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.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Right-hander Jake Irvin will be the opposition today for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and that has LA looking like one of the night's premier stacking options, with the Dodgers' 5.65 implied total ranking as the slate's second-best.
The Dodgers are a tough task for even the best pitchers in baseball, and they should feast on Irvin, who is sporting a 5.84 SIERA and 16.0% walk rate through his first 22 MLB innings. He put up a 5.41 xFIP in 22 1/3 frames at Triple-A this year, too, and there's really nothing in his profile that suggests he'll keep LA's high-powered offense in check.
The toughest part about stacking the Dodgers is the salaries. With J.D. Martinez ($3,800) catching fire lately, LA now has five hitters salaried at $3,700 or more -- Freddie Freeman ($4,300), Mookie Betts ($3,900), Will Smith ($4,200) and Max Muncy ($3,700) in addition to Martinez. While all five are superb options, Betts and Muncy will be priorities for me, assuming Muncy -- who owns a .394 wOBA against righties -- is able to return to the lineup, which is the expectation.
James Outman ($3,000), Miguel Vargas ($2,800), Jason Heyward ($2,600) and David Peralta ($2,400) offer some cap relief if they're in the lineup. Peralta and Heyward are major pinch-hit risks if they see a lefty later in the game.
Boston Red Sox
On a night when we have six pitchers with five-digit salaries -- including Zac Gallen ($10,700) and Shane McClanahan ($11,200) -- we need to find some economical stacks to plug in. The Boston Red Sox can help us there, and they carry the night's top implied total (5.66) into a date with Ben Lively.
Lively, a righty, has been pretty good through his initial 17 MLB innings this season, pitching to a 3.15 SIERA and 27.3% strikeout rate, but there's a reason Boston has a 5.66 implied total. Lively's 10.3% swinging-strike rate hints at some impending negative regression in the strikeout department, and he mustered a mere 5.71 xFIP and 15.2% strikeout rate this year at Triple-A (27 innings). Plus, after Lively, Boston will get to go to work against a Cincinnati Reds bullpen that has the 11th-worst xFIP (4.33).
Masataka Yoshida ($3,600) and Rafael Devers ($3,500) are great plays if you have the coin. Yoshida has posted a .370 wOBA against right-handers. Devers' overall numbers versus righties are being bogged down by a .232 BABIP in the split, but his 40.8% hard-hit rate and 38.2% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage point to brighter days ahead.
Those are the only two Boston bats salaried above $3,300, so a Red Sox stack doesn't have to break the bank.
Justin Turner ($2,900), Jarren Duran ($3,300) and Alex Verdugo ($3,300) will likely be in meaty spots in the order while Triston Casas ($2,600) is a fantastic value pick. Casas boasts a 43.0% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage.
Chicago White Sox
Sticking with the theme of needing to find high-ceiling offenses at lower salaries, the Chicago White Sox are a great place to turn today if you're trying to jam in Gallen or McClanahan. The White Sox have one hitter with a salary above $3,100 and have been handed a solid 4.57 implied total versus Tyler Anderson.
Anderson has never been a high-strikeout pitcher, but he's really struggling to miss bats in 2023, putting up a 13.6% strikeout rate. He's also giving up a ton of fly-balls (47.2% rate) and too many walks (10.5% rate). Righties are teeing off on him to the tune of a .372 wOBA, 50.0% fly-ball rate and 1.49 homers per nine.
Luis Robert ($3,500) is Chicago's one high-salary stick. He's not running much (two steals) but still offers gobs of upside thanks to a .345 wOBA and 43.8% fly-ball rate. He's owned southpaws this year, mashing his way to a .469 wOBA and 43.5% hard-hit rate in the split.
Jake Burger ($3,100), Andrew Vaughn ($3,000), Eloy Jimenez ($3,000), Yoan Moncada ($2,900), Yasmani Grandal ($2,600) and Tim Anderson ($2,800) will all hit from the right side versus Anderson and are projected to join Robert in the top seven of the lineup. Burger has a .397 expected wOBA overall and a .423 wOBA, 47.8% hard-hit rate and 60.9% fly-ball rate against left-handers. He's one of my favorite bats on the slate, especially if he gets a bump up in the order.
Other top options: Baltimore Orioles (vs. Cal Quantrill), Atlanta Braves (at JP Sears) and St. Louis Cardinals (vs. Zack Greinke)