On Friday night, Major League Baseball has a beautiful seven-game DFS fantasy baseball slate lined up to begin at 7:07 p.m. ET when the Blue Jays start their American League title defense against the Athletics. With most of these teams throwing their ace or No. 2 starter, there are some strong pitching options are on the board. That doesn’t mean there won’t be some fireworks, though. As you assemble your Friday night squad, let’s take at some of the strongest offenses to build around as the day’s top MLB DFS stacks.
Before we get to the individual picks, let’s define exactly what we’re looking for. An ideal target for an MLB DFS stack is a team in a position to score plenty of runs based on its matchup and environment. “Stacking” is the strategy of including multiple players from the same MLB lineup on your roster, so that they can boost each other’s production. For example, on Opening Day, the Brewers mashed 14 runs to trounce the White Sox, giving big totals to their fantasy supporters.
Ideally, MLB DFS stacks focus on players who are back-to-back in their lineup to allow positive correlation. Since most run-scoring plays produce fantasy points for multiple players, stacking a high-scoring team can carry your entry to the top of the leaderboard. The key to an MLB DFS stack paying off is finding the perfect matchup to attack, so let’s take a look at Friday’s top spots.
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1. Atlanta Braves
Ronald Acuna Jr. ($6,100)
Austin Riley ($4,600)
Ozzie Albies ($4,100)
Michael Harris II ($3,600)
Mauricio Dubon ($2,200)
The Braves are in a good spot at home in Atlanta for their opener, where the weather forecast calls for warm temps and winds blowing out. They’ll be taking on the Royals, which means going against Cole Ragans ($9,000), who is looking for a bounce-back season. Ragans looked like an ace in the making in 2024 before hitting major injury issues in 2025. He was limited to 13 starts and posted an ugly 4.67 ERA and 1.18 WHIP, despite a 2.50 FIP. While some of his struggles were bad luck, he did give up a lot of hard contact, as well. This spring has also been uneven with an 8.44 ERA and 1.59 WHIP.
Acuna had a big WBC run with Venezuela and is a strong pay-up play from the leadoff spot. Last season, he missed the start of the year while recovering from a knee injury, but he’s healthy and ready to roll this year, looking to return to form. Riley and Albies each battled injury last year, too, but they typically mash lefties. Riley hit .286 with a .342 wOBA at home last year, while Albies is a .327 career hitter against lefties with a .376 wOBA and 136 wRC+ in those splits.
The bottom of the Braves order has plenty of value options with Eli White ($2,200) and Jonah Heim ($2,500) expected to join Dubon as value plays. Dubon had a big spring slashing .302/.348/.465 over 16 Grapefruit League games with four doubles, a homer and a steal. He’ll start the season filling in at SS for Ha-Seong Kim, but will play a wide variety of positions this season.
2. Seattle Mariners
Cal Raleigh ($5,800)
Julio Rodriguez ($5,000)
Randy Arozarena ($4,800)
Brendan Donovan ($3.800)
Dominic Canzone ($3,100)
The Mariners lost on Opening Day to Tanner Bibee and the Guardians and will now face Gavin Williams ($8,000) in the second game of the series. Williams had a solid 3.06 ERA in his 31 starts last season, but he did have a 4.39 FIP that shows there could be some regression coming. Williams gave up 23 homers and an average exit velocity over 90 mph, so there are chances to make good, hard contact against the 6’6 righty. The Mariners faced him twice, beating Williams in Seattle, but losing the rematch in Cleveland.
Raleigh, Rodriguez and Arozarena all played in the WBC with differing levels of success. Rodriguez is known for his slow starts, but he looked locked in during Spring Training, and he’ll look to turn things around after going 0-for-4 on opening night. Arozarena had a double in the opener and has both power and speed upside after hitting 27 homers and adding 31 stolen bases last season. Raleigh went 0-for-3 with a walk in the opener, but facing righties at home was a smash spot for him last year, and the switch-hitting catcher hit 38 homers against righties like Williams with a .377 wOBA and 150 wRC+.
New Mariner Brendan Donovan hit a homer in his Mariners debut as the leadoff hitter, while Canzone smashed a pair of homers in the loss, as well. Canzone will likely platoon as the season plays out but should get another start against the righty Williams on Friday night.
3. Miami Marlins
Agustin Ramirez ($3,900)
Christopher Morel ($3,300)
Otto Lopez ($3,100)
Connor Norby ($3,100)
Heriberto Hernandez ($2,900)
If you are looking for some value options on Friday night, check out the Marlins, who have a good matchup in their first game of the season. They’ll be taking on lefty Kyle Freeland ($6,000) and the Rockies’ thin bullpen. Freeland is starting his 10th season with the Rockies, and the 32-year-old posted a 5.24 ERA and 4.90 FIP while making 31 starts last season. The lefty’s numbers definitely took a hit by pitching his home games at Coors Field, but he actually gave up more homers on the road (15) than he did at home (7). Of those 22 homers allowed, 20 were hit by righties, who had a .352 wOBA and .479 SLG against Freeland overall.
The Marlins’ biggest bats are left-handed, but righties like Ramirez and Morel have good power upside if they can shake off slow springs. Morel is 2-for-8 in his past meetings with Freeland, with both of those hits being home runs. Morel still has lots of raw potential, although he had a disappointing season with the Rays last year.
The Marlins have some great bargain options in Lopez, Norby and Hernandez, as well. Those righties had stronger springs than Ramirez and Morel, although they don’t offer the same raw power upside. Hernandez could be the best play of the bunch from under $3,000. He hit 10 homers last year and hit three more blasts this spring while hitting .273 with a .419 wOBA. He is 4-for-6 in his limited career opportunities against Freeland.
