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, but here are some specific teams we're targeting for big tournaments today!
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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.
The Coors game is obviously going to be a pretty significant target for daily fantasy baseball players trying to put up huge totals tonight, but we're going to list a few other stacks to target today. And as Doug always says - a great park doesn't make a terrible team good, especially given the price increases. Be wary of stacking the Braves.
Boston Red Sox vs. Tommy Milone (Twins)
Park - Fenway Park
No surprise here. It's the highest non-Coors line of the day, and for good reason. Fenway is a fine place to hit, and Tommy Milone's 4.35 xFIP rides even higher than his sub-par 4.23 career number. The key to stacking against Milone has always been the lack of strike-outs - 5.80 K/9 is just garbage, and given that the Red Sox are already the 3rd hardest team for left handed pitchers to strike out, this is a match made in Heaven.
As for the particular stacking targets, it's all of the usual suspects here with one exception - I'll probably pass on Papi for GPPs given the high price tag and his historical struggles against left handed pitching. Everyone else? Totally in play.
Houston Astros vs. Tim Lincecum (Angels)
Park - Minute Maid Park
If I had a nickel for every time I've stacked against Lincecum this season... wait, I have WAY more than a nickel to show for every time I've stacked against Lincecum this season. To say that Timmay is a shell of himself is an understatement - his 4.27 xFIP is the 2nd worst of his career, just behind the absolute disaster that was the 2015 season. While his K/9 is up quite a bit, you have to keep in mind that he's also facing way more batters than usual on account of his 6.59 ERA. So yeah, stacking against Mr. Lincecum is a very very good thing.
As for the Astros, they match up a number of high profile stack targets (Altuve, Correa, Springer) with some lesser known options that should definitely be on your radar if you're looking to shoot the moon in a big tournament. I'm thinking specifically Luis Valbuena (.827 OPS vs. RHP this year) and Preston Tucker (.350 OPS points better with pop against RHP in his career) - two low-owned guys who should get you plenty of separation even in a rather chalk match-up.
The Cincinnati Reds vs. Zack Godley (Diamondbacks)
Park - Great American Ballpark
This one is a little bit goofy, given that the Reds have been a bottom 5 team against right handed pitching this season. But hey, we're looking for interesting GPP plays, am I right? The Reds have a solid implied run total around 5 today on account of two major factors. The first is the opposing pitcher. It's been a tough start to the season for Godley, whose ERA would actually be quite a bit worse if it weren't bolstered by a bunch of appearances out of the bullpen.
The next is the ballpark - the Great American Ballpark remains one of the most favorable hitters' parks in the league. Another interesting point about stacking - keep in mind that you don't need to play every single guy on a team to make a stack worthwhile. Grabbing just 3 guys from the middle of the order can get you most of the way home in a big tournament. The Votto/Bruce/Duvall combo up the middle is very capable of putting up a huge total all by themselves, and you could also consider getting a little off beat with Billy Hamilton. Again, this is off board, but it's very interesting.
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