Chalk Stacks

Los Angeles Angels vs Matt Moore

The Angels currently rank first in the majors in runs, home runs, RBI, batting average and slugging percentage.  The Angels just knocked around Ranger's lefty Martín Pérez for eight runs on nine hits over three innings on Tuesday and now get another southpaw in Matt Moore on Wednesday night. Against lefties this season the Angels are hitting .306 with an OPS of .883.  Moore himself has been awful this season, allowing nine earned runs on 12 hits over 7.1 innings.  Stacking the Angels will be popular tonight as well it should be.  The chalk plays for this stack will be Mike Trout , Justin Upton , Zack Cozart  and Albert Pujols .  Some likely lesser owned/cheaper options are Andrelton Simmons , Jefry Marte and Chris Young .

Toronto Blue Jays vs Kevin Gausman   

Gausman was better in his second start of the season, allowing just two runs on five hits over five innings to the Yankees after allowing six runs on seven hits over four innings to the Twins during his first start of the year.  I am not convinced that Gausman has righted the ship however and now he faces a Blue Jays team that has some good BvP matchups against him.  I like especially that Gausman is a right-handed pitcher as it allows for switch-hitters Justin Smoak and Yangervis Solarte to hit from the left-side of the plate which is where they do the majority of their damage.  Newly signed Curtis Granderson is also 2-for-4 with two home runs against Gausman in his career.  Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar is 11-for-25 (.440) with an OPS of .961 in his career vs Gausman and Josh Donaldson is 8-for-29 with a home run and five RBI.  The Blue Jays currently rank fourth in the majors in runs scored, second in home runs and fourth in RBI so far this season.

Contrarian Stack

Pittsburgh Pirates vs Jon Lester

The Pirates have been one of the hottest hitting teams in baseball to begin the year, ranking second in runs scored, second in RBI, second in slugging percentage and first in OPS.  The Pirates had some success against Lester last season, scoring 10 runs on 24 hits over 19.1 innings.  As a team they hit .316 off of Lester last season.  Though things do change from year-to-year and most notably the Pirates no longer have Andrew McCutchen they still have some guys who hit well against left-handed pitching such as Josh Harrison , David Freese and catcher Francisco Cervelli . Shortstop Jordy Mercer is 7-for-21 (.333) with three doubles, one home run and four RBI against Lester and first basemen Josh Bell is 3-for-7 with a home run and three RBI in a limited sample size.