Early Slates

Detroit Tigers – Anytime you get an opportunity to throw in a stack or mini-stack against Lucas Giolito, it’s a good day. The top of the order – Leonys Martin, Jeimer Candelario, Nick Castellanos is likely to be the most popular today, but I actually dig the cheaper part of the order with John Hicks, Niko Goodrum and James McCann as a pairing with a bigger, more chalky group from another game.

Miami Marlins – No one like using the Fish, especially when they’ve been swinging the bats as poorly as they’ve been recently. But Alex Cobb could just be the cure for what ails them and there are a couple of places to go with this, depending on how the order is set. If J.T. Realmuto is out of the lineup and they set it as Derek Dietrich, Brian Anderson, Justin Bour at the top of the order, I would definitely be interested. If Realmuto is catching and batting third, then I’m looking at mini-stacks that have one of the lefty bats in there. Realmuto/Bour is probably the one you want.

Washington Nationals – Really, however you want it set up, set it up. The lefty bats of Bryce Harper, Juan Soto and Matt Adams can and should be locked in wherever you can and from there, just check out how the lineup is set and pair up accordingly. This one is likely to be the chalkiest of all today, but there’s nothing wrong with pairing one of these Nats stacks up with either the Tigers or Marlins.

Colorado Rockies – Not my favorite, but squeezing in some right-handed Rockies bats against Mike Minor seems like it could be worthwhile. Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, Ian Desmond seems like a pretty good place to start here.

Main Slate

Chicago Cubs – It’s no secret that Carlos Martinez has struggled since coming back from his lat issue and given his command issues, I think I would look into stacking some Cubs tonight. Probably going to be pretty chalky given the short slate, but that’s not to say you can’t use them and pair them with a potentially lower-owned stack or set of mini-stacks. You could go full-blown and make sure you have Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras in there, but check and see how Joe Maddon sets up the lineup with his lefties – Jason Heyward, Kyle Schwarber, Tommy La Stella – as you may be able to maneuver a pair of mini-stacks here instead of committing to the big three. It’s the fringe guys who could be the sneaky plays.

Arizona Diamondbacks – Another pobvious one here, though with so many lefty bats in the Arizona lineup, I’d be more inclined to go with mini-stacks here as well. If Paul Goldschmidt is paired up with either Ketel Marte or Nick Ahmed I may use them. I also like the potential of using John Ryan Murphy if he’s paired up with another right-handed bat – whichever middle infielder isn’t paired with Goldy or possibly even Chris Owings.