After officially starting with the Tokyo Series, the “regular” MLB regular season gets underway on Thursday. Nine games are on the DraftKings main slate, which starts at 4:05 p.m. ET. All nine games are scheduled to start before 4:30 p.m. ET, so it will almost play like a Turbo Slate. With aces on the mound for most teams, offense may be hard to come by, but in this post, you can find some strong MLB stacks to consider.
It wouldn’t be early-season baseball without some weather issues, so keep a close eye on Cincinnati, St. Louis and Kansas City.Let’s dive into tonight’s action on the diamond and find the best MLB teams to stack on DraftKings.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $500K Opening Day Special [$100K to 1st]
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1. Los Angeles Angels
Mike Trout ($5,100)
Taylor Ward ($4,400)
Jorge Soler ($4,200)
Nolan Schanuel ($3,500)
Tim Anderson ($2,500)
The Angels get the good fortune of opening against the White Sox, so they’ll face Sean Burke ($6,300) in Chicago on Thursday afternoon. Burke did post good numbers last season, but he only had 19 innings backing up his 1.42 ERA, 3.32 FIP and 10.4 K/9. In the minors last season, he went 2-7 in 19 starts with a 4.77 ERA and 5.01 FIP–not exactly lights out. This Spring Training, he was also knocked around a bit, giving up 10 runs on 15 hits in 12 innings.
The Angels have a much better lineup to open this season with Trout healthy and Soler in the mix. Trout hit .282 with three homers and a .450 wOBA this Spring Training and looked injury free. He’s moving to RF to try and stay in the lineup long-term, but that shouldn’t impact his fantasy production for DFS. Ward is expected to lead off with Schanuel hitting second, Trout third and Soler fourth. Soler hit five home runs with a .296 average over 21 games this spring, and he’s a great option at just over $4,000.
2. Minnesota Twins
Carlos Correa ($4,800)
Byron Buxton ($4,000)
Jose Miranda ($4,100)
Matt Wallner ($3,900)
Willi Castro ($3,100)
The Twins open their season in St. Louis taking on the Cardinals in an interleague series. If the weather cooperates, they’ll take on former Twin Sonny Gray ($7,800). Gray’s velocity has been down in Spring Training and he has been dealing with the flu. He went 0-3 in his four starts, giving up 20 earned runs in 14 1/3 innings. He gave up eight home runs and walked six with the one redeeming factor that he did pick up 17 strikeouts. Gray could turn it on now that it really counts, but it would definitely be a major shift.
The Twins lineup will be a little lefty-heavy this season, but that will be fine against the right-handed Gray. Wallner is expected to lead off in front of Correa and Buxton. Last year, Wallner had some of the best contact metrics in the league, and if he can get his strikeout rate under control, he has a very high ceiling. Like Trout, Buxton will at least start the year healthy this season after hitting .317 with three homers in 16 games this spring. If you need some value, the switch-hitting Castro is a solid play who should have no trouble finding playing time with Royce Lewis (hamstring) and Brooks Lee (back) starting the season on IL.
3. Boston Red Sox
Jarren Duran ($5,400)
Rafael Devers ($4,900)
Alex Bregman ($4,800)
Triston Casas ($3,900)
Kristian Campbell ($3,100)
The Red Sox are the third road time I’m taking in my MLB Stacks for Thursday, and the second team facing a former teammate. They’ll go up against Nathan Eovaldi ($7,200). In his four spring starts, “Nasty Nate” didn’t have his nastiest stuff and instead had nasty results, giving up may be small, but it somehow features two eight runs on 12 hits in 13 innings. The 35-year-old was much more hittable by lefties than righties last season, giving up a .247 batting average and .311 wOBA to left-handed hitters.
The Red Sox will probably start him off with lefties in three of the top four lineup spots with Duran, Devers and Casas. Devers will be the primary DH this season, according to manager Alex Cora, but he only played five spring training games, so he may need time to ramp up. Bregman ramped up with his new team and smashed three homers with a .279 batting average and .433 wOBA this spring, and Casas looks ready to resume his rise after losing much of last season to injury. If you’re looking for a cheap rookie to add into the stack, Campbell will be making his MLB debut after winning the 2B job with a strong spring.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $500K Opening Day Special [$100K to 1st]
