3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Friday 5/17/24

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3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Friday 5/17/24

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

New York Yankees

Implied Total: 4.84 | Opposing Pitcher: Mike Clevinger

Mike Clevinger of the Chicago White Sox is a starting pitcher we want to target often in DFS, and he'll be facing the New York Yankees on the road tonight. Although it's just a two-game sample size in 2024, Clevinger is tallying metrics that favor the Yankees in a hitter-friendly venue.

In his first two starts this season, Clevinger is permitting an 8.0% barrel rate and 89.5 MPH average exit velocity while posting a 14.8% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate. Clevinger has yet to pitch more than 4.2 innings in both of his starts, and Chicago's bullpen is logging the third-worst SIERA (4.25), fourth-worst WHIP (1.40), fifth-lowest strikeout rate (20.7%), and fifth-worst HR/9 (1.18).

The Yankees are catching fire at the plate in recent games with Aaron Judge ($4,200) destroying every baseball he sees. Judge has produced 15-plus FanDuel points in nine of his last 12 games, accumulating 11 extra-base hits in his last eight contests.

Besides Judge, Juan Soto ($4,300), Anthony Volpe ($3,500), Alex Verdugo ($3,100), and Giancarlo Stanton ($3,300) are the players to target in New York stacks. Stanton has hit a homer in three of his last seven games.

Anthony Rizzo ($3,200) and Austin Wells ($2,400) are other left-handed bats to deploy versus Clevinger and the White Sox's dismal bullpen.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Implied Total: 4.89 | Opposing Pitcher: Frankie Montas

It was a quiet outing from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday versus the Cincinnati Reds, losing the game 7-2 despite having Tyler Glasnow on the mound. Following a disappointing showing at home to begin the series, it's tough to expect the Dodgers to be struggling at the plate again with Frankie Montas slated to start for the Reds on Friday.

Montas has given up three-plus earned runs in three of his starts this year, and he is recording the worst swinging-strike rate (8.8%) of his career since 2018. Additionally, Montas is in the 34th percentile in xERA (4.30), 16th percentile in whiff rate (19.8%), 23rd percentile in strikeout rate (18.2%), and 39th percentile in walk rate (9.1%).

Those metrics could get Montas in trouble against arguably the best lineup in baseball. Being that Montas is allowing a .355 wOBA, 1.56 WHIP, and 1.69 HR/9 to lefties, compared to a .279 wOBA, 1.14 WHIP, and 0.64 HR/9 to righties, we'll want to focus on the left-handed bats of the Dodgers.

While pitcher vs. batter data can be useless in certain situations, Shohei Ohtani ($4,800) has nine hits in 29 career plate appearances -- with five walks -- versus Montas, and four of those hits are home runs. Ohtani leads the entire league in wOBA (.528), ISO (.387), and wRC+ (250) when facing right-handed pitchers.

Freddie Freeman ($3,500) and Max Muncy ($3,700) are the other high-salary left-handed hitters to use from Los Angeles. In his last 10 contests, Freeman has tallied 12-plus FanDuel points in five of them.

To save some salary, James Outman ($2,600) and Gavin Lux ($2,500) are bats to use from the bottom of the Dodgers' lineup. Lux has double-digit FanDuel points in three of his last four appearances.

Los Angeles Angels

Implied Total: 4.03 | Opposing Pitcher: Andrew Heaney

If we're going to stack the Yankees and the Dodgers, we'll need a team with low-salary players to target who are in a favorable matchup. Despite not having Mike Trout available, the Los Angeles Angels have put together formidable numbers at the plate in recent outings.

Since the start of May, the Angels are registering the ninth-best wOBA (.320), eighth-best ISO (.166), and the 10th-best wRC+ (106). With the Texas Rangers potentially being a popular team to stack versus Tyler Anderson, we can gain some leverage by stacking Los Angeles against Andrew Heaney in this contest.

Aside from Heaney allowing multiple earned runs in five of his eight starts, the veteran southpaw is also in the seventh percentile in average exit velocity (91.3 MPH), 37th percentile in barrel rate (8.2%), and 19th percentile in hard-hit rate (44.3%).

When stacking the Angels, we'll want to shift our attention to Jo Adell ($3,000), Taylor Ward ($3,100), Kevin Pillar ($2,700), and Logan O'Hoppe ($2,600). Of the bunch, Pillar is my favorite player to use, as he's posted 15-plus FanDuel points in five of his last seven games -- including a four-game streak of recording multiple hits and at least one RBI.

With Heaney giving up a .368 wOBA, 1.76 WHIP, and 1.59 HR/9 against left-handed hitters, we can hope the likes of Nolan Schanuel ($2,500) and/or Willie Calhoun ($2,800) are in the lineup for the Angels. Schanuel has multiple hits in three consecutive contests while Calhoun has posted 24-plus FanDuel points in two of his last three appearances.

Even when Heaney exits the game, the bullpen of the Rangers is also logging the seventh-worst SIERA (4.07) and the third-worst WHIP (1.41).

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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.