With only one week left before the MLB trade deadline, it’s a very important time for some “bubble” teams to decide if they’re in for the postseason race or ready to sell current success in favor of future assets. This week’s group of series carries a little more meaning as a result.
Monday’s main fantasy baseball slate includes seven intriguing matchups, with buyers, sellers, and teams that are still uncertain on the board. There’s a little potential for rain in the early games, but the main fantasy slate looks mostly dry. With warm temperatures and winds blowing out, plenty of offense is also in the forecast. Let’s take a look at the top options and run down my top three lineups to build around in Saturday night’s MLB DFS Stacks.
- Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox visit Sutter Health Park to take on the A’s and righty Jack Perkins, who has posted a 7.41 home ERA with seven home runs allowed across 34 innings in Sacramento.
- Chicago Cubs: The Cubs will play in very hot temperatures against lefty Matthew Liberatore, who has a 6.57 ERA, a 5.41 FIP, and a 1.54 WHIP over his eight starts since the beginning of June.
- Cincinnati Reds: Great American Ball Park is always a good spot for offense, and the Reds will take on a hittable Slade Cecconi in the first game of their series against the Guardians.
Before we break down all the 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 deeper look at the top spots.
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1. Boston Red Sox
Willson Contreras ($5,500)
Wilyer Abreu ($4,800)
Ceddanne Rafaela ($4,200)
Caleb Durbin ($3,400)
Anthony Seigler ($3,300)
Andruw Monasterio ($3,000)
The Red Sox are currently in a Wild Card spot after their remarkable turnaround, and their offense should get a boost this week from starting a series at Sutter Health Park. They’ll face A’s righty Jack Perkins on Monday night, who owns a 6.75 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 2026. He has a 7.41 home ERA with seven home runs allowed across 34 innings in Sacramento. The weather forecast is for game-time temps in the upper 80s with the wind blowing out, making it a great spot for offense and making the Red Sox one of the top plays in Monday’s MLB DFS stacks.
Contreras has become the heart of the offense, posting double-digit FPTS in five of his last nine games while averaging 10 FPTS per contest. Meanwhile, Abreu has averaged 9.9 FPTS over his last nine games, which included a pair of multi-homer performances. He had a rough middle of last week but recorded a double, an RBI and seven FPTS on Sunday.
Rafaela has put up 14 or more FPTS in three of 10 games since the All-Star break, producing 8.8 FPTS per contest in that span. Durbin, Seigler and Monasterio are good bargain plays under $4,000. Seigler has typically been hitting leadoff and had a huge game with four hits and 31 FPTS on Friday. Durbin has averaged 7.7 FPTS in his last 10 games, and Monasterio has 5-plus FPTS in eight straight games. The trio of bargains could get squeezed for playing time with Curtis Mead ($5,000) entering the mix, but whichever infielders are in the lineup on Monday night should be solid plays.
2. Chicago Cubs
Pete Crow-Armstrong ($6,300)
Seiya Suzuki ($4,800)
Alex Bregman ($4,100)
Dansby Swanson ($4,000)
Carson Kelly ($3,400)
Lefty Matthew Liberatore ($6,700) will start against the Cubs on Monday night, and the temperature is forecast to be almost 100 degrees at Busch Stadium. Liberatore gave up five runs on nine hits in his latest start against the Angels — and has a 6.57 ERA, a 5.41 FIP, and a 1.54 WHIP over his eight starts since the beginning of June. During that stretch, the Cubs tagged him for four runs in five innings at Wrigley Field on July 5.
Liberatore actually has reverse splits against lefties, so Crow-Armstrong can still be a good centerpiece to build around. PCA is 4-for-12 with two doubles against Liberatore in their past meetings and is averaging an impressive 19.2 FPTS per game over his last five contests with two homers, two triples and three doubles.
Righties like Suzuki make up the rest of the stack, and Suzuki is a great play under $5,000 after posting 10-plus FPTS in six of his last eight games. Bregman and Swanson haven’t been quite as consistent as Suzuki, but have shown they can pop for big games in the right setting. Swanson is averaging 9.4 FPTS over his last eight games. Kelly can be a nice bargain behind the plate, especially if he hits fourth in the heart of the batting order as he typically does against lefties.
3. Cincinnati Reds
Elly De La Cruz ($6,000)
Sal Stewart ($4,900)
JJ Bleday ($3,900)
Eugenio Suarez ($3,700)
Nathaniel Lowe ($3,200)
Noelvi Marte ($3,000)
Another NL Central offense to watch on Monday night is the Reds, who are home at Great American Ball Park taking on the Guardians. They’ll face Slade Ceconni ($7,500), who has allowed 15 runs in 13.1 innings in his last three starts. He has allowed three homers in that stretch with a 2.03 WHIP, a trend that could lead to several runs for the Reds. He has a 4.81 ERA on the road this season and has been hittable by both lefties and righties.
The best way to build around the Reds in your MLB DFS stacks for this Monday is to start at the top of the order with De La Cruz and Stewart, who are usually an exciting 1-2 punch at the top of the order. De La Cruz has averaged 12.6 FPTS per game since the All-Star break, with 16 or more FPTS in three of his last five contests. Stewart has averaged 7.7 FPTS in that stretch with 7-plus FPTS in three of his last four games, even though he came off the bench in Sunday’s game against the Cardinals.
Bleday and Suarez bring good power potential but can be boom-or-bust. Suarez has shown signs of heating up and going on another big power binge after hitting five homers in his last 10 games and averaging 9.6 FPTS per contest.
Lowe is a fascinating bargain play since he is very productive when he’s in the lineup but doesn’t have a full-time role. He’s 2-for-6 with a homer and a double in his past meetings with Cecconi, and he went 5-for-10 (.500) in his two games against the Cardinals this weekend. He has averaged 10.4 FPTS in his last seven starts, but that span dates back to before the break, as he is often squeezed out of the lineup. Marte is a much less proven bargain but has shown some upside when he is in the lineup. He and Lowe could get more playing time if Spencer Steer (wrist) is forced to miss any time after leaving Sunday’s game early.
