Eight of the 16 games on the Major League Baseball schedule are part of Saturday night’s main DFS fantasy baseball slate. After the busy afternoon, the evening should have plenty of fireworks. Coors Field is in play and some of the games have great hitting weather in the forecast. With most teams near the back end of their rotation, some great matchups are available for MLB DFS stacks to build your lineups around on Saturday night.
Before we get to the individual selections for Saturday, let’s define exactly what we’re searching for. An ideal target for MLB DFS stacks is a team well-positioned to score plenty of runs based on its matchup and ballpark. “Stacking” is the strategy of adding multiple players from the same MLB lineup to your roster to boost each other’s production.
Ideally, MLB DFS stacks focus on players who are either back-to-back or from the same part of the 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 MLB DFS stacks paying off is finding the perfect matchup to attack, so let’s take a look at Saturday’s top matchups.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $125K Relay Throw [$25K to 1st]!
1. Philadelphia Phillies
Kyle Schwarber ($6,500)
Bryce Harper ($5,300)
Adolis Garcia ($3,700)
Brandon Marsh ($3,500)
Justin Crawford ($3,100)
The Phillies are in Denver for the first series of the year at Coors Field, and they got off to a fast start on Friday with seven runs in the first inning and 10 runs on 13 hits, including three homers. On Saturday, they’ll look to keep rolling as they take on opener Brennan Bernardino ($4,000) and long reliever Chase Dollander ($5,400). Dollander pitched four innings and gave up four runs on three homers against the Blue Jays. The 24-year-old has lots of long-term potential but got knocked around in his first taste of the majors last year, posting a 9.98 ERA and 6.90 FIP in 46 innings at Coors Field. Lefties did most of the damage last year, and righties hit two of the three in Dollander’s first game this season.
Kyle Schwarber hit his third homer of the year and had 20 FPTS on Friday. He’s had double-digit FPTS in three straight and is averaging 10 FPTS per game. He’s an expensive play to build around, while Bryce Harper is a slightly cheaper alternative coming off 14 and 23 FPTS in his last two contests.
On the cheaper side, Adolis Garcia has hit safely in four straight games, going 7-for-15 with a homer and a double. Brandon Marsh has also hit safely in four straight, and the lefty got his first homer of the season on Friday at Coors Field as part of his 18 FPTS performance. Justin Crawford is an even cheaper play and is 7-for-21 (.333) in the early going this season.
2. Seattle Mariners
Cal Raleigh ($5,600)
Brendan Donovan ($4,700)
Josh Naylor ($4,100)
Dominic Canzone ($3,400)
Luke Raley ($3,300)
The Mariners took a while to get going against the Angels on Friday, not scoring until the extra innings in their 3-1 win. They should get off to a much better start on Saturday as they take on Jack Kochanowicz ($6,300). Kochanowicz gave up six runs on four hits to the Astros in his first start of the year, handing out five free passes. He let lefties go 2-for-4 with a double in his first start, and last year, lefties hit .309 with a .393 wOBA in the splits against him.
The Mariners’ offense still hasn’t found its top form, but the lineup is stuffed with lefties with upside. While Cal Raleigh is still looking for his first homer of the season, Big Dumper had a high ceiling and good upside when hitting from the left side against Kochanowicz.
Donovan landed awkwardly on first base while attempting to leg out an infield single and had to leave the game on Friday. He started strong and is hitting .370 with two homers and a .498 wOBA.
Naylor had two hits and two RBIs on his way to 10 FPTS on Friday and is another slugging lefty with power upside against Kochanowicz. He should be joined in the lineup by lefty Luke Raley, who is averaging 9.7 FPTS per game and has hit three homers with a .440 wOBA and .474 ISO in his 20 plate appearances this season. I included Raley, along with Mariners starting pitcher Emerson Hancock in my top value picks for the day.
3. Tampa Bay Rays
Junior Caminero ($5,800)
Yandy Diaz ($4,600)
Jonathan Aranda ($4,300)
Cedric Mullins ($2,800)
Jake Fraley ($2,500)
The Rays and Twins are playing in chilly Minnesota, where rain is in the potential forecast early in the day, but it should clear off as the night goes on. It will be cold, though, with the wind blowing out. The wind blowing out to right field could make up for the chilly temperatures, and the Rays will have a strong matchup against Mick Abel ($7,100). Abel struggled in his first start, allowing five runs on eight hits and four walks. The youngster has lots of long-term upside, like Dollander, but he has struggled early in his time in the majors, especially against lefties. Lefties hit .284 against Abel, including seven of the eight homers he allowed. Lefties had a .382 wOBA against him last year, and they went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a .694 wOBA against him in his first start of the year.
Lefties like Jonathan Aranda, Cedric Mullins and Jake Fraley will be on the strong side of those splits. Aranda has had at least 14 FPTS in three of his seven games this season and is averaging 9.3 FPTS. Fraley has a double in each of his last three games, posting 8.0, 5.0 and 7.0 FPTS in those three games.
On the other side of the splits, Diaz has been even hotter, hitting .433 with two homers and an average of 12.7 FPTS. Caminero has only averaged 5.9 FPTS per game, but he still has huge upside due to his power. He is coming off a 2-for-5 game that earned him 10 FPTS on Friday in the season opener. If the rain clears out in time, the Rays have a good chance to put up plenty of runs against Abel and the Twins on Saturday as well.
