Hey everyone CeeGee here again to break down my favorite stacks for today’s MLB EARLY Slate. If you have any questions hit my up in the DFS Army VIP Slack chat @CeeGee and we can chat. If you decide to sign up here at the DFS Army make sure you use my coupon code CEEGEE and you’ll save 10% on your membership. If you sign up today your price will never go up so get on board ASAP!
Before we get started, lets talk about the Types of stacks we have in MLB. First and foremost we have to understand that no matter how perfect a matchup looks on paper MLB is a fail first sport, meaning, even the best batters will fail nearly 70% of the time. Mike Trout (lefty masher) vs John Dank (slow pitch lefty) is a perfect matchup for Trout, but he can (and will) go 0-4 in that matchup more times that the numbers “that day” would lead you to believe. Knowing this, we can’t go “all in” on any 1 stack or 1 value stack for the day. I suggest about 30% to 35% max for teams you want to stack each day. 30% across 150 lineups would give you 45 lineups maximum on that single team. If you want exposure to more teams, drop that number to 20% – 25%
Types of Stacks
4-4 – this gives you 4 players from 1 team and 4 players from another. This gives you the highest upside and high downside
(note this Season Fanduel added the SP option to this stack so you can have 4 bats and 1 SP, last year you could only have 4 total players from 1 team)
4-3-1 – this stack is my favorite because it gives me the ability to snag a superstar “one off” player.
Example, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper as one off bats with my Red Sox / Padres (4×3) stack
3-3-1-1 – Similar to 4-3-1 but this stack gives you 2 “one off” batters. I’m not a huge fan of this as I feel like only having 3 bats from 1 team lowers my upside overall
In my article I’m not going to specify which stack you should or should not use. I’ll may mention from time to time “I am playing all 4 of these guys” or something like that. However I recommend you dig into the MLB Research Staion every day and combine that info with the tools of the MLB Domination Station along with this articles and stack as you see fit.
One final note before I get into today’s top stacks. I wanna give a huge shoutout to DFS Army Member Canders0221 for his MASSIVE take down over the weekend. He is just the most recent of 100’s of DFS Army members to take down big wins in the past few months. Check out our Wall of Wins for some of the rest and make sure you get on board sooner rather than later today. Use promo code CEEGEE to Save 10% on your membership and lock in your price forever!
NOTE #1 stacks article is written early in the day so projected lineups are based on the lineup each team usually has vs the handedness of today’s opposing SP
NOTE #2 I will very rarely write up Stacks in Coors Field (Colorado) and stacks in Wrigley (Chicago) with the wind blowing OUT… Simply because it would be a waste of time for me to tell you what everyone else that day is already telling you… I will tell you this however, In Coors (generally) both teams are fully stackable every single night… And in Wrigley (Chicago) with the wind blowing OUT both teams are fully stackable
NOTE #3 if you see me reference numbers like this when talking about batters 400/200 that is in reference to their woba/iso ratings rather than typing out “woba” and “iso” for every single player I may use this format more often going forward
My Favorite Stacks Today (EARLY)
Tigers @ Royals Eric Skogland (L)
Martin, Miggy, Castellanos, Jones + McCann
Total Cost $13,000
Order 1-2-4-6 (projected)
Total DFSA Grade 316.4
Eric Skogland
vs Right 385 woba – 213 iso – 39% hard contact
vs Left 353 woba – .048 iso – 38% hard contact
Royals lefty Eric Skogland throws three main pitches, Fastball (90-92) 42% Curve 20% and Sinker 22%. He allows a ridiculous 525 woba and 320 iso on his Fastball and a 390 woba and 257 iso on his Sinker. Knowing this, lets take a look and see which Tigers hitters handle these pitches
Tigers hitters vs Fastball 90-92
Jeirmer Candelario 533/348
Miggy Cabrera 423/162 with 39% hard contact
Nick Castellanos 448/400 with 41% hard contact
Tigers hitters vs Sinkers
Jeirmer Candelario 395/155 with 40% hard contact
Miggy Cabrera 386/233 with 47% hard contact
Nick Castellanos 364/158 with 42% hard contact
These three hitters handle the two pitches Skogland throws 64% of the time very well. I’ll be targeting these three heavily on this 5 game early slate
Braves @ Mets Jason Vargas (L)
Acuna, Freeman, Suzuki, Camargo
Total Cost $13,000
Order 2-3-5-7 (projected)
Total DFSA Grade 317.1
Jason Vargas
vs Left 360 woba – 187 iso – 40% fly ball rate – 30% hard contact
vs Right 326 woba – 183 iso – 40% fly ball rate – 34% har contact
Mets left hander Jason Vargas is a reverse splits lefty, meaning, he is worse vs same handed batters (left hand). His iso numbers a nearly identical to batters on both sides of the plate however. He throws three main pitches, Sinker 43% Change 33% and Curve 20%. Lets see if we can find some Braves hitters that handle one, two or all three of those pitches well (note we’re only showing guys who do well vs these pitches since we’re looking for stacks)
Braves hitters vs Sinkers
Ozzie Albers 435/233 only 32% hard contact
Freddie Freeman 451/279 with 44% hard contact – this is someone we wanna target as he checks all the boxes on this pitch 400/200 + 40% hard contact
Lets take a look at Braves hitters vs Change ups
Freedie Freeman 401/248 with 42% hard contact — two for two so far can we get all three +++ from Freddie?
Nick Markakis 411/250 with 37% hard contact — just below the 40% hard contact we look for but solid woba/iso numbers
Lastly lets look at Braves hitters vs Curveballs
Freddie Freeman 407/308 with 40% hard contact — this means Freeman checks all three boxes on the three pitches that Vargas throws the most. Despite the matchup being Left vs Left Freeman is in an ELITE spot today with a 400/200 and 40% hard contact vs all three of the Pitches Vargas throws the most LOCK AND LOAD
Kurt Suzuki 426/182 with 40% hard contact
Johan Camargo (small sample) 443/190 with 37% hard contact
This Braves stack begins with Freddie Freeman who will probably be super chalk on this early slate. His matchup is Elite however so I’ll be eating chalk here and building my lineups around him. The other Braves hitters only hit 1 of the 3 main pitches well that Vargas throws so I’m not super excited about a full stack here. Pick and chose your one offs wisely but Freddie Freeman will be in nearly every lineup I make on this slate.
Royals vs Tigers Mike Fiers
Merrifield, Moustakas, Perez, Soler + Duda
Total Cost $13,500
Order 1-2-4-5 (projected)
Total DFSA Grade 324.2
Mike Fiers
vs Left 345 woba – 216 iso – 37% fly ball rate – 30% hard contact
vs Right 352 woba – 205 iso – 37% fly ball rate – 30% hard contact
Mike Fiers is not a terrible pitcher but he struggles giving up the long ball, as noted by his 200+ iso to batters from both sides of the plate. This Royals team could use all the help they can get in that department as they aren’t the most powerful team in the league. They’re more of a scrappy bunch that will single and double you to death rather than take you deep consistently. Fiers throws several pitches but lets focus on three he throws the most Fastball (89-91) 33% Sinker 19% and Change 18% if we can find a hitter with 400/200 and 40% hard contact that would cover 71% of the pitches Fiers throws and would put them as a top target for me today.
Royals vs Fastball 89-91
Mike Moustakas 520/400 with 41% hard contact
Jorge Soler 476/367 with 38% hard contact (good enough for us)
Sal Perez 352/320 with 35% hard – woba not as high as i’d like and hard contact not either but still a decent play
“Mouse” sticks out like a sore thumb vs the Fastball, so lets take a look at the Royals vs Sinkers
Whit Merrifield 414/188 with 37% hard contact – not known for his power but these are real solid numbers
Mike Moustakas 338/192 with 31% hard contact – sadly Mouse struggles vs the sinker
Jorge Soler 375/250 with 40% hard contact – 375 is not quite 400 but still very good numbers here for Soler
Lastly lets look at the Royals vs the Change up
Mike Moustakas 457/458 with 40% hard contact
Cheslor Cuthbert 388/206 with 35% hard contact
I told you the Royals aren’t a team the provides a ton of pop and these numbers prove that. Mike Moustakas is clearly the top play on the Royals, as he does very well against two of the three main pitches he’ll see (Fastball/Change) from Fiers today. Jorge Soler would be my other top target from the Royals as he also has two of the three main pitches covered wit his sucess against the Fastball and the Sinker. Overall I think these two are your main targets, and I wouldn’t question you if you wanted to throw Whit Merrifield in there as the 3rd Royal in your stack this afternoon.
Other Stacks
Nationals vs Pirates Trevor Williams (chalky)
Harper, Adams, Turner, Zimmerman
Order 1-2-3-4
Mets @ Braves Julio Teheran
Conforto, Bruce, Cespedes, Cabrera
Order 1-2-3-5
My Favorite Value Stacks Today (EARLY)
Pirates @ Nationals Jeremy Hellickson (cheap and sneaky early)
Dickerson, Bell, Polanco, Frazier + Cervelli
Total Cost $11.8k
Order 1-2-3-4 (projected)
Total DFSA Grade 313.3
That’s all I’ve got for the early slate, I hope you all enjoyed the article. Reach out to me in the Slack Chat @ CeeGee and let me know what you think of the article and the format.
