*Mike Barner*

Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks – Sunday, May 28

Sunday brings an interesting slate of games because even though there are some aces in action, there are also several struggling pitchers taking the mound that you can take advantage of. Put your favorite daily fantasy baseball stacks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Matt Shoemaker vs. Miami Marlins
Park – Marlins Park

Shoemaker got off to a rough start this season, but has settled down lately as he has pitched at least six innings and allowed three runs or less in each of his last three games. One of the big reasons for his early-season struggles has been his lack of control as he has already walked 23 batters in only 56.2 innings. Last season he only walked 30 batters in 160 innings. He has only walked one batter in two of his last three starts, showing definite signs of improvement. The Marlins are not a strong offensive team and are one of the worst teams in baseball at drawing walks, lining Shoemaker up for a big performance.

Joe Ross vs. San Diego Padres
Park – Nationals Park

When you first look at Ross, he doesn’t jump off the page as a great option Sunday. He has a 5.32 ERA for the season and has allowed six home runs in only 23.2 innings. However, he is coming off of a great start against the Seattle Mariners where he pitched eight innings and gave up one run to go along with six strikeouts. His WHIP is a respectable 1.23 and he does have 20 strikeouts, so not all of his stats are ugly. He gets to face a horrible offense in the Padres, so go with Ross if you are looking for a cheaper pitching option.

**OFFENSIVE STACKS**

Boston Red Sox vs. Christian Bergman (Seattle Mariners)
Park – Fenway Park

Bergman was crushed in his last start against the Nationals as he allowed 10 runs on 14 hits over four innings. He’s never been a very impressive option as he has a career 5.85 ERA and 1.53 WHIP. Strikeouts aren’t his strength either as he only has 102 in 167.2 career innings. The Red Sox are hot at the moment, so look for them to roll over Bergman on Sunday.

Players to consider stacking: Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Kyle Gibson (Minnesota Twins)
Park – Target Field

Gibson is having a terrible start to the season as he is 1-4 with a whopping 8.62 ERA and 2.01 WHIP. It’s hard to believe a team in first place can have a starting pitcher this bad in their rotation. Gibson has allowed at least seven hits and two walks in four of his last five games and only has 21 strikeouts in 31.1 innings this season. If there was ever a day to stack the Rays, Sunday is that day.

Players to consider stacking: Evan Longoria, Corey Dickerson and Logan Morrison

*Mike Barner*

Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks – Saturday, May 27

Saturday brings 16 games on the schedule, leaving plenty of options to choose from for your DFS entry. Put your favorite daily fantasy baseball stacks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Stephen Strasburg vs. San Diego Padres
Park – Nationals Park

Strasburg is off to another strong start as he is 5-1 with a 3.28 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. While his strikeouts are down compared to past seasons, he still has 59 strikeouts in 60.1 innings. He has been a model of consistency this year, allowing three runs or less in all but one of his starts. Saturday brings a very favorable match up against a poor Padres offense, making Strasburg well worth his high price tag.

Derek Holland vs. Detroit Tigers
Park – Guaranteed Rate Park

Holland has been one of the better surprises in baseball this season after struggling with poor performance and injuries over the last two seasons. He had an ERA of at least 4.91 and threw fewer than 108 innings in both 2015 and 2016, marking the end of his tenure with the Texas Rangers after the 2016 season. The change of scenery has done wonders for him so far as he is 4-3 with a 2.47 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 44 strikeouts in 54.2 innings. He has allowed three earned runs or less and recorded at least five strikeouts in three of his last four starts, making him a viable option at a reduced rate Saturday.

**OFFENSIVE STACKS**

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chase Anderson (Milwaukee Brewers)
Park – Miller Park

Anderson has really struggled lately as he has allowed at least four runs in four of his last five starts and has not pitched more than 5.1 innings in each of his last four starts. He allows a lot of base runners as his WHIP sits at an ugly 1.46. He’s never had an ERA under 4.00 for his career, so his struggles this season are pretty much par for the course. Expect him to get hit hard by a Diamondbacks offense that is among the best in baseball.

Players to consider stacking: Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb and David Peralta

Los Angeles Angels vs. Vance Worley (Miami Marlins)
Park – Marlins Park

Worley made his first start of the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Sunday and he did not pitch well as he gave up three runs in only four innings. Worley struggles to keep runners off base, evident by his career 1.39 WHIP. He’s not a strikeout pitcher either, leaving him with very little appeal. Look for the Angels to have success against him Saturday.

Players to consider stacking: Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun and Andrelton Simmons

*Chris Durell*

Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks – Thursday, May 19

Welcome back for another exciting day of daily fantasy baseball stacks. After a couple of days of smaller slates, we are back with a full slate on Friday. The pitching is also a lot more inviting with a nice mix of high-end aces and value options if you are looking to make a pivot in GPP’s. Put your favorite stacks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Chris Sale
Opponent – @ OAK
Park – Oakland Coliseum (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas Favorite (BOS -200)
Vegas Total (7.5)

There is no debate who the ace is on the slate tonight with Chris Sale on the bump. He comes into tonight with a 4-2 record through his first eight starts as a Red Sox and that could be better had it not been for the offensive support or lack thereof. That part of the equation is out of his control so let’s focus on the things that are fully in his control, like his K rate. Sale has now struck out 10+ batters in seven straight starts to give him an elite 13.04 K/9 rate, just slightly behind league leader Danny Salazar. The difference between the two pitchers is clearly control as Sale walks half the batters Salazar does and sits with a much better ERA that sits at 2.15 on the season. Although he works with just three pitchers (Fastball, Slider and Changeup), he is utterly ruthless with them and is creating a rather high 16% swing and miss right now. Tonight he gets the pleasure of traveling to Oakland Coliseum where he receives a huge park boost and faces an A’s team that ranks 21st in wOBA vs. left-handed pitchers and strikes out just under 24% of the time. Lock Sale into your lineups in all formats.

Luis Severino
Opponent – @ TB
Park – Tropicana Field(Neutral)
Vegas (NYY -130)
Vegas Total (8.0)

My second pitcher option of the night lacks the safety of others in his price range, but that should help keep his ownership down, making him a terrific risk/reward GPP target. For safety, you can roll out Jacob deGrom or even Alex Wood who is a big favorite tonight, but I like risk and will ride or die with Luis Severino. He has improved each year in the bigs and currently sits with a 10.1 K/9 rate to go with an above average 50.9% ground ball rate. Through seven starts in 2017, he has held opponents to three earned runs or less five times and has really improved his walk rate (2.1 BB/9). The risk comes with the fact he can get hit hard and when he is a little off his game the balls start flying out of the yard as his 20% HR/FB clearly show. The Rays have been slightly better at home this season, but the good news is they have been striking out over 30% of the time over the past seven days and 26% of the time vs. left-handed pitching this season. Like I said earlier, he isn’t a safe play in cash games but a good pivot off the other more attractive “safe” plays in tournaments.

**OFFENSIVE STACKS**

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres (Jered Weaver)
Park – Petco Park (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas (ARI -135)
Vegas Total (8.5)

The park is certainly a downgrade going to Petco, but the matchup is good enough that we can ignore the pitcher’s environment tonight. The D-Backs travel to San Diego to take on the Padres and gas can Jered Weaver, who should be targeted against EVERY time he is on the mound. He strikes out less than five batters per nine and of all the pitchers on the bump today, Weaver leads them all with an awful 26.4% HR/FB rate after allowing 14 long balls through eight starts. Even his 6.05 ERA doesn’t appear to have much upside as the xFIP sits just a run lower at 5.09 and now he gets to face a top 5 hitting team against right-handed pitching. The D-Backs also lead all teams with a .397 wOBA and 141 wRC+ over the past seven days and have also clubbed 14 home runs along the way. Center your stack around Paul Goldschmidt at first base and then wait for the lineup card to come out to see which players to fit in around him.

Chicago White Sox vs. Seattle Mariners (Ariel Miranda)
Park – Safeco Field (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas (CWS +100)
Vegas Total (8.0)

Don’t get me wrong; there are other stacks with a higher projected run total tonight.With Sale on the mound, I wanted to find a more affordable option to pair with him without giving up too much upside along the way. Enter Sale’s former team the White Sox who have been disappointing overall sitting five games under .500 but have hit well against southpaws. They currently rank 5th in wOBA (.338) and 3rd in wRC+(113) vs. left-handed pitching while only striking out 16.7% of the time (2nd fewest against LH). Although the wins haven’t been coming on a regular basis, they have also been hot offensively lately scoring 35 runs over their past five games coming into tonight’s matchup. They will face Ariel Miranda who has shown some K upside (8.3 K/9) but has been somewhat wild (3.05 BB/9) and gives up a ton of fly balls(44.6%). Even though the park is forgiving, a flyball pitcher vs. a hot hitting team is a recipe for disaster. Let’s take advantage and center our White Sox stack around Jose Abreu, Todd Frazier, and Avisail Garcia. For value, pay attention to the lineup card as Yolmer Sanchez makes a top value play in the stack if he is again near the top of the order.

*Chris Durell*

Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks – Thursday, May 18

Thursday brings us another split slate with six games early and five games on the main slate. The lack of elite pitching tonight will mean it is likely a GPP night where we can almost afford any bats we want. Put your favorite daily fantasy baseball stacks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Early Slate

Trevor Cahill
Opponent – vs. MIL
Park – Petco Park (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas Favorite (SD -130)
Vegas Total (8.0)

The options are slim at the pitcher position on the early slate which thrusts Trevor Cahill into the top spot today. It could be worse as Cahill comes into today’s matchup with a 3.27 ERA and 3.03 xFIP which tops all pitchers on the early slate. Not to mention his 11.1 K/9 rate and 13.8% swinging strike rate and while those are not sustainable, it works right into his favor today as the Brewers strike out 24.6% of the time vs. right-handed pitching. Even when Cahill is not striking guys out, he is getting them out with an elite 60% ground ball rate and today will be at home in Petco Park, one of the best pitchers parks in the big leagues. While he seems more of a GPP option, he is the safest of all the pitchers on the early slate if you are playing cash games.

Main Slate

Jordan Montgomery
Opponent – @ KC
Park – Kauffman Stadium (Neutral)
Vegas (NYY -105)
Vegas Total (8.5)

The options don’t get much better on the main slate, so I lean in the direction of the best matchup plus upside. Enter rookie Jordan Montgomery who has been inconsistent but not awful through his first six starts. He has struggled with his control walking almost four batters per nine innings but has also shown nice K upside with an 8.7 K/9 rate and elite 13.4% swinging strike rate. He has made it through the sixth inning in four of his six starts and limited opponents to three earned runs or less in five of those six starts. He now gets a plus matchup vs. the Royals who rank dead last in runs scored (120) in the entire league. The Royals have also been a worse hitting team vs. left-handed pitching with a league-low .259 wOBA and 57 wRC+. Be sure to check the wind forecast before lock as it was blowing out hard last night. It won’t affect my decision too much as Montgomery has a limited hard contact (23.5%) this season and suppressed the home runs (6.5% HR/FB). Same with Cahill in that Montgomery isn’t a cash consideration on a normal slate but tonight with limited options, he is as safe as they come.

**DAILY FANTASY BASEBALL STACKS**

Early Slate

Baltimore Orioles vs. Detroit Tigers (Jordan Zimmerman)
Park – Comerica Park (Neutral)
Vegas (BAL -110)
Vegas Total (10.0)

We will start out by picking on Jordan Zimmerman on the early slate today. Since beating the Red Sox in his first start of the season, he has struggled giving up 26 earned runs in his last six outings. He comes into today’s matchup with a 6.28 ERA and a 5.86 xFIP that suggests things aren’t going to get much better anytime soon. Digging deeper we can see why as he is only striking out just over five batters per nine and is giving up a juicy 42.3% hard contact rate on 48% flyballs. That is a recipe for disaster and explains the nine home runs he has given up on the year. This plays perfectly into the hands of the Orioles who sit with a .372 wOBA and .236 ISO over the past seven days. Slugger Chris Davis has found his groove lately and been one of the hottest O’s with four home runs and seven runs batted in over the past seven days. He is surrounded by terrific hitters in Adam Jones, Manny Machado, and another power bat in Mark Trumbo to complete the four-man stack. For value, watch lineup card closely when it’s released as Trey Mancini (.449 wOBA/190 wRC+ vs. RH pitching) and Seth Smith (.383 wOBA/1144 wRC+ vs. RH pitching) make excellent salary relief options.

Main Slate

Seattle Mariners vs. Chicago White Sox (Dylan Covey)
Park – Safeco Field (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas (SEA -170)
Vegas Total (9.0)

Turning to the five-game main slate, this matchup is going to get a lot of attention from a stacking perspective. We have a pair of rookie pitchers going head to head and I lean the Mariners side for stacking as we know a little bit more about Dylan Covey at this point. After posting a sub 2.00 ERA in AA last year he completely skipped AAA and made his way to the bigs in 2017. Through six starts he has struggled mightily giving up 26 earned runs in just 29.1 innings pitched (7.98 ERA). He has also given up multiple home runs in three straight and four of his last five starts for a season total 37% hard contact rate against. It is a small sample size, but he has also been worse on the road. Although Safeco Field is more of a pitcher’s park, the Mariners have plenty of power to crush it out anywhere. They are usually known for their terrorizing of southpaws but also rank 9th overall in wOBA (.334) and 4th in wRC+ (116) vs. right-handed pitching. Build your daily fantasy baseball stack around their core top of the lineup in Jean Segura, Nelson Cruz, and Kyle Seager.