Boston Red Sox Dustin Pedroia swings against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
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.
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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.
Note: Both sides of the Coors game are obviously in play, but we'll give you a few other options to pick over as well. This article is about finding good stacks to get separation in big tournaments, and that can't usually be done in Coors Field.
Washington Nationals vs. Adam Morgan
The Nats are normally a stack when they are against right handed pitchers thanks to the thumping bats of Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy, and the reverse platoon action you can get from Anthony Rendon. When they're facing a pitcher as bad as Adam Morgan, though, you don't totally need the platoon advantage.
While this game has just an 8.5 over/under, the -250 money line Washington's way suggests Vegas thinks the Nats' bats are going to feast here. The usual suspects (Harper and Murphy) are in play even in a reverse platoon spot, and we can also get some excess value by targeting Michael Taylor (.090 OPS points better against LHP for his career, getting some looks at the top of the lineup), Wilson Ramos (.054 OPS points better vs. LHP for his career), Anthony Rendon and Ben Revere (a reverse platoon split guy for his career).
Morgan, in case you're unfamiliar, is just a batting practice guy who leaves WAY too many balls up in the zone - his 32.3 career GB% would be the 3rd worst figure in the league this season.
The Chicago Cubs against "John Gant"
Okay, the air quotes treatment on John Gant might be a little unfair. He's flashed strikeout stuff in the minors, and seems polished enough that he might be ready for the big leagues. Like Morgan, though, he leaves balls up in the zone, and unlike Morgan, he's facing an historically great team.
This is truly one of those "any Cubs will do" games - but if you're feeling picky, Rizzo and Bryant are coming out with a particularly high points per dollar multiplier in our lineup optimizer because of their tendency to crush long balls against right handed pitchers.
The Red Sox against "Pat Dean"
Okay, this time the air quotes are deserved. I had at least heard of Gant going into this article, and I'm going to come clean here and say I thought Pat Dean was a generic name you'd find in an old Nintendo baseball game from the 90s. Upon researching Mr. Dean, I discovered a man who only topped 5 K/9 at one stop in the minors over the course of the last 5 years. He throws strikes, but unlike some other prospects pitching today (Urias, Gant), Dean has no ceiling and frankly no floor.
Oh, and he's facing a team with the league's highest wOBA against left handed pitching.
This one could get... awkward. You're looking at the highest non-Coors moneyline of the day (really though, Coors?), and with good reason.
The Red Sox will almost certainly trot out three righties at the top of the order (Bogaerts, Pedroia, Betts). All three of these guys have .800+ OPS's versus left handed pitching for their career. Then you'll get Papi in the clean-up spot. And while hitting lefties isn't really his thing, do you think he can't make contact against a guy who has struck out fewer than 5 guys per 9 innings in the minors? Then you get to Hanley Ramirez, whose .897 career OPS against lefties doesn't exactly present a break. And the bottom of the order isn't too shabby either!
So many stack options today - I can't even name them all. This is the perfect day to run wild with the double stack feature inside our lineup optimizer. Hope you have a good one!
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View Comments
Lately, it's been almost impossible to tell whether a pitcher is left-handed or right-handed based on your guys' writeups; it feels like it changes with every paragraph. Not trying to be snarky but try to clean it up a bit; really confusing in the stacking articles.
Thanks for reading! Not sure what is confusing here. James covers it fine. Adam Morgan a lefty, Dean lefty, Gant righty.
have question? Pitchers that bat, why dont they add there points? and they away team will always have 9 innings to hit verses the home team...So would pick away teams more?
Because AL pitchers don't bat, so it's unfair to give an advantage to NL pitchers who do bat.
"Pat Dean" is a lefty. But that's okay, Bogearts, Ramirez and Young mash lefties. I will likely play all three.
I think the confusion was that you said Dean was facing a team with a hgh WOBA against right handed pitching.
Other than the fact that Gant isn't particularly good, he is also a reliever and has been most of the year. I took Rizzo, Zobrist and Fowler.
To address the comment about taking away teams because they have one more at bat than the home team? LOL The away team has one more at bat only if they are losing. So, if pinking players from losing teams is your cup of tea, go ahead. I'll be sure to enter the same contests you enter. lol
Ughh Red Sox are killing me right now
Looks like writeup has been edited, but yeah, Eden had it right, article originally talked about WOBA vs righties, then said Ortiz doesn't hit lefties well...and then "reverse platoon" for Rendon? Rendon's a righty, pitcher was a lefty, so wouldn't it just be a platoon, not a reverse platoon?