Friday starts Major League Baseball’s first “Rivalry Weekend” with all 30 teams in action on a jam-packed schedule. After a few early games, the main MLB DFS slate gets underway at 7:05 p.m. ET, and includes the 12 games under the lights. Many teams are lined up to send their aces to the mound for the start of their rivalry sets, but there are also a few great spots to attack for offense. Looking at the matchups, a few lineups stand out as the night’s top MLB Stacks to build your fantasy lineups around.
In case stacking is a new concept, let’s quickly define what MLB stacks are. Due to how fantasy baseball scoring works, combining multiple players from the same team can create a positive correlation between your players’ production. If you combine the right players from the right section of the lineup in the right matchup, they can boost each other’s output and vault your team to victory. Increasing the connectedness of your lineup raises both the ceiling and the risk in your roster, but it can pay off if you find the best MLB stacks on the board.
As we look at the 24 teams taking the diamond under the lights this Friday night, these are my top three MLB stacks.
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1. Los Angeles Dodgers
Shohei Ohtani ($6,500)
Freddie Freeman ($6,200)
Will Smith ($4,600)
Andy Pages ($4,000)
Hyeseong Kim ($2,400)
The Dodgers went off for 19 runs on Thursday night against the Athletics and have scored at least eight runs in four of their last six games. Over the last two weeks, they scored an MLB-leading 90 runs with a .303 team batting average, .220 ISO, and an MLB-high 146 wRC+.
The in-form lineup gets a great matchup against Jack Kochanowicz ($5,000), who has a 5.23 ERA, 5.56 FIP, and 1.49 WHIP. He has given up seven home runs and a 46.1% hard-hit rate over his eight outings. Six of those seven homers were hit by left-handed batters, who have a .308 batting average and .387 wOBA against him.
Stacking lefties like Ohtani and Freeman is a great place to start your Dodgers stack in this Freeway Series, while Kim offers good salary relief as one of my top MLB Bargain values of the day. Ohtani hit two homers on Thursday and has seven home runs in his last 10 games, with an unreal average of 18.4 fantasy points per game over that stretch. Freeman is 17-for-38 (.447) over his last 10 games, with an average of 13.5 fantasy points per game. Pages is a little cheaper, but has also been very productive, homering in each of his last two games and going 15-for-43 (.349) with an average of 11.4 fantasy points per game over his last 10. A lineup that is mashing in a mashable matchup makes a great option for Friday’s MLB stacks, especially with Kim build in to balance salary cap space.
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
Corbin Carroll ($6,000)
Ketel Marte ($5,300)
Josh Naylor ($4,400)
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ($3,500)
Jordan Lawlar ($2,300)
The Dbacks are another great play to consider for MLB stacks, since they’ll be at home against rookie lefty Carson Palmquist and the Rockies. Like the Dodgers, they have a big bat in the leadoff spot and a top value option in the ninth spot who creates nice wraparound potential. Carroll has 10+ fantasy points in four of his last five games with three homers and a stolen base and is up to 14 homers and six steals on the season. Lawlar is another one of my top MLB Bargain values of the day, and an option who brings a great ceiling for his salary.
Marte is expected to play on Friday, even though he had to leave Wednesday’s game with hip tightness. He’s hitting .308 with a .466 wOBA this season against southpaws. Gurriel comes into this series with three straight multi-hit games and a .333 batting average and .435 wOBA in his last 12 contests, including six doubles and three home runs.
The Rockies have yet to make any official announcement, but it looks like they’ll call up Palmquist for his MLB debut after he went 2-2 in seven starts in the minors with a 3.82 ERA but a 5.04 xFIP.
3. San Diego Padres
Jackson Merrill ($6,100)
Fernando Tatis Jr. ($5,900)
Manny Machado ($5,400)
Luiz Arraez ($4,500)
Xander Bogaerts ($3,800)
Let’s wrap MLB stacks with another option from the NL West, as the Padres host the Mariners this weekend. They’ll start the series with a matchup against Logan Evans ($5,500), who has allowed 11 runs on 18 hits in 15 innings this season with a 5.06 xFIP and two home runs allowed. Both of his homers have come by right-handed hitters, who have hit .353 against him with a .420 wOBA in the split.
Tatis and Machado are on the strong side of that reverse split and are a great place to start the Padres stack. Tatis is hitting .349 with seven of his 11 homers coming at home, where he has a .447 wOBA and 196 wRC+. Machado comes in with a 14-game hitting streak, during which he is 24-for-50 (.480) with one home run and a .515 wOBA. Merrill has also been playing well since returning from IL, going 14-for-31 (.452) with a 50% hard-hit rate and a 19.2% barrel rate. While Arraez and Bogaerts aren’t as much of a bargain as the options in the other two MLB stacks, they are a little cheaper and do a good job rounding out the stack.
