Top Stacks

Cincinnati Reds vs Zach Davies

Milwaukee Brewers vs Tyler Mahle

My top stack for this early slate is actually a game stack of the Reds and Brewers. This game has an over/under total of 9 runs which is tied for the highest on the slate and both pitchers will take the mound with ERA’s of 6.75 (Davies) and 5.63 (Mahle).  The 23-year-old Mahle has allowed 10 earned runs on 18 hits over his last 10 innings pitched.  The Brewers lineup has Christian Yelich back today and will feature four left-handed hitters through the first six batters in the order.  Eric Thames , Yelich and Travis Shaw should be the chalk stack for the Brewers today.  On the flip side, Zach Davies is coming off a tough start against the Mets where he allowed five earned runs on seven hits over 4.1 innings.  His first start of the year was also rocky as he allowed six runs on eight hits over 5.2 innings to the Cardinals.  Though the sample sizes are small there are some good BvP numbers on the Reds roster against Davies, most notably Joe Votto who is 8-for-21 (.381) with one home run and two RBI.  Billy Hamilton is 5-for-18 with two triples and Adam Duvall is 7-for-22 with a double, one home run and four RBI.  If I am going after Davies today I probably use the Reds left-handed bats in Billy Hamilton , Jesse Winker , Joey Votto and Scooter Gennett assuming they are in the lineup.  Mix and matching these two teams is likely a good idea today as well.

 

Contrarian Stack

Texas Rangers vs Jacob Faria

Except for one bad start against the Red Sox where he allowed eight runs on five hits over 1.2 innings the season hasn’t been awful for Faria as he has allowed just two earned runs over his other two outings.  I think a lot of people will be on him today because of his low price tag and on this small slate which makes stacking against him a good GPP strategy.  His opponent in the Texas Rangers boasts a lineup full of left-handed power hitters and that run production was on display last night when they scored seven runs off Rays pitching.  A team stack consisting of Shin-Soo Choo , Nomar Mazara , Joey Gallo and rookie Ronald Guzman is the way to go in this matchup.