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 won't cover the Coors offenses. The Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers have two of the night's top implied totals, but you don't need me to tell you to get exposure to Coors.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros have been underwhelming on offense in 2023, but they can have a day against Adam Wainwright.
Wainwright looks washed. He's got a laughably low 10.9% strikeout rate -- yes, 10.9% -- with a 5.63 SIERA. He's allowed a 40.3% fly-ball rate overall, leading to 1.54 dingers per nine. Lefties are absolutely torching him to the tune of a .483 wOBA and 2.29 homers per nine.
Houston -- who is showing a 4.79 implied total -- has only one bat salaried above $3,200, making them a sweet fit alongside the high-salary hitters from Coors.
That one high-salary bat is Kyle Tucker ($3,400), and he might be the lone Houston lefty in the lineup. After a woeful April, Tucker has been superb in June, racking up a .370 wOBA, 41.5% hard-hit rate and 42.7% fly-ball rate this month. He's one of the best non-Coors plays of the night.
I'll mix and match Jose Altuve ($3,200), Alex Bregman ($3,100), Jeremy Pena ($2,800) and Jose Abreu ($2,700) around Tucker in my Astros stacks. Abreu might finally be emerging from a brutal slump, posting a .343 wOBA in June. He's donged in two of the past three games.
If lefty Bligh Madris ($2,000) starts, he'll be a handy salary-saving option. He hit seventh yesterday.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are at Wrigley against Kyle Hendricks, and the Phils have been handed a 4.82 implied total, the highest of the slate outside of Coors.
Hendricks has a 2.60 ERA through his first 34 2/3 frames of the year. He's not pitching nearly that well, though, as his SIERA (5.34) and xFIP (5.34, as well) paint a much different picture. Hendricks has always been a low-strikeout guy, but he's taken it to a new low thus far in 2023, registering a 12.9% strikeout rate. Lefties and righties both have a fly-ball rate north of 40.0% against him, so we have a lot of flexibility with our Philly stacks.
While the likely top four in the lineup -- Kyle Schwarber ($3,600), Trea Turner ($3,700), Bryce Harper ($3,600) and Nick Castellanos ($3,400) -- cost a pretty penny, they have sky-high upside. Plus, given the modest pitching salaries on this slate, it's possible to get to a couple of the Phillies' top bats as well as get exposure to Coors.
Schwarber is my pick of the bunch from that four-player group. When the concern about strikeouts is lessened, which it is against Hendricks, it makes Schwarber a lot more enticing. He offers double-dong upside in this spot.
Bryson Stott ($3,100), J.T. Realmuto ($3,100), Alec Bohm ($3,000), Kody Clemens ($2,100) and Brandon Marsh ($2,700) are forecasted to round out the Phillies' lineup. Josh Harrison ($2,000) could draw another start after homering on Wednesday. I'd have some interest in Harrison and Clemens as dart throws if they're in there.