3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Tuesday 5/7/24

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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: 5.78 | Opposing Pitcher: Dakota Hudson

Dakota Hudson is not having a good time in his first season with the Colorado Rockies. The former St. Louis Cardinals right-hander has thrown for a 5.02 ERA while racking up an NL-worst five losses across his first five starts of the year.

Hudson's poor ERA is backed up by a 1.68 WHIP and a thin 5.3 K/9 rate, which just barely leads his 5.0 BB/9 rate. He's not getting strikeouts, he's walking too many batters, and he's getting hit a lot. That's not a recipe for success at Coors Field, where he'll be throwing to the San Francisco Giants tonight.

It is a recipe for success for the Giants' batters, though, and makes them our top team to stack on today's main slate.

Given that Jung Hoo Lee ($3,100) bats leadoff most nights against right-handers, he's a natural place to start a Giants stack today. He's projected for 10.3 FanDuel points in this one and could turn around his recent cold streak with tonight's softer matchup. According to MLB's Statcast data his actual SLG rate trails his expected SLG rate by the eighth-largest gap in the Majors this year, making him an interesting regression candidate.

The Giants don't seem to have a set order behind Lee against righties, but we can usually count on LaMonte Wade Jr ($3,000) to hit near the top of the lineup. He's projected for 14.5 FanDuel points -- the most on the team -- and is the best point-per-dollar value play on the slate, according to numberFire's metrics.

Likewise, Matt Chapman ($3,000) is projected for 14.1 FanDuel points and is the second-best point-per-dollar value play tonight, per our model. He and Michael Conforto ($3,300) rank 58th and 51st, respectively, on the same SLG-xSLG metric that Lee ranked eighth in. If some of the Giants' regression hits at once tonight, you'll wish they were in your DFS lineups.

Finally, Thairo Estrada has a $3,100 salary and has been the team's most effective hitter so far this year against righties with a .526 SLG in the split. He's projected for 12.6 FanDuel points and typically hits right in the heart of the San Fran lineup, making him a glue piece for any Giants stacks.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Implied Total: 5.01 | Opposing Pitcher: Edward Cabrera

Miami Marlins starter Edward Cabrera seems like he's been one of the unluckier pitchers this season. Despite a strong 2.94 FIP and an 18th-ranked 2.99 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), his stat sheet is still showing a brutal 6.05 ERA after his first four games. It's encouraging to see that his expected and advanced metrics are implying things should eventually swing back in his favor, but I don't like the chances of that pendulum changing direction in today's matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to FanGraphs' weighted runs created plus (wRC+) metric, the Dodgers' offense has been by far the most effective in Major League Baseball. Their 134 wRC+ leads the Baltimore Orioles' second-ranked mark (119) by 15 points -- the same gap that separates the Orioles from the 12th-ranked Chicago Cubs. If you're playing DFS, odds are you'll want some Dodgers in your lineups.

We, of course, need to start with Shohei Ohtani ($4,700), who has four home runs in his last three games. The two-time MVP is making his case for a third MVP award as he focuses in solely on batting this season -- only teammate Mookie Betts (+150) has shorter National League MVP odds on FanDuel Sportsbook than Ohtani's +450 odds.

As you likely surmised, Ohtani (15.2) has the highest projected FanDuel points of any player on today's slate. Betts' ($4,500) 14.5-point projection is tied for the third-highest, as well. Their elevated salaries make them difficult to stack with each other, but both batters are worth getting into your lineups today.

Compared to those salaries, Freddie Freeman's $3,300 salary looks like a steal. He's projected for a strong 12.3 FanDuel points, as well, making him the top point-per-dollar value play on the Dodgers.

Unfortunately, there aren't many more "values" to be found on the Dodgers' star-studded lineup. Even rookie Andy Pages carries a $3,300 salary, while each of Max Muncy, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernandez clock in with salaries at $3,500 or more. If you want to stack the Dodgers tonight, you'll need to make accommodations across the rest of your lineup.

Even if Cabrera turns in a solid outing against the Dodgers, Miami's bullpen isn't likely to do him any favors. The Marlins' relievers have the third-worst collective WHIP (1.45) on the year, with only the Rockies and the Chicago White Sox faring worse. We've seen the Marlins let things get out of hand repeatedly this year -- they've given up double-digit runs in four separate outings -- so the Dodgers could be in for a massive night.

Chicago Cubs

Implied Total: 4.79 | Opposing Pitcher: Randy Vasquez

The Chicago Cubs have a bit of a chance to tee off on San Diego Padres starter Randy Vasquez tonight. The second-year pitcher has posted a 5.87 ERA while earning a concerning 6.79 FIP mark and averaging a 1.83 WHIP. He has struck out just 13.5% of opposing batters and has allowed a 1.030 OPS to the hitters he's faced. He's made it through just 7.2 innings in his first two starts.

So, if batters he's faced are basically putting up Mookie Betts numbers -- Betts' 1.038 OPS ranks second-best among qualified batters in the Majors -- you're going to want to stack the batters he's facing tonight.

Christopher Morel ($3,500) is in the midst of a hot streak and has a chance to keep things rolling tonight. He's projected for a team-high 11.5 FanDuel points and has homered in four of his last five games.

Ian Happ's 11.5-point projection ties him with Morel's while his $2,900 salary makes him a nice value play to add to Cubs stacks. He's hit third in five straight games against righties, putting him in a good spot to produce.

Mike Tauchman ($3,000) just keeps finding his way to home plate and has hit second in the order in each of the Cubs' last four games. He and Nico Hoerner ($3,200) have modest salaries while batting ahead of power hitters like Morel and Michael Busch ($3,000), making them appealing options to fill out stacks.

On the subject of Busch, it's worth noting that despite his recent cold streak -- which has seen him bat to a homer-less .180 average over 54 plate appearances these last two weeks -- he's still hanging onto an 84th-percentile xSLG (.497) and has a 90th-percentile barreled-ball rate (14.3%). Tonight's matchup with Vasquez could be the exact get-right spot Busch needs.

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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.