Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 8/17/23

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 numberFire's daily fantasy baseball projections to identify the slate's best bats.

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

New York Mets

Implied Total: 5.38 | Opposing Pitcher: Adam Wainwright

With such a small slate to pick from tonight, the up-and-down New York Mets look like they'll be the top option for stacking tonight.

They get the matchup against St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, who has not been in the same form as he has been in so long in his career.

Frankly, the numbers are quite bad. The 41-year-old has the worst strikeout rate of his career at 11.8%, meaning the ball is in play. And not only will the ball be in play a lot but seeing where Wainwright's other numbers are -- that's great news for New York. Wainwright has a jaw-dropping 8.78 ERA and 5.67 SIERA which doesn't really back him up all that much.

Considering Wainwright has always worked the ground ball, that percentage being all the way down to 38.6% while the flyball rate is higher than it's ever been 36.0% should mean liftoff for the Mets' bats.

When it comes off to kicking that stack off, look no further than Francisco Lindor ($3,600). Lindor is doing a lot of things right this season in a year that the Mets don't have a lot of things right. The star shortstop is driving the ball more than ever before in his career as his hard-hit percentage is up 45.6%. What might be overlooked is that Lindor is still a 20-20 guy as he's hit 22 home runs and recorded 20 stolen bases. Along with that is 72 RBIs so being at the top of the Mets lineup, he should do just fine.

Lindor is projected for the highest total on the Mets today per numberFire, coming in at a projection of 13.6 FanDuel points.

Brandon Nimmo ($3,000) is another option worth considering as part of the stack as there is value in this play. Nimmo is having another solid season as he's already tied his career-high in home runs (17) while still sporting a .351 wOBA and 126 wRC+. Not a bad choice to take the guy often leading off for the Mets.

To fill out the rest of any Mets stack, look to Pete Alonso ($3,700), Jeff McNeil ($2,700), and Dan Vogelbach ($2,400). The slate being so short today, you can consider any of the top players for New York with ease.

St. Louis Cardinals

Implied Total: 5.12 | Opposing Pitcher: Jose Quintana

On the flip side of stacking the Mets, we recommend you stack their opponent as this could be a high-scoring game when all things are said and done.

The Cardinals will get Jose Quintana as their matchup today. To say Quintana's first season with the Mets hasn't lived up to expectations would be very fitting of the Mets in 2023. His SIERA is all the way up to 5.13 -- easily the worst of his entire career.

He, like Wainwright, isn't striking out many hitters either at a low 16.3% rate, meaning the ball will be in play and things will be happening.

Paul Goldschmidt ($3,600) comes in as the top projected batter on the day according to numberFire's model at 13.7 FanDuel points, so you know he's leading us off for some stacking.

The reigning NL MVP hasn't had the follow-up season that was expected. That's undeniable. But he's still a capable hitter who can take advantage of any opportunity like the one today. He has 19 home runs on the year and has still driven in 62 runs. The .357 wOBA is his lowest since his first year with the Cardinals, but it's still a number worth respecting.

Nolan Arenado ($3,500) should be the other consideration of course when it comes to leading off any Cardinals stack. Arenado can't really be considered an underperformer this season, seeing he has 25 bombs and 84 RBIs to his name through 115 games but with how St. Louis has gone this season, nothing should be much of a surprise. The third baseman's 41.5% hard-hit rate is the best it's ever been in his career, so while he's unlikely to be in the MVP conversation like seasons past, he is still the perfect guy to fire up today.

The injury bug notably hit Lars Nootbaar ($3,300) and Tommy Edman ($2,900) in last night's game so it remains to be seen if they will play, but they're obvious options if they can play today. Willson Contreras ($2,700) has also been dealing with hip tightness but he's worth keeping in mind.

Jordan Walker ($2,600) and Tyler O'Neill ($2,500) can fill out the Cardinals stack if the others aren't playing.

Want to play MLB DFS? Head over to FanDuel’s daily fantasy baseball lobby to see all the offerings for today’s slates.

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.