We have ten games for this Sunday afternoon’s main slate, but we may have to avoid a few of them due to weather.  The Dodgers once again check in as a favorite team to stack today vs Arroyo in Cincy, but thunderstorms are expected throughout the day, and may have to avoid that game all together unfortunately.  The games in Atlanta and Baltimore look slightly more promising, but still worth monitoring leading up to first pitch.

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.  Happy Father’s Day to those who celebrate and Good luck!

Honorable Mentions: Mets lefties vs Ross, Cubs and Pirates full game stack, and the D-Backs.

 

Stacks for Sunday, June 18

 

Cleveland @ Minnesota

 

Cleveland is looking for the four game sweep of the Twins today, with the teams combining to score 29 runs through the first three games.  Outside of the Dodgers game, this game is tied with the STL/BAL game with a 10.5 projected run total.

Out of those 29 runs, the Indians have dominated by scoring 23 of those.  Not much should change with Kyle Gibson taking the mound for the Twins.  Gibson has a 6.79 ERA on the season, and is 2-4 with a 6.26 ERA in ten career starts vs Cleveland.  Kyle has an ERA of 7.71 (28.0 IP) at home this season (Rank: 119th of 120 qualified SPs in MLB), and isn’t throwing nasty stuff when in jams, holding a strikeout rate of just 8.8% with RISP this season (Rank: 160th of 164 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: 19.9%).  He’ll have to watch out for Ramirez, who is 8-14 with two HR’s and four doubles.  He’s 5-15 lifetime vs Gibson, with Santana at only 5-25, but has taken him deep three times.  Edwin, Gomes, and Kipnis have all taken Gibson deep as well, and BvP-wise, Lindor, Gomes, and Kipnis are a combined 26 for 46, good for a .565 avg vs Gibson.

You can definitely try to stack the Indians with the Mets lefties or D-Backs, but if wanting to go all in on a game, Trevor Bauer is worth targeting as well.  He’s 5-5 with a 5.85 ERA for the season, with two of those wins already coming against the Twins.  Bauer is still only 3-5 with a 5.05 ERA in his career vs them.  Bauer has allowed a BABIP of .393 vs right-handed batters this season (Rank: 172nd of 176 qualified SPs in MLB).  Twins hitters have drawn 130 walks in 1,203 PAs (10.8%) against division opponents this season (Rank: 1st of 30 in MLB), but Twins hitters have pulled 55.8% of balls they've put into play in righty-righty matchups this season (Rank: 1st of 30 in MLB).

Top Stack Suggestions: 

Indians:  Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Jason Kipnis, Yan Gomes if starting, Lonnie Chisenhall if Gomes is out.

Twins:  Brian Dozier, Max Kepler, Robbie Grossman

With 1B open, I like to add Justin Bour if he’s is in for the Marlins, or Lucas Duda for the Mets. 

 

Cardinals @ Baltimore

 

Had Cardinals in this spot yesterday, and cautioned against pairing with the O’s due to their recent struggles.  Well, that changed quickly with a 15-7 win for them.   Their two wins while going 2-8 over the past ten have both went for double digit runs.

Ubaldo Jimenez receives another try to maintain a role in the O’s rotation.  He hasn’t started in almost a month, and is in the bottom three with Arroyo and Lively of pitching pricing today.  His 7.71 ERA doesn’t help, and as a starter, Ubaldo Jimenez has allowed a slugging percentage of .753 vs left-handed batters this season (Rank: 166th of 168 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: .448).

Lance Lynn won for the first time since May 5th in his last start, and like the game mentioned above, don’t have to fully stack a game, but hopefully the 90 degree day continues to make the ball fly off the bats in Baltimore.  While Lynn has been working on his control, throwing first pitch strikes may not be smart today, as The Orioles are batting .388 (102-for-263) on the first pitch of at-bats this season.  If Lynn remains in the game long, Orioles hitters have 33 Extra-Base hits out of 66 total hits (50.0%) against pitchers who have reached at least 80 pitches in a game this season (Rank: 1st of 30 in MLB; League Avg: 37.3%).  Trumbo is 3-7 and Castillo is 6-9 off Lynn, both taking him deep twice in the past.

This is a game to monitor the weather for though as there is some slight concern. 

St. Louis:  Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler, Yadier Molina, Jose Martinez, Aledmys Diaz.

Baltimore:  Mark Trumbo, Welington Castillo, Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop.

 

 

Brewers

 

Hard to ignore the Brewers today vs Perdomo at home.  Perdomo has allowed eight earned runs and four homers over his past two road starts.  The Brewers have scored in at least three different innings in 57.1% of their games (40/70) this season (Rank: 5th of 30 in MLB; League Avg: 48.7%).  Although right-handed hitters have a groundball rate of 73.5% (72/98) against Luis Perdomo this season (Rank: 1st of 177 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: 46.4%), it’s the left handed bats to target from the Brewers.

Luis Perdomo has allowed an OBP of .457 (43/94) against the heart of the order this season (Rank: 171st of 174 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: .347).  Taking the hot-hitting Thames, and paired with Shaw, Sogard, and maybe another left handed bat that receives the start today.  Can use the catcher option of Bandy or Pina as well as your fourth guy for the four pack stack.

Brewers:  Eric Thames, Travis Shaw, Eric Sogard, Manny Pina or Jett Bandy at catcher, left handed cheap option that makes lineup.