3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Wednesday 4/10/24

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

Texas Rangers

Implied Total: 5.06 | Opposing Pitcher: Ross Stripling

The Texas Rangers may have lost last night's tilt with the Oakland Athletics to a trio of dingers from Shea Langeliers, but they have a great chance to get their revenge tonight. The reigning World Series champs will get to square off against veteran right-hander Ross Stripling in this evening's affair.

Stripling has been decent to start the year. He got a little roughed up by the Cleveland Guardians in his season debut but fared well against the Boston Red Sox. He's sitting on a 3.75 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP through his first 12 innings, though those numbers could take a hit after tonight's contest.

Stripling is not a big strikeout pitcher. His K/9 has dropped in each of his last three full seasons and is sitting at 6.8 per 9 innings this year -- his personal worst since his 2016 rookie season. The Rangers' batters are striking out at the second-lowest rate in the majors (18%) and drawing walks at the fifth-highest rate (10.7%), meaning Stripling will have little to no room for error in this one.

The Rangers' punishing bats could be queued up for a big night with plenty of RBI to go around. Corey Seager looks like a borderline must-start at his $3,700 salary. He's projected for 15.7 FanDuel points, the second-most among batters on the slate. He has +300 odds to hit a home run in this one, trailing only one other player in this game.

That other player is, unsurprisingly, Adolis Garcia ($4,400), who has +250 odds to hit a dinger. He and Marcus Semien ($3,700) are virtually always options on any given slate -- that goes double here against the A's. Meanwhile, rookie Evan Carter ($3,000) is fresh off hitting his first home run of the season and could go back-to-back against Stripling tonight.

If you're looking for lower-salaried options to fill out your DFS lineups, the Rangers' left-handed platoons are worth consideration. Jared Walsh clocks in with a $3,100 salary, but each of Jonah Heim, Josh Smith and Travis Jankowski have sub-$3,000 salaries and have good chances of making the lineup tonight.

New York Yankees

Implied Total: 4.93 | Opposing Pitcher: Ryan Weathers

The New York Yankees just took a Miami Marlins left-hander for seven runs two nights ago and scored another three runs last night, so why not run it back again tonight? After rocking Jesus Luzardo on Monday, they'll now catch a matchup against Ryan Weathers.

Things could get out of hand quickly for Weathers in this one. The fourth-year pitcher has been a high-variance arm this year. He is getting strikeouts (24.4% K rate) but also walks a ton of batters (11.1%) and will take the mound with a 1.67 WHIP entering tonight's game.

He's getting hit hard, too. Statcast data credits him with a 93.5% exit velocity against so far this year, a seventh-percentile rate that's a step up in velocity from his previous career EVs. He's given up only one long ball this year, but his below-average career 4.6% home run rate against implies that he could be giving up more home runs in the near future.

The projections at numberFire have three different Yankees hitters slated for at least 13 FanDuel points -- Aaron Judge ($4,100), Juan Soto ($3,900), and Gleyber Torres ($3,000). The top of their lineup looks pretty, pretty stacked this year.

Behind them, power hitters like Giancarlo Stanton ($3,200), Alex Verdugo ($2,700), and Anthony Rizzo ($2,700) are all worthwhile options with home run upside. Verdugo in particular has been on fire of late, with a 1.067 OPS over the last week. His +900 odds to hit a home run in this one might be worth taking a look at.

If I'm building a Yankees stack, I want to try to work Anthony Volpe ($3,300) into my DFS lineups. His second-season breakout has been impressive to watch -- he has a 1.044 OPS in 2024 -- but even dating back to his up-and-down rookie year, he's been strong against left-handed pitchers. The young shortstop has a .853 career OPS against lefties and is slugging at a .500 rate against them, as well.

Kansas City Royals

Implied Total: 4.39 | Opposing Pitcher: Spencer Arrighetti

Injuries have hit the league hard this year, and the Houston Astros are feeling the heat. After opening the year with Justin Verlander (shoulder) and Lance McCullers (elbow) on the injured list, the team was forced to place Framber Valdez (elbow) on the injured list after his first two starts.

The Astros' mounting injuries mean they'll be giving Spencer Arrighetti his first career start against the Kansas City Royals later tonight. I want to target him with my DFS lineups.

Arrighetti finished his 2023 season with a combined 4.40 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A and a final 1.25 tally for his WHIP. He's been rocky to start the year and has seen that WHIP climb to 1.68 so far, and he now has to deal with major league bats while he's still warming up.

The Royals' lineup honestly doesn't look that bad this year. They're actually averaging more runs per game (4.36) than the Astros (4.17). It needs to be said that they've faced a much easier schedule than the Astros to open the year, but it's still encouraging to see them step up a bit after finishing as a bottom-10 offense in most of their recent campaigns.

For fantasy, obviously Bobby Witt Jr. ($3,800) is worth considering with or without a stack, but the rest of the Royals' hitters are on the table against Arrighetti tonight, as well. Maikel Garcia ($3,100) has been entrenched as the team's leadoff batter and seems to have figured something out at the plate. He's already up to three homers after hitting just four across 515 plate appearances in 2023.

MJ Melendez ($3,100) is barreling balls at an elite 24% clip, the third-best rate in the game right now. He has typically hit fifth or sixth in the lineup, giving him a shot to bat in hitters like Vinnie Pasquantino ($2,600) and Salvador Perez ($3,300).

Pasquantino's slow start to the year seems to be depressing his FanDuel salary. A matchup with an unexciting prospect making his Majors debut could be exactly what he needs to right the ship. He has +310 odds to hit a double on FanDuel Sportsbook, and I like his chances of notching his first extra-base hit of the year off of Arrighetti.

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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.