Major League Baseball has all 30 teams on the scoreboard under the Friday night lights. After a couple of early evening starts, 26 teams are on the board on the main slate for DraftKings contests, which begin at 7:05 p.m. ET. With 26 teams in the mix, warm weather in the forecast, and plenty of offensive firepower, let’s run down my top three plays in Friday night’s MLB DFS Stacks.
- Athletics: The A’s are in Vegas for the weekend, where it’ll be hot with the wind blowing out as they take on rookie Sean Sullivan in his MLB debut. The extremely favorable park environment gives them plenty of power potential.
- Arizona Diamondbacks: The Snakes are in Cincinnati for the weekend, opening with a matchup against lefty starter Nick Lodolo, who has a 6.75 home ERA and has allowed 12 runs (and five home runs) in three starts at the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park this season.
- Cleveland Guardians: Cleveland is at home against Jack Flaherty, who has a 4.94 ERA and 2.05 WHIP in his seven road starts this year. The Guardians know Flaherty well and have been solid at home lately.
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.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $200K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st]!
1. Athletics
Nick Kurtz ($6,000)
Shea Langeliers ($5,800)
Tyler Soderstrom ($5,000)
Zack Gelof ($4,800)
Henry Bolte ($3,600)
Alika Williams ($2,800)
The Athletics have hit 15 homers in their three games in Las Vegas this week, posting an unreal .427 ISO, .451 wOBA, an 11.8% barrel rate, and a 192 wRC+ as a team. They have scored a whopping 25 runs during that span. The desert air, elevation, minor league stadium, and extremely hot weather have all played a part in the ball carrying extremely well at Las Vegas Ballpark this week.
On Friday night, they’ll take on rookie southpaw Sean Sullivan (not in the player pool), who will be making his MLB debut. The 2023 second-round pick made one start last season in Las Vegas against the Triple-A Aviators and gave up six runs on 12 hits in 4.2 innings. Sullivan is mostly a control specialist, and he has a 5.60 ERA in 11 starts in Triple-A this season.
The A’s lineup has all been mashing lately, so it’s hard to go wrong with any of the options in the stack above. Kurtz had three homers in the three-game series against the Brewers and is averaging 13 FPTS per game over his last 10 contests, while Langeliers has averaged 10.2 FPTS per game over that same span. Either star can anchor the stack this Friday.
Soderstrom also had three homers in the three games against the Brewers, averaging 20 FPTS per game. I highlighted Gelof’s recent resurgence in my top home run props of the day. He averaged 14 FPTS over the three games and has averaged 8.4 FPTS in his last 10 outings.
Bolte and even Williams can be solid bargain ways to round out the stack. Both those options homered once and hit safely in each of the three games, averaging an identical 9.7 FPTS per game. Both have limited upside but could rack up bargain points if the A’s score a lot of runs on Friday night.
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
Ketel Marte ($5,300)
Geraldo Perdomo ($4,200)
Gabriel Moreno ($3,700)
Ryan Waldschmidt ($3,300)
Tommy Troy ($2,600)
The Diamondbacks are taking on lefty Nick Lodolo ($6,700), who has allowed at least three earned runs in five of his six starts this year. He has allowed 12 runs on 16 hits in 16 innings at home. Righties have only hit .250 against Lodolo, but they have a 15.9% barrel rate, resulting in seven homers, a .371 wOBA and a .295 ISO.
All the players listed in the stack are right-handed or switch-hitters and will bat righty against Lodolo. Marte has homered off him in the past and can be the starting point for the stack, with Waldschmidt sliding up to bat second against lefties recently. The rookie is hitting .267 in his 31 games in the majors and has three extra-base knocks in his last six games.
Moreno had 8+ FPTS in three of his last four games and is averaging 8.4 FPTS over his last eight games. He’s a solid option behind the plate, and Troy can be an ultimate salary-saver with a salary just over $2,500. Troy is 12-for-50 (.240) in his 17 games this season with a pair of doubles and a home run. He’s on the right side of the splits against Lodolo and can be a sneaky part of a wraparound stack if he bats ninth, just in front of Marte and Waldschmidt when the lineup flips.
3. Cleveland Guardians
Jose Ramirez ($5,500)
Travis Bazzana ($4,500)
Angel Martinez ($4,000)
Brayan Rocchio ($3,500)
Kyle Manzardo ($3,000)
The Guardians are taking on a familiar foe, veteran Jack Flaherty ($7,200), as they start their home series with the Tigers. Flaherty is 0-2 in his four career starts in Cleveland, but does have a solid 2.31 ERA. This season, though, he has a 4.94 ERA and a .308 batting average against him on the road, where his WHIP is 2.05. The Guardians should be able to get plenty of baserunners and create scoring chances in a favorable hitting environment at Progressive Field on Friday night.
Cleveland’s top prospect, Bazzana, has taken over as leadoff hitter against most righties, and he has gone 15-for-60 (.250) in his 15 games since moving to that spot with eight doubles, a triple and two home runs. He has also added a pair of stolen bases to help jumpstart the offense. The offense is still centered on Jose Ramirez, who is averaging 11.5 FPTS per game over his last 10 contests with two homers and four stolen bases. The switch-hitter always seems to find ways to come up big for the Guardians — and his fantasy managers — so he’s a strong play to build around at the hot corner.
Martinez has taken a huge leap this season and just had an excellent series with two homers and 14.3 FPTS per game against the Yankees. The switch-hitter has done most of his damage against righties and at home, so he’s on the strong side of his splits as a solid play at $4K against Flaherty.
If you need to round out the Guardians stack with value options, Rocchio and Manzardo each bring some solid upside at their salaries. Manzardo has 13+ FPTS in three of his last eight games with a pair of homers. Rocchio is hitting .276 with five homers on the season and averaged 11 FPTS in his four games against Detroit this year. He has double-digit FPTS in four of his last 10 contests while averaging 6.2 FPTS per game.
