for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yet, I'm more fixated on his 5.53 ERA, 6.19 xFIP, and 1.26 homers per nine innings allowed in 71 and 1/3 innings pitched at the Triple-A level this season. That's not going to cut it at the big-league level.
The players I'm most interested in stacking are Atlanta's three most successful batters against righties this year. That starts with Adam Duvall ($3,600), who brings the thump with a .300 ISO against righties this year.
Second, Austin Riley ($3,400) offers a well-rounded line with a .383 on-base percentage, .241 ISO, and 145 wRC+. Finally, Freddie Freeman ($4,000) is the top option with a .411 on-base percentage, .225 ISO, and 147 wRC+.
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees round out tonight's top stacks in a high-upside scenario. They're at home facing a fly-ball pitcher with poor control. Therefore, their scoring upside is through the roof.
According to FantasyPros, Yankee Stadium has a park factor of 1.077 for homers. As for A.J. Alexy, he has a 15.5 percent walk rate and 63.6 percent fly-ball rate himself. That's a highly volatile combination. Further, the Bronx Bombers are built to work walks and jack taters.
Narrowing their top hitters down to my favorite options starts with Aaron Judge ($4,100). He has a .364 on-base percentage, .250 ISO, and 144 wRC+ against righties. I also love fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton ($3,900). He has a .347 on-base percentage, .229 ISO, and 131 wRC+.
Stanton is also on fire. Over the last 30 days, he has a .340 on-base percentage, .340 ISO, and 163 wRC+. Judge and Stanton will be staples in my Yankees stacks.
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.
