It’s a lovely day for baseball, and there are some great opportunities for stackin’ on a Saturday in the (ball)park.
It should come as no surprise that with such confidence in the available stacks today, the optimal lineup will contain mini-stacks. The temptation to play stacks only is there, but it is there for everyone. The best lineups are going to contain some players from those teams spread out.
We are going to format this differently for tonight’s 10-game slate beginning at 7 p.m. EDT. Let’s outline the big stacks first and see what it turns into.
***All prices listed are DraftKings***
Stacks
Washington Nationals at Arizona Diamondbacks
The most glaring option is Washington. After putting up 17(!) runs last night against the Diamondbacks, they are coming back for more on Saturday against Seth Frankoff. If you don’t know who Frankoff is, that’s likely because the 33-year-old has tossed precisely 4.2 major league innings since 2017.
Your opponents will all be very aware of this possibility. The heavy hitters will be in the lineup for plenty of opponents. Juan Soto ($5,600), Kyle Schwarber ($3,600), Trea Turner (5,900), and Starlin Castro ($3,100) will appear frequently. However, if Washington gets out to another huge lead, it’s only a matter of time before some of those guys get to start taking the rest of the game off. I’ll be going a different direction in this one while still utilizing some Nationals.
Cincinnati Reds at Colorado Rockies
The Reds are losers of two straight in the thin air of Colorado, but it’s not for lack of hitting. They’ve fallen behind early in each of the first two games but Jhoulys Chacin (8 ER in 12.1 IP) looks to be victimized. The Reds are going to come out aggressive and put the late scoring they’ve done the last two days into a full-game effort.
As always, Jesse Winker ($6,000) and Nick Castellanos ($6,300) are expensive but have the highest floor, along with catcher Tucker Barnhart ($4,700). Tyler Naquin ($4,900) has all-world power. Eugenio Suarez ($5,800) seems to be finding his stroke, but he’s not going to have a lot of fans at that price point. Jonathan India ($4,100) has homered in each of the first two games.
New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
Aside from the Reds, this is the game you want for home runs. The Yankees always hit well at Camden Yards and the Orioles’ Joge Lopez is giving up dingers like it’s his job. Any of the power hitters are safe plays, and I’m particularly looking at Brett Gardner for both his price point ($2,700) and the fact that Lopez struggles against lefties.
The Lineup
SP – Tyler Mahle ($8,200) at Colorado
Pretty rare to be tossing a visiting pitcher playing at Coors Field into a DFS lineup, but we are living on the edge. In the first two games of the series, Colorado plated 22 runs and seem to have forgotten that they are not a good team. Expect them to come out swinging aggressively against Mahle. Unfortunately for them, that plays right into the hands of the pitcher who has racked up 48 strikeouts in 36 innings this season. He brings in an even 3.00 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. The Reds jump on Chacin and Mahle gets touched for a couple runs but he’ll cruise with the lead. Mark it as a W with double-digit Ks.
SP – Domingo German ($7,900) at Baltimore
We’re going mid-level spending to spread the wealth in our mini-stacks later in the lineup. Here is another case of a guy who will be much more comfortable spotted a big lead when the Yankees beat the tar out of Lopez. His last time out, German fared well against the Nationals (6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER) and I expect that type of performance against Baltimore. This is a win. It’s eight sat down via strikeout. It’s a pitcher most of your opponents won’t use.
C – Yan Gomes ($3,900) at Arizona
Here’s a relatively inexpensive way to start off a lineup. As mentioned, Washington is going to hit… and I mean they all are. That’s a great price for your backstop walking up to the plate with runners on base.
1B – Josh Bell ($3,500) at Arizona
Why Ryan Zimmerman and his .943 OPS is not starting over Bell is anyone’s guess. That said, the old saying is “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while”. In this case, Bell is that squirrel and the nut is Frankoff on the mound.
2B – Josh Harrison ($3,300) at Arizona
Ok, it’s official, we are loading up on Nats for this lineup that will be smacking around the opposing hurler. Harrison is a good value to get in on the act. He is averaging 7.6 PPG in DraftKings thus far, and you’d be wise to expect double digits this evening from his modest .287/.363/.416 slash.
3B – Starlin Castro ($3,100) at Arizona
This is getting silly, but once you pop, you can’t stop. These four Washington hitters are unlikely to appear in together in other lineups, and Castro’s solid swing fits right in as the icing on the beatdown cake.
SS – Tim Anderson ($5,000) vs. Kansas City
Going out of the box here, but Anderson was the perfect way to finish out an entire lineup with $100 to spare. The shortstop is slashing .316/.350/.474 and leads the smokin’ White Sox with 23 runs scored and six stolen bases. For good measure, 5 of his 36 hits were moonshots with the boomstick, and he’s got plenty of pop left.
OF – Jesse Winker ($6,000) at Colorado
Nick Castellanos ($6,300) at Colorado
Brett Gardner ($2,700) at Baltimore
The three names were mentioned above in the stacks, so no surprise to see them here. Winker and Castellanos have been the very models of consistency for the Reds. In the thin air tonight, each will have multiple hits and Castellanos could very well have one for the ages. Get them in there.
Gardner is the cheapest player in this lineup, but he has some huge upside for that price. Not only do I like him against Lopez and his 2.32 HR/9, I love him. Lopez is going to give up some dingers tonight, and he struggles against lefties. Gardner might very well be the only lefty in that lineup, and I’m making him my home run call of the night.
Best of luck in all your lineups. Even if you’re not stacking, the guys on those teams can be mixed and matched pretty easy to formulate a solid order. Philadelphia is another stack worth looking at. Although none of them are in this one, they’ll probably end up in a few others depending on how the cost shakes out.
Have fun and play the upside. Let’s make some money.
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