3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Wednesday 5/8/24

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3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Wednesday 5/8/24

Stacking is an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. Correlation drives upside, giving your lineups a slate-winning ceiling when your stacks explode.

This piece will do the digging and the dirty work each day to determine which stacks are worth rostering on FanDuel's main slate. While we want upside, we also need to factor in game theory, especially in a sport as random as baseball.

The MLB DFS heat map at numberFire is a quick way to get a feel for the overall slate and which offenses are in a good spot. You can also check out our daily fantasy baseball projections -- which are powered by numberFire -- to identify the slate's best bats.

Let's look at the top stacks for today's main slate.

MLB DFS Stacks

San Francisco Giants

Implied Total: 5.62 | Opposing Pitcher: Peter Lambert

The San Francisco Giants get another matchup at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies, making them our top team to stack for a second day in a row.

Today, the Rockies are slated to start Peter Lambert on the mound. Lambert is a part-time reliever who has not thrown for more than 3.1 innings in any game this year. He's started in 2 of his 9 appearances and has given up 10 earned runs in 6.1 innings of action in that role.

Lambert has been walking batters at a relatively high 10% rate and is working to a 1.50 WHIP on the year. Things could start to spiral while he's on the mound.

Even if he keeps the Giants under control for his portion of the night, the Rockies still don't seem to trust Lambert past a few innings. That means the Giants could get extra turns at the plate against the Rockies' maligned relievers, who have recorded the third-worst skill-interactive ERA (4.29), the fourth-worst walk rate (11.2%) and worst strikeout rate (18.5%). You want Giants in your lineups tonight.

LaMonte Wade Jr ($3,100) is a good player to start stacks with after recording a team-high 19 FanDuel points in last night's outing. He's projected for another 12.2 points tonight and usually hits in the heart of the lineup.

The projections at numberFire like the Giants' power hitters in this one. Matt Chapman ($3,100) and Michael Conforto ($3,400) are projected for 13.5 and 12.5 FanDuel points, respectively, and have a good chance to knock in some runs.

Thairo Estrada ($3,200) and Jung Hoo Lee ($3,200) both have reasonable salaries, as well, and make sense for any stacks given that they hit at the top of the order. Lambert has struggled versus left-handed hitters in his career, who have ridden up a .992 OPS when he's on the mount That makes me especially like Lee, who should get multiple plate appearances against him.

And speaking of lefties, this feels like a good spot for Mike Yastrzemski ($3,000), who has the lowest salary of any of the players we've discussed so far. He has had a painfully slow start to the year but has hit all three of his home runs and his only double over the last 18 days. Tonight's matchup could help him go from "warming up" to "heating up."

Tampa Bay Rays

Implied Total: 4.99 | Opposing Pitcher: Chris Flexen

Speaking of struggling pitchers backed up by even worse bullpens, Chicago White Sox starter Chris Flexen is someone we should be targeting in DFS lineups tonight. He has pitched to a 4.85 ERA but has a 5.40 FIP and 5.29 SIERA to go with a .242 BABIP. It's been a rough year despite him seemingly catching a few lucky breaks according to his underlying metrics.

He's striking out batters at a 13.6% rate, quite a bit below the league average 22.6% rate. That means there's more room for things to get out of hand than his 1.32 WHIP implies. And if things really start to get out of hand, the White Sox's bullpen is managing a 4.31 SIERA as a collective -- the second-worst mark in the Majors.

This could be a get-right spot for a Tampa Bay Rays lineup that has underperformed at the plate this season -- and especially for Randy Arozarena, who has a low-for-him $3,100 salary. Arozarena has been a relatively slow starter since entering the league, as well. Over his career, he has posted a .686 OPS in March and April but has fared better -- with a .850 OPS -- in the month of May. He's projected for 12.8 FanDuel points in this one.

Isaac Paredes ($3,300) has mostly been the only Rays hitter who has shown up so far this season. He has crushed a team-high eight home runs, all of which have come against right-handed pitchers like Flexen. He's projected for 14.6 FanDuel points, the most among Rays hitters.

Josh Lowe ($3,000), Yandy Diaz ($3,000) and Richie Palacios ($2,700) all look like good plays tonight, assuming the tinkering Rays don't switch them out of the lineup. All three can usually be found near the top of Tampa's order lately and should stack well with Arozarena and Paredes.

Palacios is especially interesting at $2,700. He's projected for 11.3 FanDuel points, making him the second-best value on the team, according to numberFire's model.

New York Yankees

Implied Total: 4.54 | Opposing Pitcher: Spencer Arrighetti

The Houston Astros have had to deal with a number of injuries to their starting pitchers already this season, which has led to them needing to lean on some younger arms that might not be quite ready for the Show.

As one of those younger pitchers, right-hander Spencer Arrighetti, has shown high strikeout upside (25.9% K rate) while getting knocked around a bit in his first Majors stint. He's up to an 8.27 ERA with a 1.959 WHIP. There are reasons to be optimistic about the rookie's career outlook, but for now, he's firmly on the radar for pitchers we're targeting in DFS.

That's especially the case with his matchup today against the New York Yankees, who are equipped to exploit his high 12.4% walk rate while working around his ability to record strikeouts. Against right-handers, the Yankees have the sixth-lowest strikeout rate (20%), the second-highest walk rate (11%) and the second-highest wRC+ (123), trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers's league-best offense.

Juan Soto ($4,200) is projected for a team-high 13.5 FanDuel points. He and Aaron Judge ($3,800) lead the American League in walk rate, meaning they're especially well-equipped to take advantage of Arrighetti's high walk rate.

Not to mention that they're both perfectly capable of taking Arrighetti yard on any given plate appearance. Judge in particular has started to look more like himself lately. He's now batting .262 with a .548 SLG against four-seamers after a slow start to the season, making him a particularly scary batter for Arrighetti, who throws his four-seamer for almost half of his pitches. Judge has +200 odds to hit a home run today on FanDuel Sportsbook, the shortest odds of any player on tonight's FanDuel slate.

Anthony Volpe ($3,100) has been hitting leadoff in front of Soto and Judge, making him a nice option to stack with them. Giancarlo Stanton ($3,100) and Alex Verdugo ($3,000) usually hit from the 4/5-slot, making them solid value plays to round out a Yankees stack. If Soto and Judge are getting walked, Stanton and Verdugo are the ones who would most likely be driving them to home plate afterwards.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.