Monday night’s fantasy baseball slate includes eight games under the lights on the main DFS fantasy baseball slate on DraftKings, which includes the appropriately festive “$200K Sinker de Mayo” contest, which offers a top prize of $50K for just a $5 entry. Of the 16 teams on the slate, a few stand out as excellent options to build MLB stacks to go with your tacos and margaritas this Monday.
To make sure we are all using the same signs, let’s quickly define what stacking is. Building the core of your fantasy baseball lineup around MLB Stacks is a strong fantasy baseball strategy that strives to create a positive correlation between your hitters. It’s basically building around multiple players from the same MLB team to allow them to boost each other to produce more points in high-scoring games. Usually, it’s best to focus on players from the same section of the lineup so that they can team up for run production. Finding a favorable matchup in a good game environment is key to deciding which team to include in your MLB stacks.
As we look at the teams taking the diamond this Monday night, these three MLB stacks stand out.
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1. Seattle Mariners
Cal Raleigh ($5,200)
Julio Rodriguez ($4,900)
Jorge Polanco ($4,400)
J.P. Crawford ($3,400)
Rowdy Tellez ($2,400)
The Mariners are in Sacramento in the last game of the night as they visit the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. They’ll face Luis Severino ($7,900), but their spot at the top of MLB stacks is more about the environment and their form than their matchup against Severino. Severino is 1-3 with a 3.30 ERA and 3.71 FIP. He has been great on the road (0.95 ERA, 2.86 FIP) but has been hammered at home (5.11 ERA, 4.37 FIP). Across four home starts, he has given up four home runs and 15 runs in 24 2/3 home innings this season.
The M’s hit 17 homers over the last two weeks while averaging 6.4 runs per game. They are hitting .287 with a team with a .373 team wOBA that is second in the majors over that span behind only the Dodgers. At the top of the order, Crawford has filled in well over the last 10 days, producing 11.4 fantasy points per game by going 15-for-40 (.375) with three home runs. Rodriguez and Raleigh provide plenty of pop as well, with Raleigh leading the majors with 12 home runs. Polanco is also a strong play to consider after he smashed six home runs in his last 10 games while going 12-for-27 (.444) with an average of 14 fantasy points per contest. Tellez is a cheap way to include the top five hitters in the Seattle order in your MLB stacks for this Monday.
2. St. Louis Cardinals
Lars Nootbaar ($4,700)
Brendan Donovan ($4,500)
Nolan Arenado ($4,200)
Victor Scott II ($4,200)
Alec Burleson ($2,800)
The Cardinals swept a double-header from the Mets on Sunday and will look to carry that momentum over into Monday night’s matchup against the visiting Pirates. They’ll be in a good matchup against Carmen Mlodzinski ($5,000), who is 1-3 in his six starts with a 6.58 ERA, 3.53 FIP and 1.81 WHIP. He has pitched a little better than the results show, but he has let both lefties and righties hit over .330 with a wOBA over .375.
Scott has been one of the Cardinals’ hottest hitters, going 11-for-33 (.333) over his last 10 games with three doubles, a triple, a home run, and three stolen bases over that span to average 9.9 fantasy points per game. Nootbaar is a strong option from the top of the lineup with Burleson lined up to hit second behind him after hitting his first homer of the season on Sunday. He’s a nice cheap way to get in front of the big bats of Donovan and Arenado if he hits second like he did on Sunday.
3. Kansas City Royals
Bobby Witt Jr. ($5,800)
Maikel Garcia ($3,800)
Vinnie Pasquantino ($3,100)
Jonathan India ($2,900)
Drew Waters ($2,800)
From the other side of the Show Me State, the Royals have been in my stacks regularly over the last few days since they have had great matchups against the Orioles and now the White Sox. The offense struggled out of the gate but has started to find a little rhythm, while Kansas City has won 11 of its last 13 games.
On Monday they’ll go against righty Shane Smith ($7,000) while getting Cole Ragans ($10,300) back after an injury scare. Smith has been ok for the White Sox but he has given up more hard contact than his ERA indicates since his xFIP is 4.50, due to a 44.4% hard-hit rate against.
Righties have hit Smith better than lefties so far this season, so Witt, Garcia and India are where I would focus the start of a Royals stack. India was one of my top bargains of the day, and stacking him with Witt, Garcia and mixing in some Waters is a strong recipe for some good correlation on Monday night. Waters continues to be a solid contributor after going 2-for-5 with two RBI and 10 fantasy points on Sunday.
