On Friday night, Major League Baseball has a massive 12-game slate, with six important divisional contests, a potential AL playoff preview, and a Subway Series. The main MLB DFS contests on DraftKings start at 7:05 p.m. ET with 24 teams in the player pool, providing plenty of matchups to break down and consider as you assemble your squad. While there are some strong starting pitchers at the top of the salary structure and a few great matchups, there are also some great places to attack for offense.
In this post, we’ll take a look at the matchups and check out the top three MLB DFS stacks to build your fantasy baseball lineups around this evening.
- Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox face veteran righty Seth Lugo, who has given up 3+ runs in six of his last seven starts, posting a 7.90 ERA and 1.70 WHIP. Lefties have a .367 wOBA against him this year with a 43.2% hard-hit rate.
- St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals face Anthony Kay and the White Sox at Busch Stadium, and Kay comes in 0-3 with a 6.84 ERA and 5.02 FIP and five home runs against him in his last five starts. Cardinals who hit lefties well are especially strong plays.
- Seattle Mariners: The Mariners are in Sacramento at hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park against lefty Jeffrey Springs. Springs has a 7.18 home ERA with 21 homers allowed in 67 2/3 innings.
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.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $100K Bat Flip [$25K to 1st]!
1. Boston Red Sox
Wilyer Abreu ($5,500)
Roman Anthony ($5,000)
Mickey Gasper ($3,900)
Adley Rutschman ($3,700)
Nick Sogard ($3,500)
The Red Sox host the Royals this weekend and start the series with a matchup against veteran righty Seth Lugo ($6,100). It’s been a rough year for Lugo overall, and he has allowed 3+ runs in six of his last seven outings, working to a 7.90 ERA and 1.70 WHIP during that span. He has allowed at least six hits in five straight games, and even though he had a solid outing against the Sox earlier this season, they are in a good spot at Fenway against him on Friday.
Lefties have a .367 wOBA against Lugo this year with a 43.2% hard hit rate, so we’ll lean to the left side of the Sox’s lineup. Wilyer Abreu has been the team’s most consistent hitter and hit his 24th homer of the season on Wednesday. Over his last 20 games, Abreu is 19-for-77 (.247) with 10 extra-base hits, including two homers, along with a .344 wOBA and a 40.4% hard hit rate. He’s also 3-for-10 with a double and a homer against Lugo in their past meetings.
The other pay-up piece to build around is Roman Anthony, who has gone 12-for-48 (.250) with three homers and a .360 wOBA in his 11 games since returning from injury.
As value plays, Gasper and Sogard bring plenty of momentum from under $4,000. Gasper cooled off a little earlier this week, but still has eight homers and a .526 wOBA in his 20 games since joining the team in mid-August. Sogard is hitting .295 (13-for-44) in his last 12 games with two doubles and two homers.
Rutschman is also expected to return, and he proved that he still brings good power potential from behind the plate with three homers in his last four games. He is boom or bust but brings upside if he can put his elbow issues behind him.
2. St. Louis Cardinals
Jordan Walker ($5,600)
Ivan Herrera ($4,500)
Joshua Baez ($4,300)
Jose Fermin ($3,300)
Leo Bernal ($3,000)
The Cardinals are home to start their weekend series against lefty Anthony Kay and the White Sox. Kay has been a workhorse, making 27 starts this year for Chicago, but he is 0-3 with a 6.84 ERA and 5.02 FIP in his last five starts, giving up 20 runs in 25 innings on 29 hits and five home runs. Cardinals who hit lefties well are strong plays. Kay has held lefties to a .184 batting average and .234 wOBA this season, but righties have a .287 batting average and .378 wOBA, along with 18 of the 20 homers against Kay on the year.
The Cardinals have a solid core of righties to build around this Friday. Fermin has been regularly leading off against righties and has produced FPTS in nine straight games while averaging 5.5 FPTS per contest.
Walker and Herrera are the core of the build and have hit well most of the year. Walker is hitting .294 against lefties with a .245 ISO and .394 wOBA. Herrera has .354 wOBA against lefties and he went off for 19+ FPTS in three of his last six games, helping him average 11.7 FPTS over his last 10 contests.
Rookies Joshua Baez and Leo Bernal have also brought some spark to the lineup lately. Bernal is a switch-hitter who has a pair of homers and is hitting .278 with a .360 wOBA in his nine games in the MLB. This, after hitting .278 in Triple-A, with 16 homers and a .368 wOBA. He is a great play at $3,000 behind the plate, where it can be tricky to find offensive upside.
3. Seattle Mariners
Rando Arozarena ($5,900)
Cal Raleigh ($5,400)
Julio Rodriguez ($5,000)
Weston Wilson ($3,200)
Michael Arroyo ($2,500)
The Mariners are in Sacramento at hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park against lefty Jeffrey Springs. Like Kay, Springs has given the A’s innings this year, but he’s also been a great option to build MLB DFS stacks against, especially when he’s working at Sutter Health Park. At home, Springs has a 7.18 ERA and has served up 21 homers in only 67 2/3 innings. At home, opponents have a .392 wOBA against him, and righties have a juicy 10.9% barrel rate. Last week, Springs shut down the Mariners in Seattle, but they’ll be in a much better spot to bounce back against him in Sacramento.
Randy Arozarena has gone 4-for-16 with a homer against Springs in the past, and Julio Rodriguez is 4-for-20, but two of those hits were home runs. Arozarena and Rodriguez can anchor the stack from the right side, along with switch-hitter Cal Raleigh. Arozarena has five homers and a .419 wOBA over his last 18 games, while Rodriguez hit his 21st homer of the year on Thursday against the Rangers. He hasn’t had his normal second-half surge, but he always brings a high-ceiling with both power and speed upside.
Raleigh hasn’t been able to follow up on his 60-homer season from last year, but he has been heating back up over his last 18 games, going 21-for-64 (.328) with eight homers. While he hasn’t been nearly as reliable as he was in 2025, he does bring enough upside to be back on the radar.
As bargain plays to round out the Mariners’ offerings in Friday’s MLB DFS stacks, Weston Wilson and Michael Arroyo make sense. I highlighted Arroyo in my top value plays for the day, and he brings a lot of potential upside as one of the team’s top prospects.
