David Jones 
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Tenacious Strategy Session: Stacking in MLB DFS
If you are completely new to MLB DFS or just need a reminder, you ALWAYS stack two teams. This means you want four hitters from two different teams to fill out your lineup. The only way I would possibly not do this is on a very short slate (ex. two-game slate, four teams).
An example of a two-team stack would be one pitcher, four Astro bats, and four Braves bats.
Why do you want to stack in MLB DFS? Why would you not try and pick the best player from each team like with NFL or NBA?
The answers are because of all scoring correlates for hitters in baseball. If a hitter gets an RBI you also want the runner(s) on the base(s) who are going to score. For example, if the bases are loaded and your hitter gets a grand slam you get a ton of points for the four RBIs and the home run which is great! However, if you don’t have the three players on the bases that cross home plate during the grand slam you are missing out on three hits (or walks, depending on how the bases got loaded) and the three runs (that get hit in by the grand slam slugger). Not only are you missing out on these points, but it’s more likely than not your competition stacked this team and got the points you are missing out on. Therefore while you are moving up the rankings, you are still getting passed by the people who stacked making it near impossible to get first place.
MLB DFS is very momentum dependent. This means if a pitcher is getting lit up momentum builds as players round the bases and the offense smells blood. Every batter wants a piece of the pitching and running up the score is on the table. Also, once a team is winning significantly, the bullpen is no longer putting in their best arms in an attempt to get a win. The BP may even let an unproven arm come in the game who is still developing and take his lumps while working through a high-pressure situation. This is a dream situation if you stacked against him.
How do I know who to stack in MLB DFS?
This is what I do. I pick my pitcher first. If your pitcher fails, you will most likely not be cashing so that should be your main focus. Once you have your pitcher write down your top six teams. I personally write down the starting lineup for each of the six teams I prefer and go through each eight/nine (depending on DH) hitters in the order they are batting. I cross out any batter that has bad (not average) stats against the pitcher (depending on if the pitcher is right-handed or left-handed). I mainly look at ISO, WOBA, Weather and Home Runs. I will glance at BvP (Batter vs Pitcher) but it is not something I focus on too heavily unless there is a clear advantage that has a long track record.
Once you have the hitters you are considering from your top two teams see if you can fit them in a lineup with the pitcher you have selected. If one of your hitting combos in your second favorite team is not fitting then it does not work. You are going to need to move on to your next favorite team. Continue going through your preferred teams until you find a clean fit of the hitters you like. If you can’t fit your favorite team, that also means your competition won’t be able to either. Baseball is a high variance sport. Chalk in baseball tends to fail more than any other sport in my opinion. I hardly ever play chalk in baseball because of this.
What order of the batting lineup should I stack in MLB DFS?
Try and clump your batters together best you can in MLB DFS. If you can take the 1-4 hitters that’s great. 2-5 works, 3-6 works and so on. You can also skip a player you don’t like and do something like 1; 3-5, 2; 4-6. Do not stack a team by skipping too many batters for example 1,3,5,7. This does not tend to correlate well. You can even go the route of stacking 8,9,1,2. This will be lower owned because you are taking two guys from the back of the lineup however you are still getting batters that are hitting in order.
There will be times where you try and stray from stacking in GPP’s. This is a mistake. Your main focus should be picking your pitcher and stacking two teams in MLB DFS and not getting cute and cherry-picking from teams.
Below is my best example of stacking from last season. I chose my pitcher and stacked the Mets and the Indians.
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