3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Wednesday 7/19/23

Stacking is an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. Correlation drives upside, giving your lineups a slate-winning ceiling when your stacks explode.

This piece will do the digging and the dirty work each day to determine which stacks are worth rostering on FanDuel's main slate. While we want upside, we also need to factor in game theory, especially in a sport as random as baseball.

Our MLB DFS heat map is a quick way to get a feel for the overall slate and which offenses are in a good spot. You can also check out our daily fantasy baseball projections to identify the slate's best bats.

Let's look at the top stacks for this main slate.

Atlanta Braves

Another day of MLB DFS, another slate where we really want exposure to the Atlanta Braves.

Atlanta is at home versus Ryne Nelson, and a night after scoring 13 runs, the Braves could go nuts again. Nelson is in a lot of trouble as he's got a 5.09 SIERA with a 15.8% strikeout rate. He's allowing a 41.9% fly-ball rate overall, and lefties have mauled him to the tune of a .378 wOBA. He's going to need some crazy batted-ball luck to keep Atlanta quiet, and it all amounts to the Braves getting a 5.87 implied total, the slate's highest clip.

Anyone in Atlanta's lineup will be worth a look and needs to be on our radar. Per usual, they're high in salary and will be popular, but if you use Kenta Maeda ($7,200) or Carlos Rodon ($7,500) at pitcher, you should have room to jam in the Braves you want.

You know the drill with Ronald Acuna Jr. ($4,800) and Matt Olson ($4,300) -- the latter of whom is our model's number-two bat -- so I won't spend more time on them. Austin Riley ($3,400) is going to attract a lot of attention today after his monster game on Tuesday, and both Sean Murphy ($4,100) and Ozzie Albies ($3,900) are quality high-salary plays.

Michael Harris II ($2,900), Marcell Ozuna ($2,900), Eddie Rosario ($2,800) and Orlando Arcia ($2,700) are ways to get a piece of Atlanta without breaking the bank. Rosario is of particular interest to me whenever the Braves see a righty.

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants combined for 21 runs in yesterday's game at Great American Ball Park, and while you can fully justify stacking both of them today -- they have the next two highest implied totals after Atlanta -- I prefer the Reds over the Giants due to Graham Ashcraft's ground-ball ways.

Cincy (5.23 implied total) is facing righty Ross Stripling. In 2023, Stripling has been tagged for 2.36 homers per nine while struggling to miss bats (9.4% swinging-strike rate). That's not the kind of profile that leads to success at a launching pad like Great American Ball Park.

Elly De La Cruz ($4,200) and Matt McLain ($3,800) are the elite options in this lineup. Elly has hit a skid with his bat but is still running wild, amassing 17 steals in just 35 games. The power/speed combo gives him top-shelf upside, especially when he's facing a righty at home. McLain is today's top-rated Reds bat, per our numbers, and he's quickly taken a liking to his home park, racking up a .431 wOBA and 46.7% fly-ball rate across 123 plate appearances in Cincy.

Jake Fraley ($3,300) and TJ Friedl ($3,300) are pinch-hit risks if they see a lefty later in the game but pack a punch against righties. Spencer Steer ($3,400) has quietly put together a good rookie season, compiling a .360 wOBA and 45.9% fly-ball rate.

Value-wise, Christian Encarnacion-Strand ($2,800) is easy to love at this salary. He hit his first MLB dong yesterday and shredded Triple-A for 20 jacks and a .440 wOBA before getting the call. Will Benson ($2,800) fits into the Fraley/Friedl bucket as a pinch-hit risk who can deliver the goods versus right-handers, recording a gaudy .395 wOBA in the split.

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs were featured in Tuesday's stacking article, and they plated 17 runs. We can't expect that kind of outburst tonight, but they're in another fantastic matchup, this time versus Trevor Williams.

Williams, a righty, is the owner of a 4.89 SIERA and 17.7% strikeout rate. He's permitted a 40.4% fly-ball rate overall and has been getting smashed by both lefties (.356 wOBA) and righties (2.18 homers per nine), so we have total freedom with Cubs stacks.

The top bat of the slate, according to our projections, is Christopher Morel ($3,600). A late scratch yesterday, Morel may not play today, but if he's in there, he's a stellar pick as he boasts a .371 wOBA and 15 taters through 215 plate appearances in 2023.

The Cubbie I most want tonight is Cody Bellinger ($3,900). With the platoon advantage this season, Bellinger has a 47.7% fly-ball rate, and he's red-hot in July, putting up a .527 wOBA in a small sample of 59 plate appearances.

Ian Happ ($2,900), Seiya Suzuki ($2,700) and Nico Hoerner ($3,400) should be in juicy spots in the lineup. Mike Tauchman ($2,800) is a viable value cog if he gets a start, and Patrick Wisdom ($2,900) has homered in three of the last four games.

Other top options: San Francisco Giants (at Graham Ashcraft), New York Mets (vs. Touki Toussaint)