Today’s Stack the Deck column will be featuring our usual 15 game Sunday split slate. While there will be a true split slate on DraftKings, where it features the nine earliest games as its main slate with a roster lock of 1:07 PM ET/10:07 AM PT, and a six game afternoon slate that starts at 4:05 PM ET/1:05 PM PT. On FanDuel, DraftKings has decided that it would rather generate less revenues and post the nine game early slate and not post the later slate (it’ll likely be up eventually, but it currently isn’t).
My last Stack the Deck article featured some big hits in the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers. Again, I will be providing you with my five favorite stacks of the day and include some reasoning on why I am in on these particular stacks.
Now before we get started, I want to touch base on WEATHER. Last night, the only game that had any sort of threat of delay/rain out was in Kansas City, and luckily for us, the showers didn’t come until the game concluded. Sadly, today, there are four games to keep an eye on. Believe it or not, the highest chance of a rain out is going to be in the Bay Area. And unfortunately, both the Giants and the A’s are playing at home today. There will also be showers in Cleveland and Cincinnati, but those two games will definitely have a lesser chance of a rain out.
PREFERRED STACKS (ARRANGED IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE)
CHICAGO CUBS
Throughout yesterday’s Playbook, I highlighted numerous Cubs who received a huge boost thanks to the roaring wind blowing out at Wrigley. While basically all modern stadiums are built in a way that limits the impact that the wind has during a game, Wrigley’s an old-school park that welcomes all wind impact. This led to a handful of home runs from both the Pirates and Cubs, and guys like Francisco Cervelli hitting balls that would normally be a standard fly out, out of the park. The wind is going to be blowing out again, but this time, it’s going towards right field, and not as strong. My guess is that it still will have a slight impact. In fact, it’s the one reason why Vegas has not released a line for the game yet.
While I am a big fan of Jameson Taillon, someone I am counting on in season-long fantasy this season, he’s still giving up a good amount of contact, and is actually giving up more contact this season than he did in his rookie campaign. Contact is not going to benefit you when the wind is blowing out. My favorite Cubs play within this stack is going to be Anthony Rizzo, who had a heckuva time against Taillon last season, going 3-for-5 (.600 AVG) with two home runs.
Players to consider: Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Jason Heyward, and Javier Baez.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
While I was pretty cautious when it came to Jake Arrieta dealing with the wind, I probably should have looked into playing more Pirates at a discounted price. Arrieta actually did a decent job against the Pirates given the situation; however, they completely destroyed the Cubs bullpen, largely because of the blasting wind.
I have to say, even though I have the Pirates lower than the Cubs in my list of preferred stacks, they are probably as close to a tie as it gets. I know it’s Jon Lester throwing for the Cubs, but he’s not perfect. I’m actually impressed at the fact that he has been able to overcome throwing to a new catcher in Willson Contreras after spending his entire Cubs career throwing solely to David Ross. But here’s the thing. Lester still doesn’t know how to hold runners and still can’t make a pickoff throw. The Pirates have shown an ability to be aggressive on the base paths, and that could lead to some easy points if they can keep Lester reeling with their base running.
Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen have two career stolen bases off of Lester, and are two guys who led yesterday’s come back. I would try my best to use these two guys in any of the stack combinations.
Players to consider: Josh Harrison, Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, David Freese, Gregory Polanco (check on injury), and Chris Stewart
LOS ANGELES DODGERS
I actually do not think the Dodgers will be as popular as they should be today, but I’ve been off a few times this season. Logan Forsythe left last night’s game with a strained hamstring, which hurt our lineups big time, and will hurt the Dodgers moving forward if he misses any time. Regardless, the Dodgers feature a few hitters who have been light’s out lately. In particular, Corey Seager has put together a six game hitting streak where he has gone 9-for-23 (.391 AVG) with a homer, three doubles, four walks, six runs, and five RBIs. There’s also Yasiel Puig who is trying his best to put together a career resurgence with a .333 AVG, .327 wOBA, four homers, and 10 RBIs.
Taijuan Walker hasn’t been able to impress in a D-Backs uniform, and he has shown absolutely NOTHING to give us any form of confidence that he’ll be able to turn things around. Virtually ALL of his peripherals have been worse than his already down year in 2016. Then again, if you think his rough start only has to do with the fact that he has only faced the Giants, you probably shouldn’t be listening to me.
Players to consider: Andrew Toles (great value), Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig, and Yasmani Grandal
CLEVELAND INDIANS
I truly think the biggest obstacle for the Indians today is going to be the rain. Yesterday, I included the Indians as a preferred stack in the Playbook against the always tough Justin Verlander. BvP did not favor Verlander, and the Indians absolutely humiliated him. The five man stack featuring Carlos Santana, Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez, and Lonnie Chisenhall proceeded to go 14-for-24 (.583 AVG) with four homers, a double, 10 runs, and 12 RBIs. After starting the season in a bit of a slump, Ramirez has pushed his stats to a very respectable .341/.404/.610 with a total of three home runs. He is someone who tends to be very low owned even though he’s a super safe cash game play given his high contact rate, high on-base percentage, and super clutch play with runners in scoring position.
While the Indians have not seen much of Matt Boyd, they do have hitters who have had success hitting against southpaws throughout their careers. At the time of this posting, the Indians happen to have the highest expected run total according to Vegas. That is a pretty big deal, folks. While Boyd had a decent Spring, he has not provided anything that merely resembles “command” through his first two starts. This certainly bodes well for a team like the Indians who are very disciplined at the plate.
Players to consider: Francisco Lindor, Brandon Guyer, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Ramirez (must play), and Yan Gomes.
FAVORITE SUPER-LOW OWNED STACK
NEW YORK YANKEES
Thanks to a terrible showing from the Angels this past Friday, I am currently 1-for-2 in my super contrarian stacks. Anyhow, you might not be aware of this, but the Yankees are currently in the middle of a five game winning streak. Their offense was lively against the Rays but have stranded way too many against the Cardinals. A matchup against Adam Wainwright might be something that brings everything together. I don’t have any confidence in Wainwright. He’ll have a decent game every once in awhile, but in the end, he’s a very inconsistent pitcher who gives up too much contact, constantly losing his command, and no longer has a good breaking ball.
The Yankees currently have four players in Starlin Castro, Chase Headley, Aaron Hicks, and Aaron Judge who have hit at least two home runs this season. I wouldn’t be surprised the Bronx Bombers are able to send a few out of the yard tonight against Wainwright. I think the Sunday night game tends to be heavily overlooked, and with a good amount of options available today, it’ll keep ownership levels much lower than they should be.
Players to consider: Jacoby Ellsbury, Starlin Castro, Chase Headley, Chris Carter (likely in if Holliday is out), Aaron Judge, and Austin Romine
Other stacks I like include the Brewers and Reds, who should be fairly popular today. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach me via Twitter @kle18. Good luck!