A full 14-game main slate this evening, with Chris Sale leading the way pitching-wise, and the Seattle/Colorado, Cincy/Toronto, and Tampa Bay/Texas games checking in as the highest projected games of the night. There are plenty of pitchers to pick on tonight, if looking to stack, but it may be difficult to fit a full-game stack in tonight if you are going with Chris Sale as your pitcher.

As always, things can change based on lineups and weather, so do stay up to date using the Playbook Pro tools.  Below are my favorite stack options for the day.  Good luck!

Minnesota

Users have not been burned by targeting teams up against Mike Fiers, and tonight is no exception. After his last start, allowing 10 hits, four runs, and not getting through five innings, Fiers lost his spot in the rotation.  Sure enough, he receives the start tonight.  Fiers has not pitched more than six innings this season, and starting pitchers have lasted less than six innings against the Twins in each of the last three games (Mets have the longest active streak with nine). He also has given up at least one homer in all nine of his starts this season. In fact, Fiers has given up a total of 18 homeruns this season, and sits dead-last in allowing a slugging percentage of .824 vs. right-handed batters this season (Rank: 171st of 171 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: .427). His only saving grace so far is that he’s kept opponents to an OBP of .229 (11/48) with RISP this season (Rank: Tied for 10th of 153 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: .338).

The Twins have not been great against right-handed pitchers this season, having struck out 31.3% of the time in righty-righty matchups this season (Rank: 30th of 30 in MLB; League Avg: 22.5%), and have put just 29.6% of their swings in play (258/871) in righty-righty matchups this season (Rank: 30th of 30 in MLB). They do get on base though, and are towards the top of the league with an OBP of .344 versus RHP this season (Rank: 3rd of 30 in MLB). Price-wise, their bottom of the lineup becomes pretty affordable across the board, but you will have to pay up for their bigger bats. I don’t mind taking Houston with them, but their prices are much tougher to fit in.

Top Stack Suggestions:  Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano, Robbie Grossman, Eddie Rosario.

Alternative to this stack:  Full-game stack with adding Houston.

Tampa Bay

It’s very rare to see the Rays projected to score over five runs, but tonight is one of those occasions. The Rays are facing Nick Martinez tonight, who is 1-3 through seven starts with a 4.69 ERA. He’s allowed at least three earned runs in five of his seven starts this season. He’s 0-0 with a 5.25 ERA in three appearances lifetime vs the Rays. While he isn’t really walking anyone, just 3-of-102 right-handed batters this season, he has only posted more than four strikeouts once this season.  

The Ray are still striking out a ton, their hitters have an OBP of .346 versus starting pitchers this season (Rank: 1st of 30 in MLB; League Avg: .324). Stacking-wise, the Rays have scored in at least three different innings in 57.4% of their games (31/54) this season (Rank: 5th of 30 in MLB; League Avg), and like the Twins, they are knocking starting pitchers out early, as starting pitchers have lasted less than six innings against the Rays in each of the last five games. If entering multiple lineups, you can do one Rays stack made of all left-handed bats, and one of all righties.

Once again, pairing the Rays with the Rangers makes for a nice full-game stack if you can afford it.  

Top Stack Suggestions:  Corey Dickerson, Kevin Kiermaier, Colby Rasmus, Logan Morrison.

*Alternative to this stack:  The right-handed bats for Tampa include Evan Longoria, Steven Souza Jr., Tim Beckham, Derek Norris.

Toronto paired with Angels

Toronto exploded for 17 runs off 23 hits yesterday vs. the Reds, and face them again today with Randall Wojciechowski taking the mound against the Blue Jays.  He is the fifth Reds rookie to start for them this season, and has appeared in two games out of the bullpen for them this so far. The Reds only used three pitchers yesterday, so Randall won’t be on a long leash tonight if Toronto gets to him early. Toronto has been at their best when they are aggressive, as the Blue Jays are batting .395 on the first pitch of at-bats this season (Rank: 2nd of 30 in MLB). If they reach base, the Blue Jays have 22 HR’s with RISP this season, good for second in baseball.

If paying up for the Blue Jays, pairing them with the Angels and their cheaper price tags would be my preferred stack pairing. The Angels will be without Trout for a while, but this is more about Bartolo Colon, and his 6.96 ERA.  Colon has given up 26 earned runs over his past five road starts which lasted 26.2 innings. Angels hitters have put 40.2% of their swings in play this season (Rank: 3rd of 30 in MLB), and Colon is not throwing elite stuff. You may see some lineup shuffling for them with Trout out, and can pair up the big Toronto bats with cheap Angels bats to complete a solid lower owned stack for the large slate tonight.

Top Stack Suggestions:  

Toronto:  Jose Bautista, Justin Smoak, Kevin Pillar, Josh Donaldson (If out, go with Valbuena from Angels, swapping Tulo for Simmons).

Angels:  Martin Maldonado, Nolan Fontana, Danny Espinosa, Andrelton Simmons

Alternative to this stack:   High Risk full-game Yankees/O’s stack with Andriese as pitcher.