Major League Baseball starts the weekend with all 30 teams in action this Friday, and 11 of the 15 games are part of Friday’s main MLB DFS fantasy baseball slate. With 22 teams in the player pool, plenty of options are in play to build your lineup around. Some matchups are especially attractive for fantasy hitters, so let’s take a look at the board and find some MLB DFS stacks to build your lineups around this Friday.
Before we get to the individual selections for these contests, 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 Friday’s top spots to attack.
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1. Boston Red Sox
Roman Anthony ($5,100)
Wilyer Abreu ($4,800)
Jarren Duran ($4,600)
Willson Contreras ($4,100)
Marcelo Mayer ($2,600)
The Red Sox offense hasn’t been great this season, but getting out of chilly Fenway Park could be exactly the boost the bats need. It also helps that they’ll get to face former-Sox starting pitcher Dustin May ($6,200), who has allowed 13 runs on 17 hits in his first two starts for the Cardinals. Lefties in particular have been pummeling May, going 10-for-20 with two doubles, a triple and two homers in the early part of this season, after hitting .261 with 15 homers against him last season as well.
The Red Sox have plenty of lefty bats with upside, starting with top prospect Roman Anthony, who always brings a high ceiling from the leadoff spot. Abreu and Duran are both strong plays as well from the left-hand side. Abreu has averaged 10.5 FPTS per game on the season and 12.5 FPTS in his six road games. I highlighted Duran in my home run props and his bat seems to be coming around, even though he is still looking for his first homer of the year.
Contreras is coming back to St. Louis to face the team that traded him away, so there’s a little bit of a revenge factor to consider in playing the veteran righty. As a bargain play to round out the stack, Mayer brings good upside as a lefty against May, even though he’s hitting only .172 on the season. He has flashed upside with two games of 12 and 23 FPTS earlier this season.
2. Minnesota Twins
Byron Buxton ($4,900)
Royce Lewis ($3,600)
Josh Bell ($3,600)
Ryan Jeffers ($3,300)
Victor Caratini ($3,000)
The Twins just finished a four-game sweep of the Tigers (just double-checked to confirm that’s correct), and they’re headed to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays this weekend. Moving indoors could help their offense instead of playing in frigid Minneapolis, but they’ve already been heating up a little bit with 22 runs in their four-game sweep of Detroit. The Blue Jays’ rotation has been hit hard with injuries, and they’ll turn to veteran lefty Patrick Corbin ($6,500) for his first start of the season. Corbin has been a lefty to stack against for the past several seasons, although he did show some improvement last year, going 7-11 for the Rangers with a 4.40 ERA and 4.25 FIP after posting an ERA of at least 5.20 in each of his last four years with the Nationals.
The Twins bats who hit lefties well should be in a good spot at Rogers Centre this Friday. In the past against Corbin, Josh Bell is 4-for-16 with three homers, and he is hitting .317 on the season with a 53.6% hard-hit rate to start the season, averaging a team-high 9.8 FPTS. Lewis is also off to a strong start, averaging 8.2 FPTS per game, even though he is hitting just .222. He has two homers and two stolen bases, and those big events result in big games and a high ceiling.
The Twins also have solid options to fill in at catcher, which can be tricky on some slates. Jeffers has good power potential, while Caratini has hit safely in four straight games and six of his last seven.
3. New York Mets
Francisco Lindor ($5,300)
Luis Robert Jr. ($5,000)
Brett Baty ($4,100)
Bo Bichette ($4,100)
Mark Vientos ($3,400)
The Mets are home at Citi Field this weekend against the Athletics, and they’ll face J.T. Ginn ($6,300) on Friday night with the wind blowing out and temperatures in the mid-fifties. Ginn has pitched in three games this season, all out of the bullpen, allowing four runs on six hits with four strikeouts. He has a 5.14 ERA and 4.72 FIP that line up closely with his numbers from last season. Last year, Ginn got crushed by lefties, who hit .340 against him with a .440 wOBA, but this year he’s been better in the split, although the sample size is minuscule.
With Juan Soto (calf) on the IL, Robert, Lindor and Baty have been picking up the slack. Robert homered on Thursday and has averaged 12.4 FPTS in his last five games. He is still striking out a lot but has both power and speed upside. Baty has hit safely in five straight games with at least eight FPTS in each contest, while Lindor always brings a high power/speed ceiling from the leadoff spot.
Vientos has emerged as a good value option and is having a strong start to the season. He’s hitting .323 with a .370 wOBA over his first 10 games this year with one homer, a 40% hard-hit rate, and a reduced strikeout rate. He’s an affordable way to round out the stack against Ginn if you’re looking for the Mets to get off to a quick start to their series against the A’s.
