On Monday night, Major League Baseball gets another exciting work week of series underway with seven games on the main DFS slate, which begins a little later than normal at 7:40 p.m. ET. Several aces are on the board as pay-up plays to build around, but there are also a few great spots to attack for offense. In this post, we’ll dive into the 14-team player pool and pick out a few MLB DFS stacks around this Monday night.
- Baltimore Orioles: The O’s continue their tour of hitter-friendly ballparks with a stop at Coors Field facing Tanner Gordon, who has a 7.89 ERA and has allowed 14 homers in 43 1/3 innings in Denver. Both lefties and righties are a strong play against him.
- Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies are in Arizona facing Brandon Pfaadt, who has struggled in his last two games, allowing nine runs (and four home runs) in 12 1/3 innings. Pfaadt has struggled against lefties, and the Phillies have several strong options on that side of the splits
- Chicago White Sox: Peter Lambert has also struggled lately after a breakthrough season. He has allowed 17 runs on 24 hits and 10 walks over his last four games. He’s been good against lefties, but righties have had more success against him.
Before we break down all the selections for these contests, let’s define exactly what we’re searching for. An ideal target for an MLB DFS stack 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 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 for 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. Baltimore Orioles
Pete Alonso ($6,700)
Gunnar Henderson ($6,200)
Christian Encarnacion-Strand ($5,500)
Coby Mayo ($4,400)
Colton Cowser ($3,600)
The O’s continue their tour of hitter-friendly ballparks with a stop at Coors Field to take on the Rockies and Tanner Gordon ($6,000). Gordon has had a few much better starts lately, but they have been on the road. At home, he still has a 7.89 ERA and has allowed 14 homers in 43 1/3 innings. Lefties have hit 10 of those 14 homers at Coors and 12 of the 17 homers he has allowed on the season, with a 39.4% hard-hit rate. Righties have also had success against Gordon, batting .319 with a .369 wOBA and a 47.1% hard-hit rate. Since both sides of the splits are smashing Gordon overall, the middle of the Orioles lineup is a great place to start Monday’s MLB DFS stacks, as they look to carry over their momentum from their sweep of the A’s in Sacramento.
Alonso left Sunday’s game after being hit in the brim of his helmet, but he could still be back in the lineup on Monday. If he plays, he’ll look to continue to anchor the offense after averaging 9.9 FPTS over his last 15 games. Alonso has hit eight homers with a .373 batting average in 18 games in Denver in his career. Also from the right side, Encarnacion-Strand and Mayo have been heating up. Mayo has posted at least 7.0 FPTS in five straight games, with an average of 13.8 FPTS over that short stretch.
From the left side, Henderson had a breakthrough on Sunday with a triple, two homers, and 47 FPTS in the series finale in Sacramento and will look to build on that against Gordon. Colton Cowser is also on the strong side of the splits as a lefty, and he had hit safely in six straight games (averaging 10.5 FPTS) before going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts on Sunday.
2. Philadelphia Phillies
Kyle Schwarber ($6,300)
Bryce Harper ($5,800)
Luis Arraez ($4,300)
Brandon Marsh ($3,800)
Justin Crawford ($3,000)
In the last game of the night, the Phillies are at Chase Field in another hitter-friendly park, and they’ll be taking on righty Brandon Pfaadt ($8,000). Pfaadt is 7-1 and had a fantastic stretch earlier this season, but he has struggled in his last two starts, allowing nine runs (and four home runs) in 12 1/3 innings against the Cubs and Red Sox. When the Phillies faced Pfaadt back in April, they got four runs in six innings off him and handed him a loss. Pfaadt has been hittable by lefties this season, allowing 11 of his 12 homers on that side of the splits, with lefties posting a .329 wOBA against him.
The lefties from the Phillies always bring plenty of upside, led by Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber has had 7+ FPTS in four straight and has averaged 11.3 FPTS in his last eight. Bryce Harper has averaged 10.8 FPTS over his last eight games as well with a pair of home runs and four doubles over that span.
Luis Arraez has been a solid addition and continues to make consistent contact as a high-floor play at 2B, while Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford are bargain ways to round out the stack with left-handed bats from the lower part of the Phillies’ order. Crawford has earned 7.0 FPTS in each of his last three starts, and in August, the 22-year-old lefty is hitting .309 with six extra-base hits and a pair of stolen bases.
3. Chicago White Sox
Munetaki Murakami ($5,400)
Miguel Vargas ($5,200)
Sam Antonocci ($4,400)
Colson Montgomery ($4,200)
Chase Meidroth ($3,700)
In a clash of division leaders, the Chicago White Sox visit Houston to start the week, and on Monday, they’ll face Peter Lambert ($8,400). Like Pfaadt, Lambert has had a strong season overall, but he’s had a few bumps in the road lately. He has allowed multiple runs in seven straight starts, and he has allowed 17 runs on 24 hits and 10 walks over his last four games. Lambert has been very strong against lefties this season, holding them to a .179 batting average, but righties have hit .270 with a .327 wOBA
Due to those splits, Miguel Vargas is actually my favorite centerpiece of this option in today’s MLB DFS stacks. He has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, averaging 10.3 FPTS per contest. He’s crushed 29 homers on the season and has averaged 9.1 FPTS per contest in his 67 games.
Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery are on the wrong side of the splits against Lambert, but they both have plenty of power potential against Lambert or even after he leaves against the rest of the Astros’ bullpen. Chase Meidroth is another solid value option from under $4,000 who can help fill out the stack from the right-hand side. He didn’t have a hit on Saturday in his last start but had 7+ FPTS in three straight games before that.
