With a full 15 games taking place tonight, there are plenty of options to either go full stacks, or a few mini-stacks.  If new to stacking, the quarter arcade is a great spot to try multiple lineups.  Feel free to play around with a few combos of your own.  As always, things can change based on lineups and weather, so don’t stay up to date using the Playbook Pro tools.  Below are my favorite stack options of the night.  Good luck!

96.4% of all lineups that cashed last season on DraftKings stacked at least two players.

Stacks for Tuesday, April 18

Top stack: Baltimore @ Cincinnati

 

***UPDATE:  Kevin Gausman replacing Jimenez as the starter.  Cincy is now more of a higher risk stack, while Baltimore remains an eleite stack.  Gausman has not allowed a HR yet this season, and is holding right handed bats to a well hit average of only .062.  He has shown some weakness vs left handed bats so far this year, throwing for a strike just under 50% of the time.***

 

 

The pitching matchup, Ubaldo Jimenez vs Bronson Arroyo features two pitchers still looking for their first win of the season.  They have pitched a combined 18 ? innings, giving up 28 hits and 7 HR’s.  Nothing shows me that these pitchers won’t struggle again tonight.  J.J. Hardy has taken Bronson deep in five of his nine career hits off him, and both Seth Smith and Adam Jones have taken him deep as well.

Orioles hitters have actually homered every 15.7 at bats with runners in scoring position this season (Rank: 4th of 30 in MLB).

As mentioned above, both these pitchers have struggled early, with Ubaldo Jimenez allowing an OPS of 1.137 (20 PAs)  this season (Rank: 142nd of 146 qualified SPs in MLB).  The Cincy bats have been seeing the ball well to start the season, having missed just 15.4% of swung-on pitches versus starting pitchers this season, and have come to the plate with runners in scoring position in 95 of their 320 plate appearances (29.7%)  this season.  This is one of the games with a 9 run game total, with both teams being stackable.

Top Targets:  Seth Smith, Adam Jones, J.J. Hardy, Chris Davis, Joey Votto, Billy Hamilton, Jose Peraza


Miami @ Seattle

This is another match-up of pitchers that I do not trust.  Chen was rocked in his last start by the Mets, and Gallardo is sporting a 6.30 era to start the season.  Cano is coming off his second two hit game, and slugged his second hr of the year last night.  Many may be off him with the lefty lefty matchup, but Cano does have a homer vs Chen in the past.  The Marlins have been good to lock in at least one hr every game, and think they may hit a few tonight.  Marlins hitters have walked 8 times in 149 PAs (5.4%) versus starting pitchers this season (Rank: 30th of 30 in MLB).  Hitters have only chased three of Gallardo’s fastballs out of the zone this season, while Gallardo has allowed an OBP of .417 (20/48)  this season.

Top Targets:  Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Dee Gordon, J.T.Realmuto, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Taylor Motter

Houston

Hopefully Correa is in the lineup today for Houston, but even if he is not, the Astros are in a nice spot to light up Nolasco tonight. McCann is a .358 lifetime hitter of Ricky, with 8 hr’s and 26 rbi’s.  Nolasco has given up five bombs already in just three starts this season, and the could be due to hitters swinging at 76.5% of Nolasco's pitches in the zone this season.  Houston has been putting the ball in play this year, just with not great results, grounding into 17 double plays already this season (Rank: 30th of 30 in MLB).  

Top Targets:  Jose Altuve, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, George Springer, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Josh Reddick

 

Gut Stack

If entering multiple gpp entries tonight, consider going with a gut stack for one of them. This could be based on your favorite team, players, or a pitcher you just don’t trust.  All players in lineups will/should receive at least three at bats, so why not take a flier gpp chance with your gut.  Here are my top gut plays at each position today from players not listed above.

Gut targets:  Jonathan Lucroy, Greg Bird, Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano, Addison Russell, Shin-Soo Choo, Mike Trout, Steve Pearce