Daily MLB DFS Stacking Strategies for FanDuel & DraftKings – May 31, 2021 (5/31/21) – FantasyCruncher.com DFS Articles & Insights – fantasycruncher.com

Digging into today’s MLB DFS slate to highlight your best bats to stack.

In this article, we will cover two to three teams that we think are the most stackable for MLB contests. If you are newer to DFS or MLB, or just want a general refresher on the impact of stacking in MLB, check out our research done this off-season where we analyzed over 2,000,000 lineups to determine how many times a team of four or five hitters stacked from the same team won contests. In brief, 80.3% of winning lineups across 71 Main Slate tournaments (from 2020) had a stack of at least four players. 71.9% of that 80.3% had a stack of five players. It is pretty clear that stacking is the main strategy to focus on when it comes to MLB, therefore we will be approaching our hitters content from a stacking perspective.

Oakland Athletics (@ Mariners)

Logan Gilbert gets the start for the Mariners and while the top prospect still has time to live up to his hype right now he is a pitcher I want to target hitters against. In his three career starts, Gilbert has allowed nine runs on 13 hits with two walks in just 10.2 innings of work. That works out to an ERA of 7.59 and a WHIP of 1.41. Gilbert is allowing hitters to slash .283/.327/.478 with a .349 wOBA in those starts. Those are not good numbers no matter how you cook it up. Now, Gilbert did look better in his last start which was against the A’s as he only allowed two runs in his four innings in a game that the A’s only scored three total runs but I am not buying that Gilbert can shut down the A’s again. The A’s are just too good of a hitting team for that to happen. If you don’t believe me just look at the A’s numbers against right-handed pitching. The A’s rank in the top half of the league in team OPS, team ISO, team wOBA, and team wRC+ against them. The A’s rank in the top ten in the majors in all four of those categories this month.

Cincinnati Reds (vs. Phillies)

When you look at Vince Velasquez ERA of 2.95 this season you might not want to stack hitters against him but when you dig deeper into all of his stats you will see that Velasquez is a pitcher you want to stack against. Velasquez has been extremely lucky this season as his BABIP allowed sits at just .228 while his FIP is two runs higher than his ERA at 4.95. Velasquez also has the high HR/9 rate we look for in our pitchers at 1.72, a high walk rate at 14.4%, and a higher WHIP at 1.28. All of those numbers along with Velasquez numbers the past two seasons show me that he is going to start giving up a lot of runs and in a hurry. I personally think that happens today as he takes on the Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Reds have crushed right-handed pitching this season to a tune of a .758 OPS which is the fourth-highest in the majors, an ISO of .179 which is the fourth-highest in the majors, and a .331 wOBA which you might have guessed by now is the fourth-highest in the majors. Great American Ball Park is also one of the worst parks for pitchers and best for hitters. This season according to ESPN Park Factors, GABP ranks third in RUNS and first in HR.