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Welcome to our new daily article breaking down some of the other stacking targets on this slate. We covered our system's top value plays in our daily picks article and pitching breakdown but here we will look at other guys to consider.
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Stacking in DFS MLB is such an important concept if you’re looking to take down a big tournament on FanDuel or DraftKings. It’s also a good way to diversify cash games because the variance in baseball can mean wild swings (ahem) in the scoring on a particular slate. The concept is easy. You want to pile players from one or two teams into your lineups because those guys compound scores by helping each other score runs when the going is good.
(Hitter stats provided are vs. the handiness of the pitcher they are facing)
Early Slate
The Houston Astros vs. Edwin Escobar
Now I understand the reluctance to stack the Astros given some of the struggles they've had this year, but things are trending in the right direction, and facing a journeyman minor-league pitcher will certainly help. There isn't much info available on Escobar other than he's a high 4's ERA guy during his 8 years in the minors, who's K/BB ratio is nearly 2. This could easily mean trouble for Escobar against a Houston team that's full of young guys who for their careers destroy left-handed pitching. For this stack I'm targeting guys like Evan Gattis (.411 wOBA), Jose Altuve (.440 wOBA), Carlos Correa (.341 wOBA for his career), and George Springer (.373 wOBA). Each of these guys should be hitting near the middle or top of the order so look for each of them to see plenty of chances to put up some big numbers today.
The Coors Field Stack
Honestly you can stack this one either way you'd like, although for me personally I like the stack against Chad Bettis more than I like the stack against Dan Straily. Bettis has been fairly decent this season, but fairly decent just doesn't cut it when you're pitching at Coors Field, especially against a team that has some big left-handed bats like Cincinnati. I like guys like Joey Votto, and Jay Bruce for the righty-lefty matchup, and then guys like Brandon Phillips and Eugenio Suarez who hit righties well. If you want to stack against Straily, guys like Carlos Gonzalez, Gerardo Parra, Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado are all projected to put up some big numbers. It's hard to go wrong with a Coors stack, but just make sure you keep an eye on the weather and find a good value pitcher so you can get all these big bats in your lineup.
Note: Our system also likes a lot of the St. Louis Cardinals lefties against Junior Guerra, but I'm not as big on that matchup (makes for a low ownership, high upside GPP lineup).
Late Slate
The Pittsburg Pirates vs. Justin Nicolino
I don't like the ballpark factor much, but I absolutely love the matchup. Pittsburg has a ton of guys who crush left-handed pitching, and Justin Nicolino has been nothing to brag about this season. Against right-handed batters this season, Nicolino has an xFIP of 5.46, a K/BB rate of 1.00 (yes he strikes out as many batters as he walks believe it or not), and is allowing an absurdly high hard hit % of 43.3%. This spells disaster for the Marlins today, so I'm looking to grab as many Pirate bats as I possibly can today. Guys like David Freese (1.007 OPS), Andrew McCutchen (career .972 OPS), Starling Marte (career .845 OPS), and Jordy Mercer (career .846 OPS) all have absolutely crushed lefties throughout their career so they make excellent stacking targets. This is by far the best stack of the late slate, and the only one that I would really consider using when building my lineups.
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View Comments
How does the optimizer reach it's projections?
Hey Derrick. The optimizer itself doesn't reach projections. It simply filters projections to propose the top lineups from our system. Our projections are created using a number of inputs from regressed player baselines, parks, opponents, Vegas implied odds, splits and other odds and ends. We weight those inputs and apply them in the form of projected stats for each player.
Got a 2nd or 3rd stack for the late you like? Stacks and Pitcher breakdown has been spot on this month.... Do not change a thing!
Thanks Doug.Need help with one more thing.When using the tool it won't let me create my own roster. It says no open slots.
Just need to hit "Calculate". If you want to input your own rosters, go to the "Switch to Standard Tools" link at the top. Or you can lock in players you like and optimizer will fill in players around them.
Thinking about paying for premium but I don't see a way in your tutorial on how to upload teams to DK. My other optimizer I pay for I can upload 100's of lineups to DK. Can I do this here as well? And, yes, I understand it goes to a CSV first and then to DK.