jason mezrahi 
Welcome to the Saturday edition of the Stack City, where I’ll be going through the top MLB DFS Stacks on DraftKings and Fanduel.
The slates today on both DraftKings and FanDuel are split up differently depending on site. FD is carrying two and six games on their early 2:15 and 4:05 PM EST slates and seven games on the main 7:05 PM EST slate. On DK, it’s a 4-4-6 breakdown for the three time slots, including some overlap on the first two slates.
There’s no reason we shouldn’t start off the weekend by ingesting Adam’s Starting Rotation, which covers a bunch of the top arms from today’s slates.
Now it’s time to get to the stacks and build that bankroll!
MLB DFS Stacks – Early Slates (FD)
The Blue Jays stand out as the top stack for the “very early” slate on FD, as they have what could be a relatively evenly matched battle against the Astros. Luis Garcia has been effective thus far, but ideally, the Jays would get to his unexceptional arsenal a bit early, forcing a quick exit that could yield to more production from the big bats he’s done well to stymie in his short sample against Toronto.
My 2:15 p.m. stacks begin with Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and George Springer, and end with two more bats gleaned from the pool of Bo Bichette, Matt Chapman, Zack Collins and Raimel Tapia. I actually think there’s something to be said for using Berrios and a Jays stack and filling in the rest of the hitter slots with Astros (a dirt-cheap and long overdue Niko Goodrum and piping-hot Yordan Alvarez stand out) a the top Cardinals bats (Nolan Arenado & Paul Goldschmidt). The ARI-STL game looks at this early hour to be shaping up for a “late-start-and-play” situation.
As for the six-game 4:05 slate on FD, I’d rather spend time compiling DK lineups for their six-game early slate that starts at 2:15 PM, especially since the LA-CWS game looks to be a looming question mark in terms of weather. But if you’re committed to picking three lineups to build from, I’d focus on a Giants stack against Joan Adon and then build from hitters on the Rays (a WinDaily Discord favorite) and Guardians (contrarian).
MLB DFS Stacks – Early Slates (DK)
On DK, we can draw from the aforementioned Blue Jays hitters we discussed, but the Giants pricing is still way too low given what they can do to opposing pitchers of all walks. Adon and his 6.98/5.84 ERA/FIP aren’t any match for most MLB lineups, and while the Giants are without Brandon Belt, they have plenty of firepower left in Brandon Crawford, Darin Ruf, Austin Slater, Wilmer Flores and very inexpensive Luis Gonzalez leading off.
Rays hitters I like include Wander Franco, Brandon Lowe, Yandy Diaz and Ji Man Choi, if he’s feeling well enough to start. Lefty hitters Josh Lowe and Kevin Kiermaier are viable punt options as final pieces.
While the hitting environment in Oakland isn’t always great, today looks to be an exception, with winds vlewing out to right-center at a decent clip over 10 MPH, and the quirky but hittable Cole Irvin on the hill for the Athletics. I’m focused on the 1-5 hitters from Cleveland, including the speedy Myles Straw, Amed Rosario, Jose Ramirez, Owen Miller and Franmil Reyes. If these guys stay disciplined and don’t get too much bad luck in all that foul ground the Oakland Coliseum has to help notch some extra outs.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main Slate
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Beau Brieske
The only team with a higher projected team total on this slate is the Rockies. The Dodgers are expensive, dynamic, and perfectly viable in GPPs where we’re fading the expensive Coors bats and filling the rest of our slots in with value one-offs and high risk-reward plays.
Brieske has just 5.0 MLB innings under his belt, a home outing against the Rockies where he surrendered two long balls and gave up 3 ER on three hits and two BB. That was a team of Rockies hitters on the road, but this is the Dodgers on their home turf — and much more volatile proposition. I’d be surprised if he went 3 IP total, and I’m starting off my lineups with Freddie Freeman, a fastball-mashing, righty-destroying lineup anchor who’s still underpriced at $5,400. After that, we can choose whomever fits among Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Justin Turner, Max Muncy and Will Smith — though Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor aren’t terrible options, either, with as well s they hit fastballs (which Brieske threw 63% of the time against the Rockies).
Boston Red Sox vs. Spenser Watkins
We’ve picked on Watkins before, and in fairness, he only gave up 2 ER on two HRs against the Angels last Saturday. Today, however, we’re counting on some of his good luck (he yielded three walks but had a perfect 100% LOB rate) to go sour.
Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Alex Verdugo and J.D. Martinez (groin) are the first four that come to mind in terms of matchup and upside, but if you’re skittish on plugging in JD we can find someone among Trevor Story (overdue for a big game in that leadoff spot), Kike Hernandez or even Franchy Cordero if he gets the nod in today’s lineup.
Watkins really mixes it up with five different pitches, but doesn’t have one particular pitch he throws particularly well; his fastball has improved dramatically in 2022’s short sample since a dreadful 2021 (-12.0 pitch value) but I’m confident this Red Sox lineup will get to him early and improve on what the Angels did last weekend.
Colorado Rockies vs. Connor Overton
There’s no reason we can’t look to mixing in some Reds hitters here as well, but the Rockies and their potent 1-5 hitters have the better matchup against Conner Overton. Connor Joe is expensive, but the prices on Charlie Blackmon, Ryan McMahon, Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron are not that outrageous, and there’s plenty of value in the bottom of the lineup with Shea Hilliard ($2,900) and Dom Nunez.
Overton has thrown just 15.1 major-league innings, and Coors will test both his stuff (as the movement in the higher elevations is negatively affected) and his mental fortitude. The only saving grace is that the wind is blowing in, but line drives in the gaps still take a long time to get to the wall and rattle around a bit more — something that could leave young Connor a little rattled as well.
On the Reds side, I like Jonathan India, Tyler Naquin, Joey Votto and Kyle Farmer the most.
MLB DFS Main Slate Summary
I’m likely to get a few stacks with Yankees hitters in there as well, but Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo are both over $5K. There’s some value in Giancarlo Stanton ($4,800) as well, but Joey Gallo is very cheap and makes for a solid GPP play. It’s also getting obvious that Gleyber Torres can still hit a little bit.
Mini-stacks/one-offs in the other games include Andrew McCutcheon-Willy Adames against Justin Steele in the CHC-MIL game, Ronald Acuna-Matt Olson against Dane Dunning in ATL-TEX, and Kole Calhoun ($3K), Corey Seager and Mets leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo.
Good luck today, and remember to show us your green screens in Discord!
