On Monday night, Major League Baseball has a great slate of 10 games in the main contests, which begin at 7:05 p.m. ET. Four of the 10 games are divisional matchups, and some interesting interleague plays are also in the mix. 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 in search of. 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. New York Yankees
Aaron Judge ($6,400)
Jazz Chisholm Jr. ($5,400)
Cody Bellinger ($5,300)
Ben Rice ($4,400)
Trent Grisham ($4,100)
The Yankees have the highest Implied Run Total on the slate this Monday night as they host the Nationals at Yankee Stadium, where the wind is forecast to be blowing out. Brad Lord ($6,000) will get the start in the first game of the series, and he is 4-6 in his 41 games this season, with most of his work coming out of the bullpen. Since moving to the rotation six starts ago, he has a 3.45 ERA and 3.78 FIP but also a 1.24 WHIP. He faced the other New York team and beat the Mets in his most recent outing, but he gave up seven hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings. Lefties have had most of the success against him this season, posting a .338 wOBA and six homers against him.
A Yankees stack always makes sense to start with Aaron Judge, but around him, I’m filling in with lefties based on their success against Lord. Chisholm homered twice on Sunday and has four homers in his last nine contests while hitting .241 with a .408 wOBA. He has hit two-thirds of his homers at Yankee Stadium this season, where he has a .403 wOBA overall and a .417 wOBA against righties.
Grisham also had a pair of homers on Sunday and has hit .250 with seven homers and a .374 wOBA during the month of August. He’s typically leading off ahead of Judge at the top of the order, and he’s a very solid midrange value with good upside to consider, whether independently or as part of the stack.
2. Detroit Tigers
Riley Greene ($5,500)
Kerry Carpenter ($5,100)
Wenceel Perez ($4,300)
Zach McKinstry ($4,300)
The Tigers are in a great hitting environment as well as they face J.T. Ginn ($5,500) at Sutter Health Park. Ginn has been extremely hittable, especially at home. Overall, he has held righties to a .189 batting average in his 60 innings, but a .339 batting average with eight homers and a .446 wOBA to lefties. Like with the Yankees, we’re leaning into the lefty side of the splits for this stack. At Sutter Health Park, he has given up nine homers in 28 innings of work, and lefties hit seven of those dingers.
I highlighted Kerry Carpenter in my top home run props of the day and think he and Riley Greene are both very strong options to consider. Greene hit two homers in the Tigers’ three-game series against the Royals and is all the way up to 31 homers on the year to go with a .264 batting average and .355 wOBA.
Perez and McKinstry are cheaper plays that also bring good upside. The switch-hitting Perez homered along with Greene on Sunday and has four of his 11 homers in August. He has a .308 batting average during that span with a .390 wOBA and a pair of stolen bases. He’s been more productive on the road than at home, and most of his power production has come as a lefty facing a righty like Ginn. McKinstry has 10 of his 11 homers this year against righties, and he has hit .266 with four doubles, two triples, three homers and a .356 wOBA over his last 21 games.
3. Texas Rangers
Corey Seager ($4,700)
Wyatt Langford ($4,400)
Josh Smith ($3,900)
Josh Jung ($3,100)
Joc Pederson ($2,300)
The Rangers are home to start the week with a series against the Angels and Jose Soriano ($5,700). Even though everything is bigger in Texas, the Rangers’ offense has disappointed most of the year. They do bring some elite value against Soriano, though, and can save lots of salary while still bringing upside.
Soriano has had an up-and-down season himself for the Halos, going 8-9 with a 4.00 ERA, 4.15 FIP and 7.9 K/9. He dominated early in the season but has faded in the second half. In his last five starts, he’s 1-2 with a 4.71 ERA, 4.79 FIP and six home runs allowed. Lefties have hit six of the 11 homers he has given up, but righties have a better wOBA at .318.
I highlighted Pederson as an ultra-bargain play in my top MLB DFS values of the day. As I outlined in that post, the veteran lefty has been heating up a little lately and makes sense as a bargain flier. Corey Seager is more expensive but is another strong play to consider, especially since he is 4-for-9 with a home run in his past matchups with Soriano. Seager’s hitting .269 on the season with a .359 wOBA, but he’s hitting .323 with a .398 wOBA over his last 17 games.
Jung is coming off back-to-back two-hit games that included his 12th homer of the season, and Langford always brings a high ceiling and has put up six games with double-digit fantasy points in his last eight contests. Over his last 10 games, he has averaged 13.2 fantasy points.
