Saturday night’s fantasy baseball slate has four games on the schedule, with the NL West hosting three of the four contests. The Mariners host the Twins in the only American League matchup on the board while the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks host the Yankees, Pirates and Nationals, respectively. As you assemble your squad, let’s hone in on two spots where the matchup looks favorable for MLB stacks based on the matchups and teams’ current form.
In case you’re new to the concept, “stacking” is an MLB DFS strategy that uses multiple players from the same team in your lineup and allows them to stack production if that team scores a lot of runs. Since multiple players earn points when runs are scored in most situations, building around multiple players from productive lineups creates a positive correlation between your players. If you can find the right matchup, MLB stacks can be extremely effective because high-scoring teams usually have multiple players near the top of the overall leaderboard. Despite raising the risk of your roster being shut down, the right stack can also carry you to the top of the leaderboard.
Here are my top two MLB stacks for this Saturday.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $75K Rally Cap [$20K to 1st]
1. New York Yankees
Aaron Judge ($6,600)
Cody Bellinger ($4,900)
Paul Goldschmidt ($4,700)
Anthony Volpe ($4,400)
DJ LeMahieu ($3,400)
The Yankees dropped the first game of the World Series rematch in the City of Angels, but they’re a great stack on Saturday night in their matchup against Landon Knack ($6,500). Knack has a 5.52 ERA and 4.95 FIP on the season with a 1.36 WHIP. Right-handed hitters have hit five of the six home runs against Knack this season and have a .291 batting average and .398 wOBA against him.
Judge is one of my favorite DFS plays of the day and one of my top home run props. Since I think he’ll be so productive, he can also anchor this expensive Yankees option in my MLB stacks. Bellinger is taking on his former team and brings a high ceiling, but for the most part, I’m sticking with the right-handed hitters in the Yankees’ order. Goldschmidt has hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games with an at-bat, going 24-for-69 (.348) with a .427 wOBA. LeMahieu can be a cheap way to round out the stack, since he normally hits near the bottom of the order and can create a wraparound stack.
2. Washington Nationals
James Wood ($5,700)
Nathaniel Lowe ($3,900)
Luis Garcia Jr. ($3,800)
Josh Bell ($3,000)
Jose Tena ($2,800)
Robert Hassell III ($2,600)
The Nationals have been productive as a sneaky option for MLB stacks over the last few weeks, and they have scored nine runs in each of their last three games coming into Saturday night’s contest against Brandon Pfaadt ($7,800). The Dbacks have dropped eight of their last nine games and Pfaadt has been in a funk as well, giving up at least three earned runs in four of his last five games, with seven home runs allowed in those five appearances. Pfaadt has given up a 50.3% hard-hit rate and 13.5% barrel rate, so there should be plenty of chances for the Nats to continue their streak of solid run production.
Wood is the heart of this stack, and the 22-year-old brings tons of fantasy potential after going 24-for-76 (.316) in his last 20 games with six doubles, six homers, a .431 wOBA and a 65.4% hard-hit rate. Wood has homered in three of his last four games with at least 14 fantasy points in each of those four games and an average of 15.9 fantasy points per game over his last 12 contests.
One of the benefits of using the Nats in MLB stacks is that they are so affordable. Tena, Bell and Hassell are all highlighted in my top targets of the day and will be on the favorable side of the splits against Pfaadt as they look to continue their recent success. The fact that they are so affordable helps them blend perfectly with Judge and the rest of the more expensive Yankees on this limited Saturday night slate.
