On Monday, Major League Baseball has eight games on the main slate, which begins at 7:10 p.m. ET and includes four divisional matchups. The Cubs and Brewers are playing the second game of their doubleheader on the main slate as one of those divisional contests, and the Dodgers take on the Rockies at Coors Field in another key fantasy matchup. As you fill out your lineup card for Monday, let’s look at some of the strongest offenses to build around as the day’s top MLB DFS stacks.
Before we get to Monday’s picks, let’s define what exactly we’re looking for. An ideal target for MLB DFS stacks is a team that is in a position to score plenty of runs based on its matchup and environment. “Stacking” is stuffing multiple players from the same MLB lineup onto your roster so that they can boost each other’s production. Ideally, MLB DFS stacks focus on players who are back-to-back or at least from the same part of the lineup to allow positive correlation.
Most run-scoring plays produce fantasy points for multiple players, so stacking a high-scoring team can carry your entry to the top of the leaderboard. Stacking increases the connectedness of your lineup, which raises both the risk and the ceiling of your team. The key to MLB DFS stacks paying off is finding the perfect matchup to attack, so let’s take a look at Monday’s top spots.
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1. Los Angeles Dodgers
Shohei Ohtani ($7,000)
Will Smith ($5,900)
Mookie Betts ($5,700)
Teoscar Hernandez ($5,500)
Miguel Rojas ($3,600)
The Rockies will try to slow down the Dodgers by giving the ball to veteran lefty Kyle Freeland, who is 3-12 in his 22 starts this season, compiling a 5.18 ERA and 4.43 FIP. He is coming off an excellent start in St. Louis, but at home this season, he has a 6.52 ERA, 1.86 WHIP, and a .348 batting average against.
Ohtani is 4-for-6 with a pair of homers in his career against Freeland, while Rojas is 5-for-16 with a home run, and Smith is 6-for-20 with a home run. I highlighted Smith in my top home run props of the day, and I think Ohtani is the top pay-up play on the board. He is hitting .391 with six homers in his 17 career games at Coors, and he went 3-for-10 with two homers earlier this year. In August, Ohtani is still hitting a robust .389 in his 15 games with three doubles, a triple, five home runs, and four stolen bases. Over those 15 games, Ohtani is averaging 13.9 fantasy points per contest.
Since Freeland is a lefty, Betts and Hernandez round out the stack instead of Freddie Freeman ($6,000) and Dalton Rushing ($3,400).
2. Atlanta Braves
Ronald Acuna Jr. ($5,500)
Matt Olson ($5,000)
Jurickson Profar ($3,900)
Ozzie Albies ($3,800)
Michael Harris II ($3,500)
The Braves are coming home after sweeping the Guardians in Cleveland and getting Ronald Acuna Jr. back in the lineup. They’ll be in a great spot against the White Sox and Yoendrys Gomez ($5,500). Gomez looked good last Tuesday with five strong innings in his first start of the season. However, he is still only 2-1 with a 5.56 ERA and 5.32 FIP on the year in 13 games. Gomez has let both lefties and righties post a .330+ wOBA and has given up three homers in 22 2/3 innings.
Acuna is hitting .303 on the year with 14 homers and a .421 wOBA in his 58 games. He’s been even better at home with a .435 wOBA at Truist Park and also has a .430 wOBA against righties like Gomez. Olson is another strong play to consider since he has at least seven fantasy points in eight of his last nine games while averaging 10.0 fantasy points per contest.
Harris is the cheapest member of this stack, but he may be the hottest hitter in baseball. He comes into the series against the Sox with a 10-game hitting streak, and during that span, he’s batting .452, four doubles, four homers, and a .546 wOBA. That hot streak is backed up by a 54.3% hard-hit rate and an average exit velocity of 95.8 miles per hour. He has averaged 14.7 fantasy points over his last 10 games, and combining him with a few other Braves’ bats to build a strong lineup centered on the Braves as one of the day’s top MLB DFS stacks.
3. Cincinnati Reds
Elly De La Cruz ($5,800)
Noelvi Marte ($4,700)
TJ Friedl ($3,900)
Spencer Steer ($3,800)
Miguel Andujar ($3,500)
Ke’Bryan Hayes ($2,600)
After ending the Brewers’ 14-game winning streak on Sunday, the Reds head west to take on Victor Mederos ($5,000) and the Angels. The Reds went 3-3 on their six-game homestand against the Phillies and Brewers and are just 1.5 games behind the Mets for the final NL Wild Card spot. They’ll be in a good spot against Mederos, who gave up three runs on three hits and three walks in four innings in his first MLB start of the season last Tuesday. In 19 starts at Triple-A, he went 7-7 with a 3.41 ERA, but he had a 4.59 FIP during that span and has allowed a 47.4% hard-hit rate in his limited work in the majors this year.
While De La Cruz is still the most expensive bat in the Reds stack due to his power and speed upside, Marte is the Reds’ hottest hitter. He has averaged 12.4 fantasy points per game by going 15-for-34 (.441) during his current eight-game hitting streak with five doubles, nine RBI and two home runs.
Steer has also been hitting the ball well, with four games of double-digit production and an average of 10.6 fantasy points per game over his last eight contests. Andujar is a nice value play and has been a good fit in Cincinnati since being acquired from the A’s at the Trade Deadline. He has averaged 12.7 fantasy points over his last seven games.
Hayes is an interesting bargain to round out the Reds stack. The former Pirate has hit safely in five of his last six games with multiple at-bats and had 21 fantasy points with his fourth homer of the season on Saturday. You can find more MLB DFS bargain plays in my top bargains post of the day.
