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.
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox have a juicy matchup against Martin Perez and are showing a 4.75 implied total, which is tied for the night's top clip.
Perez, a left-hander, is really struggling this year and has the statistical profile of pretty much exactly the kind of pitcher we want to stack against. He's sporting a 5.03 SIERA, isn't missing many bats (15.9% strikeout rate) and is giving up a lot of dingers (1.40 per nine innings).
Chicago may have as many as eight right-handed hitters in the lineup, and they have no one salaried over $3,200, which makes them a great fit alongside a high-salary arm. My two priorities will be Luis Robert ($3,200) and Jake Burger ($2,900). Robert has a monstrous .571 wOBA against southpaws this season while Burger has mashed his way to a .396 wOBA in the split.
Eloy Jimenez ($3,000), Andrew Vaughn ($2,700) and Tim Anderson ($2,500) are forecasted to join Burger and Robert in the top five of the lineup. Clint Frazier ($2,100) and Yasmani Grandal ($2,400) are plenty viable as value plays.
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners' 4.12 implied total isn't all that fun, but I'm more bullish on them today than oddsmakers are.
Seattle will see Jhony Brito. The righty has 40 1/3 MLB innings under his belt, and they haven't gone well. For his career, Brito has amassed a 5.16 SIERA and 16.9% strikeout rate with a 10.1% walk rate. He's permitting 1.56 homers per nine.
I think the Mariners can do some damage, and they can be stacked economically as they've got just one hitter above $3,100.
That one high-salary bat is Julio Rodriguez ($3,700). Despite a meh start to the year, Rodriguez still offers an elite power-speed combination, swiping 15 bags to go with 12 homers.
Jarred Kelenic ($3,100), Mike Ford ($2,100) and Cal Raleigh ($2,600) will all have the platoon advantage against Brito. Although he's a major pinch-hit risk if any lefties come out of the New York Yankees' bullpen, Ford is an appealing low-salary dart throw at a homer as he has a 57.9% fly-ball rate against righties this year.
Eugenio Suarez ($2,600), Ty France ($2,700), Teoscar Hernandez ($3,000) bring good pop to the table at modest salaries. Hernandez has been red-hot this month, racking up a .415 wOBA, 38.5% hard-hit rate and 41.0% fly-ball rate in June.
Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians flopped as a popular stack on Tuesday. On a slate without many great offensive spots, I'm open to going back to them today as they carry a 4.50 implied total into a matchup with Paul Blackburn.
The right-handed Blackburn has never had great swing-and-miss stuff, registering a 16.3% strikeout rate across 270 career frames. He's been good over a small sample of 20 2/3 innings this year, but he's still giving up a 42.6% fly-ball rate in 2023.
The problem with Cleveland is always the same -- they don't hit for much power. They do, however, come at easy-to-stomach salaries.
The exception to both of those statements is Jose Ramirez ($4,100). He's bopped 11 homers and added 6 steals. He's the clear number-one bat for Cleveland if you have the coin to jam him in.
Josh Naylor ($3,200) is also a superb play. Naylor is in the midst of a breakout season. His expected wOBA is up at .363, and he's tallied 8 homers and 5 steals. Against righties, he's put up a .350 wOBA and 39.0% fly-ball rate.
Steven Kwan ($3,200), Andres Gimenez ($2,700), Josh Bell ($2,400), Will Brennan ($2,300) and Bo Naylor ($2,300) will all hit from the left side versus Blackburn. Amed Rosario ($2,900) is projected to be the only full-time righty who hits in the top eight of the lineup. He's been on fire, totaling 12 hits over his last five games.