Top Stacks
St.Louis Cardinals vs Jake Arrieta
Arrieta got off to a real solid start to his season but over his last three starts he has allowed 13 earned runs over 14.2 innings while walking five and striking out nine. The Cardinals offense is clicking now that it is back to full strength with Jose Martinez back from leave and Yadier Molina off the disabled list. Marcell Ozuna is finally looking like the player the Cardinals had hoped they were getting following his breakout 2017 season with the Marlins. As a team the Cardinals are ranking towards the bottom of the league in batting average but over the last five games they are averaging five runs per contest and the Cardinals have scored 13 runs over the first two games of this series against the Phillies.
Top Options: Marcell Ozuna , Jose Martinez , Tommy Pham , Matt Carpenter
Secondary Options: Yadier Molina , Jedd Gyorko , Yairo Munoz
Cleveland Indians vs Reynaldo López
This is a tough one for me because the Indians have been very inconsistent on offense this season and they face a pitcher in Lopez who has a solid 3.35 ERA over 14 starts this season but his peripherals suggest that he should be one of the worst pitchers in the league. Lopez has a 4.41 FIP, 5.51 xFIP and a 5.18 SIERA. He has been incredibly fortunate to have a .249 BABIP and a 6.7-percent HR/FB rate which has helped limit the damage. Lopez posted very solid strike out numbers at the minor league level but this season he has just a 6.2 K/9 and a well below average 3.7 BB/9. He was rocked by the Indians in their meeting back on May 30th in which he allowed seven runs on eight hits over 2.2 innings. I will look for Cleveland to jump all over Lopez again and hope that his poor peripheral numbers shine through here once again.
Top Options: José Ramírez , Michael Brantley , Francisco Lindor , Edwin Encarnación
Secondary Options: Jason Kipnis , Lonnie Chisenhall , Yonder Alonso
Contrarian Stack
Atlanta Braves vs J.A. Happ
Happ is one of the top priced pitching options on the slate but to me that makes him an attractive option to stack against as he faces a Braves team that ranks seventh in runs scored, second in team average and third in team OPS against left-handed pitching this season. The Braves will also have the benefit of playing in an American League ballpark where they can utilize the DH and further strengthen their lineup. Happ has been roughed up at home this season, posting a 4.18 ERA compared to his 2.55 road ERA.
Top Options: Freddie Freeman , Ozzie Albies , Nick Markakis
Secondary Options: Kurt Suzuki , Dansby Swanson , Ender Inciarte ,