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. We will not talk about the Coors game between the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins. Those two teams own the highest implied totals of the night, but you don't need me to tell you to get exposure to Coors.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are showing a 4.95 implied total -- the second-best non-Coors mark of the slate -- for their road date with Colin Rea.
Rea, a righty, has posted a 4.82 SIERA and 19.2% strikeout rate this season. Over a small sample, lefties are tagging him for 1.93 homers per nine in 2023, and Rea has the misfortune of getting a Houston offense that's cranked things up of late, producing a .349 wOBA (fourth-best) across the past 14 days.
Given Rea's struggles versus lefties, Yordan Alvarez ($4,300) and Kyle Tucker ($3,300) need to be at the top of our wishlist.
Alvarez is actually the only Houston bat salaried above $3,300, so this lineup isn't that hard to get to today. Just like he was a season ago, Alvarez has been one of the game's elite hitters, and he's bashed righties for a .420 wOBA, 47.8% hard-hit rate and 40.6% fly-ball rate. Tucker has a .396 expected wOBA overall this year.
Jose Altuve ($3,200), Alex Bregman ($3,100), Jeremy Pena ($3,000) and Jose Abreu ($2,400) are all worth a look. Abreu has been awful so far in 2023 but offers a lot of cap relief. Altuve has played three games since returning from injury, and his salary probably won't be this low for very long.
Chas McCormick ($2,500) and Corey Julks ($2,600) are also viable value options.
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners were one of yesterday's top stacks, and they delivered with 11 runs against the Oakland Athletics. They're in another dope spot today, and their salaries are easy to like.
Seattle is hosting Luis Medina. The right-hander isn't as easy of a matchup as Kyle Muller was last night, but Medina owns a meh 20.5% strikeout rate and 4.21 SIERA. Seattle's 5.01 implied total is the night's highest non-Coors clip.
Julio Rodriguez ($3,400), Jarred Kelenic ($3,300) and Cal Raleigh ($3,200) are the lone Mariners salaried above $2,900. Kelenic is my favorite of the three. He donged last night and has recorded a .364 wOBA and 38.8% hard-hit rate against righties this year.
J.P. Crawford ($2,800) is projected to lead off while Ty France ($2,800), Teoscar Hernandez ($2,800) and Eugenio Suarez ($2,900) are three other modest-salaried bats who make sense. Kolten Wong ($2,300) would need to be on our radar, too, if he gets a start.
Detroit Tigers
While the Kansas City Royals have yet to announce a starter for tonight's game, it seems like Daniel Lynch might be the guy. If that winds up being the case, I want some Detroit Tigers in my lineups.
The Tigers aren't a very good offense overall, but they have some righties who pack a punch versus southpaws. Plus, Lynch has proven to be a below-average pitcher in his career, registering a 4.63 SIERA and 19.4% strikeout rate across 199 2/3 career frames. A year ago, right-handed hitters got to him for a .348 wOBA, 38.0% hard-hit rate and 1.46 homers per nine.
Detroit has no hitters salaried over $3,000, so they're a great place to save salary.
Javier Baez ($2,900), Spencer Torkelson ($2,800), Matt Vierling ($2,600) and Eric Haase ($2,700) will be the priorities for me. Haase has mashed his way to a 45.5% hard-hit rate and 50.0% fly-ball rate versus southpaws this season. Baez has a .349 wOBA in the split, and Vierling -- who has a 44.1% fly-ball rate against lefties in 2023 -- is likely to be atop the lineup.
Andy Ibanez ($2,400), Miguel Cabrera ($2,100) and Jonathan Schoop ($2,100) will be on my dart-throw radar.