4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 5/21/15
Each day here on numberFire, we'll be providing you with four potential offenses to stack in your daily fantasy lineups. These are the offenses that provide huge run potential on that given day based on matchups and other factors.
After reading through these suggestions, make sure to check out our daily projections. These can either let you know which players to include in each stack, or which guy best complements said stack.
Another great tool is our custom optimal lineups, which are available for premium subscribers. Within the tool, we've added the option to stack teams -- you choose the team you want to stack, show how many players you want to use within the stack, and the tool will create a lineup based on this that you can then customize.
Now, let's get to the stacks. I'm not going to include either the Phillies or Rockies here at Coors as you all already know to work in those goodies. That said, this is a fairly gross bunch of offenses, so I'd consider plopping these teams around a stack of either the Phillies or the Rockies because offense could be scarce today. Here are the teams you should be targeting in daily fantasy baseball today.
Toronto Blue Jays
Overall, I'm a big-time Matt Shoemaker guy. I hope that he eventually turns things around and gets back to the silly sauce he was distributing last year. Based on his last start, it looks like that is starting to happen. The problem is that he is still allowing a crazy number of fly balls, and that could lead to bad things in a contest with the Blue Jays.
In his breakout season last year, Shoemaker induced a below-average number of ground balls at 41.2. This year, though, he has been flying high with only 28.2 percent of batted balls being on the ground. That is the lowest mark of any pitcher that has thrown at least 30 innings this year, and he is one of only two pitchers below 30 percent. The dong potential is strong with this one.
The one big positive here is that the pricing is more relaxed on the Jays' hitters than usual on DraftKings. None of their batters are more expensive than $4,800, which is totes rare for these dudes. There's not one guy that's a "must play," but there are plenty of solid options here should Shoemaker slip back into the form of his first six starts.
Detroit Tigers
This isn't all about Scott Feldman as his 5.06 ERA is a bit fluky. It's more about the Tigers, who even through their recent offensive slump, have largely hit right-handed pitching well.
Feldman has actually done a lot of nice things this year. His strikeout rate his up, his walks are down, and he's inducing more ground balls. The question, though, is how? Batters are chasing pitches a bit more, but, outside of that, not a whole lot is different. For this reason, I'd be cool with rolling out a Tigers stack here.
If you do decide to go through with a Tigers stack, you're going to need to check out their lineup. The pricing is super high on their hitters for the DraftKings early slate. They have four guys priced at $4,600 or higher, meaning you need to find that value, boss. Either Anthony Gose or Jose Iglesias should be near the top of the order. The one that is will be a nice little play as salary relief to the big bats hitting behind them.
Cleveland Indians
Are the Indians good against left-handed pitching? Not really. They rank 20th in wOBA against left-handers this year. But are they good enough to capitalize on the strugg-life of John Danks? I would say yes.
Danks has made three starts this season against teams that currently rank 20th or worse in wOBA against left-handers. In those three starts, he has allowed 9 earned runs in 17.2 innings for a 4.59 ERA. This is a teensy bit lower than his 4.66 ERA overall, but it shows he can't shut down even the worst of offenses. This is equal opportunity suckage.
He doesn't have the platoon advantage, but Michael Brantley has been tearing up left-handed pitching this year. And by "tearing up," I don't mean ripping. Pitchers have been openly weeping on the mound. He has slashed .346/.417/.596, and has the same number of doubles and home runs as he does against right-handers in 26 fewer plate appearances. I think I'm in love.
Seattle Mariners
This is pretty far from what I'd call a "safe" stack, but it does have some nice upside. The Mariners rank 22nd in the league in wOBA against right-handers, and that's not all because they play at Safeco. They are also 22nd in road wOBA this year, so honestly, they're not a great stack team at this point. Chris Tillman's struggles make it a tourney option.
Through seven starts, Tillman has a 6.34 ERA, a 5.41 FIP and a 5.09 xFIP. He walks a bunch of dudes while not striking out many and giving up a ton of fly balls. He is a stacker's dream come true, even if the situation is not ideal for the offense.
Although the Mariners have struggled as a team against righties, Brad Miller as an individual has been a different story. He has slashed .289/.356/.567 off of them in 102 plate appearances. With his move up to the second spot in the order, he is a sweet option for today at just $3,500 on the DraftKings early slate, even if you don't go for the full stack.
