Below are stacks to consider for Sunday’s MLB DFS action.
The Chalk
Coors Field
Let’s start with the obvious chalk that is always Coors Field. The A’s are in Colorado this weekend, and today a pair of right-handers in Frankie Montás and German Marquez will face off. Montas has the worst K-BB% among today’s probable starters against left-handed hitters, and he’s third worst in that stat against righties. Marquez is below average against lefties, but he’s been excellent against righties, which makes Montas the better guy to pick on.
The Rockies have three left-handed bats who have been above average against right-handed pitching this season: Charlie Blackmon , Carlos González and Gerardo Parra . Among their right-handed hitters, only Trevor Story has been above average against same-handed pitching. Blackmon leads off and Gonzalez/Story/Parra tend to hit 4-5-6 in the order, so you could either just leave Blackmon out of a stack or use Nolan Arenado or Ian Desmond to connect him to the guys in the middle third.
The A’s are a bit tougher to stack since we’d prefer to focus on their lefties. Jed Lowrie and Matt Olson are the only lefties on the team with more than 100 PA against righties and a wRC+ north of average. Lefty Nick Martini has been leading off lately against righties, so he could be included as well, and that would likely give you 1-3-5 in the order.
New York Yankees
The Yankees are the only team with a higher projected run total per Vegas than the teams playing in Coors. The Yanks are hosting the Royals with right-hander Burch Smith on the mound. Smith hasn’t shown much of a platoon split this season, so hitters from both sides of the plate are in play.
The Yanks have eight active hitters who have been above average against right-handed pitching this season, but none of them have been more than 25 percent better than league average. All eight of those guys are in the lineup today with the one exception being Neil Walker in the eight spot. That means there are tons of options to stack Yanks. You’ll definitely want some exposure to them in cash games, so the suggestion is to fill out your roster with some Yankees as your cap and positional needs allow.
Not the Chalk
Chicago Cubs
If you’re playing the all-day slate on FanDuel, the Cubs have an excellent matchup to stack against tonight. They’ll be in St. Louis with right-hander John Gant on the mound for the Cards. Gant has been struggling in his last three starts despite what his 3.31 ERA in that stretch would lead you to believe. He has as many walks as strikeouts in that stretch, and he hasn’t been generating much soft contact. For the season, he ranks dead last among today’s probables in K-BB% against same-handed hitters and third worst in that stat against lefties.
The Cubs have six active hitters who have been at least 15 percent better than average against right-handed pitching this season: Ben Zobrist , Ian Happ , Javier Báez , Kyle Schwarber , Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras . Baez and Rizzo have been their hottest hitters of late, so you should try to build the stack around them. They’ll likely hit first and fourth in the lineup.
Cincinnati Reds
Like the Cards, the Reds have a matchup against a pitcher that hasn’t been pitching as well as his ERA would indicate recently. The difference is that Zach Eflin ’s ERA in his last three starts is much higher than Gant’s at 4.91, and it’s still not representative of how badly he’s been pitching. Eflin has shown almost no platoon split so hitters from both sides of the plate will work from Cincy.
The Reds have four hitters who have been above average against right-handed pitching this season: Joey Votto , Scooter Gennett , Eugenio Suárez and José Peraza . As luck would have it, those four are the first four in the order today, which makes picking out a Reds stack quite simple.