Baseball is back! After a couple of great full days of baseball on Thursday and Friday, all 30 teams are scheduled to take the field on Saturday. Nine games are in the afternoon while six games are on the featured MLB DFS slate on DraftKings, which gets underway at 7:05 p.m. ET with the first pitch from Arlington. Let’s take a look at the 12 teams on Saturday night’s slate and find the top three MLB stacks.
Like Friday night, the MLB scheduled most of the games indoors, with the two exceptions in Los Angeles and San Diego. Four of the five teams in the AL West are on this slate along with three teams from the NL West and a couple from the NL East. Pinpointing the right MLB Stacks to attack is mostly about starting pitching matchups and the current form of the lineup, so let’s dive into which teams deserve your focus on Saturday night.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $175K Relay Throw [$50K to 1st]
For up-to-the-minute news, analysis and lineups, download the DK Network app. You also can follow DK Network on Twitter @dknetwork.
1. Atlanta Braves
Matt Olson ($5,100)
Marcell Ozuna ($4,900)
Austin Riley ($4,800)
Jurickson Profar ($4,100)
Jarred Kelenic ($2,600)
The Braves are 0-2 after their first two games this season, but they should be able to bounce back and get in the win column on Saturday night as they take on Randy Vasquez ($6,400) in San Diego. Vasquez gave up eight runs (three earned) in eight innings this spring while allowing opponents to post a .368 batting average. Last season, Vasquez went 4-7 in 20 starts with a 4.87 ERA and 5.94 xERA. The 26-year-old especially struggled against lefties, who hit .365 against him with a .413 wOBA.
With such good splits for lefty batters, Olson, Profar and Kelenic are solid options. Profar has picked up a hit in each of his first two games with the Braves and is hitting leadoff without Ronald Acuna (knee) available. Kelenic homered on Friday and can be part of a nice stack from the bottom of the lineup at his bargain salary. I included Ozuna in my top targets for the day since getting his power potential under $5,000 is also a great way to round out the stack.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
Shohei Ohtani ($6,500)
Mookie Betts ($5,200)
Teoscar Hernandez ($5,000)
Freddie Freeman ($4,800)
Tommy Edman ($4,300)
The Dodgers will most likely be locked into a spot in our MLB stacks for most of the season. This offense is packed with power potential and should produce plenty of fantasy points all season long. They have started the season 4-0 after winning two games in Tokyo and the first two games against the Tigers, who they face again on Saturday.
Reese Olson ($6,800) was solid this spring with a 4.30 ERA and 13 strikeouts across 14 2/3 innings. he went 4-8 in his 22 starts last season with a 3.53 ERA and 3.17 FIP. He was especially good against right-handed hitters, holding them to a .220 average and .244 wOBA. Lefties hit him marginally better with a .314 wOBA.
This stack isn’t as much about Olson struggling as it is about how good the Dodgers lineup has looked. They roughed up the Tigers bullpen on Friday night and have scored 23 runs in their four games so far this season with nine home runs and a team wOBA of .344. Since lefties have hit Olson a little better, Ohtani and Freeman make sense while Edman and Betts get the nod based on their early-season form. Playing a Dodgers stack will be a strong option most of the season; it’s just going to be about finding ways to afford their hefty salaries.
3. Houston Astros
Yordan Alvarez ($5,900)
Jose Altuve ($5,100)
Christian Walker ($4,600)
Yainer Diaz ($4,300)
Cam Smith ($2,800)
The Astros take on Griffin Canning ($6,700), who was outstanding in spring training but struggled badly last year — and he’s 0-3 with a 6.69 ERA in nine career starts against Houston. If Canning is able to carry over his success, this could be a whiff of a stack, but if he reverts to his form from last year and before, this group has a very high ceiling.
Alvarez has crushed Canning, going 7-for-13 with a pair of home runs. During his time in Arizona, Walker also hit two homers off Canning while going 4-for-8. In the first two games of this series, the Astros have managed just four runs, but Jose Altuve (3-for-8) is off to a strong start and rookie Cam Smith has not looked over-matched at all. They’ll hope this Saturday night matchup with Canning jump-starts the offense as they look to take the lead in this series after splitting the first two games with the Mets to open the season.
