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, which starts at 6:40 p.m. EST.
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a top stacking option for the second straight night as they host Luke Weaver on Wednesday.
Boston flirted with faceplanting as a chalky stack on Tuesday but rallied late and ended up scoring eight runs. They should be able to do a good amount of damage today versus Weaver, and their slate-leading 5.84 implied total reflects as much. Weaver hasn't been terrible, sporting a 4.04 SIERA and 22.6% strikeout rate this season, but he's giving up a lot of loud contact, including a 40.5% hard-hit rate and 44.0% fly-ball rate. That's led to 2.13 dingers per nine.
Masataka Yoshida ($3,600) and Rafael Devers ($3,400) are the main attractions in Boston's lineup. Both will have the platoon advantage against Weaver. Devers' .328 wOBA isn't too exciting, but his .360 expected wOBA (xwOBA), 39.6% hard-hit rate and 42.4% fly-ball rate are really nice marks. He's being crushed by a .253 BABIP, which is well off his career average of a .315 BABIP. Our model has Devers as the night's number-two bat.
Alex Verdugo ($3,300) is projected to be atop the order but didn't play last night due to an illness. If he's out today, Raimel Tapia ($2,500) will once again be a sweet value target. Tapia led off on Tuesday and scored 31.4 FanDuel points. Jarren Duran ($3,100), Enmanuel Valdez ($2,700) and Triston Casas ($2,600) will also hit from the left side.
Righty Justin Turner ($2,900) comes at a friendly salary and is forecasted to hit third while being eligible at two positions (first and third). He's hitting the ball well, too, posting a .361 xwOBA and 41.6% fly-ball rate.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays plated seven runs last night and offer gobs of upside today against Julio Teheran.
Teheran gave up just one run over five innings last week in his 2023 debut, which was his first start in the bigs since 2021. But Teheran put up a 5.43 xFIP over 40 Triple-A innings this season before being picked up by the Milwaukee Brewers. A road matchup at the Jays is a tough spot, and Toronto's 5.31 implied total is the slate's third-highest clip.
As is usually the case with Toronto, their big bats -- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($3,700), Bo Bichette ($3,800) and Matt Chapman ($3,600) -- are up in salary. They're great plays if you have the coin, and this isn't a bad slate to try to jam in the Jays' stars as there is only one pitcher with a five-digit salary. Of the three, Bichette is the one I most want. His xwOBA is a dazzling .403.
George Springer ($3,100) and Daulton Varsho ($2,900) are going to be core plays for me tonight. Both are listed at easy-to-like salaries and come with dual-threat upside. Springer hits leadoff and has seven jacks with eight steals. Varsho has eight homers and six swipes.
Brandon Belt ($2,500) exited early last night with an illness but will be an enticing point-per-dollar play if he's in the lineup, especially if he's in the cleanup spot again.
Philadelphia Phillies
Although the Philadelphia Phillies' 4.62 implied total is just the fifth-best mark on the slate, I'm a big fan of them tonight in their road matchup with Carlos Carrasco.
A quality hurler for a long time, Carrasco appears to be running on fumes this season. In 25 1/3 frames, Carrasco has struggled to a 5.69 SIERA and 13.3% strikeout rate. Carrasco was good last year, so maybe his poor start to 2023 will turn out to be small-sample noise. But I'm willing to roll the dice on Philly today, and they come in with a decent 4.62 implied total.
Bryce Harper ($3,800) and Nick Castellanos ($3,400) are the only Phillies salaried above $3,000, so they fit nicely alongside Hunter Brown ($10,500), who our projections have as the night's best pitcher. Harper has mashed his way to a .381 wOBA and .375 xwOBA through his first 101 plate appearances of 2023. He's much more of a priority for me than Castellanos is.
Kyle Schwarber ($3,000) and Trea Turner ($2,800) are way down in salary. Obviously, both guys are struggling right now, but we know what kind of upside they bring to the table. They figure to be pretty popular tonight.
J.T. Realmuto ($2,900), Bryson Stott ($3,000) and Brandon Marsh ($2,800) are three more viable mid-range options. There is plenty of good fortune -- specifically a .391 BABIP -- involved in Marsh's numbers, but he's got a respectable 37.3% hard-hit rate with the platoon advantage.
Other top options: Arizona Diamondbacks (vs. Dinelson Lamet), Houston Astros (vs. Louie Varland), Colorado Rockies (at Tommy Henry)