Friday night’s 13-game main fantasy baseball slate looks like it will be jam-packed with offense, with multiple hitter-friendly parks and matchups on the board. A few aces will take the hill, but there are also some very favorable matchups to attack for offense. Let’s take a look at the 26 teams taking the field and find some MLB stacks to build DraftKings lineups around for Friday’s massive slate.
In case you’re new to the concept, “stacking” is an MLB DFS strategy that encourages using multiple players from the same team in your lineup, and preferably even from the same section of the lineup. Since most run-scoring plays earn fantasy points for multiple players, teams that score a lot of runs typically end up with several players near the top of the leaderboard. Playing multiple players from high-scoring lineups creates a positive correlation and raises the ceiling of your lineup significantly. The key to successful MLB stacks is finding the right matchup to attack. Getting the right team at the heart of your roster as one of your MLB Stacks can carry you right to the top of the leaderboard.
Here are my top three MLB DFS stacks for this Friday.
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1. Philadelphia Phillies
Trea Turner ($5,900)
Kyle Schwarber ($5,600)
Nick Castellanos ($3,700)
Max Kepler ($3,600)
Otto Kemp ($3,000)
The Phillies host the Mets, who limp in after losing six straight games to the Rays and Braves. The Phillies and Mets start the series tied at 45-30 at the top of the NL East, and the Mets will start the series by giving the ball to rookie Blade Tidwell ($6,000), who the team will have to make a transaction to recall from Triple-A Syracuse. Tidwell made one spot start for the Mets earlier this season, giving up six runs on nine hits in three-plus innings against the Cardinals in early May. At Triple-A, he has gone 4-4 with a 4.76 ERA, 4.29 FIP and 73 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings.
Tidwell will face a tough Phillies lineup that has scored 4.3 runs per game over the last month while hitting .242 with a .314 wOBA. At home, they rank seventh in runs scored, fourth in team batting average and fourth in team wOBA in the majors, showing Citizens Bank Park sets up well for them to take on Tidwell Friday night.
Turner has been hot lately, averaging 9.8 fantasy points per game over his last 10 contests with two homers and two stolen bases. Schwarber also continues to mash, averaging 9.4 fantasy points per game over his last 10 and hitting his 23rd homer of the season on Thursday in Miami. If you build your stack around those superstars, Kepler and Kemp are both good less expensive options to include, since they’re averaging 9.2 ad 7.0 fantasy points per game over their last 10 games, respectively. Kemp is getting time at 1B with Bryce Harper (elbow) on IL, and the 25-year-old has looked solid since joining the big league team.
2. Colorado Rockies
Hunter Goodman ($4,500)
Jordan Beck ($4,200)
Mickey Moniak ($4,000)
Ryan McMahon ($3,900)
Thairo Estrada ($3,600)
Plot twist–the Rockies aren’t as awful as they looked early in the season. They actually have some strong offensive upside of their own to consider in their series opener at Coors against the Diamondbacks instead of just being an option to stack against. They still strike out a lot, for sure, but the offense has started to come around in the last few weeks and is still pretty affordable given how perfect the hitting environment looks like it will be at Coors with the warm temperatures and wind blowing out.
Zac Gallen ($7,400) gets the start for the Snakes, and he has had an up-and down year to this point. He’s 4-8 in 15 starts with a 5.19 ERA, 4.90 FIP and 15 home runs allowed. He has pitched well at Coors Field in the past, but he did give up eight hits and three runs in five innings last season on the road in Colorado.
I spotlighted Goodman in my top home run props of the day, and he comes into this matchup red hot. He’s been an exciting fantasy breakout to watch that has helped the Rockies get on track offensively along with Estrada’s return from injury. Estrada averaged 6.8 fantasy points per game in his 16 games before being hit on the hand and missing two games, but he hopes to return to action this Friday. He is 6-for-18 (.333) in his career against Gallen while McMahon is 11-for-39 (.282).
Beck and Moniak have been doing a good job at the top of the order, producing 8.2 fantasy points and 11.3 fantasy points per game over their last 10, respectively. Moniak has four homers in those 10 games and has added two stolen bases as well. He’s also homered off Gallen in their limited head-to-head meetings, going 2-for-6 with a homer and three RBI.
3. Cincinnati Reds
Elly De La Cruz ($6,100)
Matt McLain ($3,900)
Jose Trevino ($3,300)
Gavin Lux ($3,100)
Spencer Steer ($3,000)
While the Diamondbacks definitely could slide into my third spot in MLB Stacks on the other side of that Coors Field matchup, instead I’m going contrarian and riding with the Reds in St. Louis. The weather at Busch Stadium is forecast to be warm with the wind blowing out, and I like the power potential they bring against Andre Pallante ($6,600), who started the season hot but has cooled off in his last few outings.
Pallante has given up 20 runs in 26 innings over his last five starts with 10 walks and 28 hits allowed. On the year he has a 5.17 ERA, 4.53 FIP, and 1.47 WHIP in his 31 1/3 innings at home. He has reverse splits that give righties an advantage against him. Right-handed hitters have hit .298 against him on the year with a .375 wOBA.
Any Reds stack starts with De La Cruz, who has huge power and speed potential any time he takes the field. He had a couple of quiet games against the Twins the last two days, but had six straight games with double-digit fantasy points before that. He is averaging 11.6 fantasy points per game over his last 16 games and is 3-for-12 with a double in his past meetings with Pallante.
I highlighted Steer in my bargain plays for the day and also really like Lux and Trevino as cheap plays with sneaky upside in this hitter-friendly spot. McLain has started th find a good groove with 10 hits in his last 10 games while averaging 7.6 fantasy points per contest. Trevino also has 10 hits in his last 10 games while averaging 6.1 fantasy points per game and has also gone 2-for-4 with a homer against Pallante in the past.
