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

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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

Atlanta Braves

Implied Total: 5.27 | Opposing Pitcher: Sixto Sanchez

It's cool seeing Sixto Sanchez back on the mound for the Miami Marlins. The former top prospect missed the last three seasons while dealing with ongoing shoulder issues, but he has been working in relief with the Marlins this year.

Today, he's getting his first start since 2020 and will unfortunately be tasked with taking on the Atlanta Braves -- not exactly who you want to face while you're getting your groove back. He's been pitching about an inning at a time in a relief role to open the year and will now be forced to take on the best offense in baseball.

Sanchez has worked to a 6.14 ERA through his first 7.1 innings, so it feels like the Marlins could pull him after a few short innings of work in this one. Between Sanchez's own struggles so far and the Marlins' weak bullpen, we could see the Braves score a lot of runs today. As a unit, Miami's bullpen has recorded a 4.02 Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA), the sixth-worst mark in the league.

Given their near ideal setup, the Braves' top stars all have pretty hefty salaries to go with their high projections. Each of Ronald Acuna Jr. ($4,500), Matt Olson ($3,900), Austin Riley ($3,600) and Marcell Ozuna ($4,400) are projected for at least 14.8 FanDuel points in this one.

It's been hard to overstate how hot Ozuna is right now, even compared to the other elite talent on Atlanta's roster. His .674 slugging percentage (SLG) trails only Shohei Ohtani for the top rate in the league while his 27 RBI lead baseball by 5. He's locked in right now, making him a highly appealing option in lineups today.

Speaking of white-hot -- Travis d'Arnaud took off over the weekend, notching five dingers over his last four starts. He carries a $3,600 salary for tonight's FanDuel contests, which looks a bit more reasonable compared to the salaries for some of Atlanta's other studs.

For lower-salaried options to round out Braves stacks, consider Michael Harris II ($3,200), Orlando Arcia ($2,900) and Jarred Kelenic ($2,400). Harris has been hitting second in the lineup versus righties -- like Sanchez -- since Ozzie Albies landed on the IL. He's hitting balls hard as ever but has been cold on barrels so far -- after averaging barrel rates around 10% in each of his first two seasons, he's down around 5.6% this year. This could be a good get-right spot for him.

New York Yankees

Implied Total: 4.98 | Opposing Pitcher: Joe Boyle

Oakland Athletics right-hander Joe Boyle has done a good job of making sure opposing batters don't make great contact with his pitches this year but hasn't done a great job making sure those batters don't make contact at all. Despite an 88th-percentile barrel rate allowed (1.8%), he has still been peppered for 20 hits in 18.2 innings. Add in that he's walked 12 batters, and his WHIP is sitting at a 1.71 mark heading into today's game.

He's given up just one home run so far, but I have a feeling he could get dinged for at least one more today. Batters have recorded a .325 SLG on his fastball -- which he throws on 59.9% of his pitches -- but have a .454 expected SLG against the pitch. In other words, he's been getting a lucky with it so far.

On the flip side, Aaron Judge ($3,600) has historically crushed fastballs. He hit for a .325 batting average against them a year ago but has struggled to a .174 average on them this year. There's no denying how cold the star slugger has been at the plate this year, but this seems like a good bounce-back spot for Jugde. Plus, we don't get too many chances to roster him at a $3,600 salary, making him quite stackable in DFS tonight. He has +250 odds to hit a home run on FanDuel Sportsbook, which rank second-shortest today behind Ohtani's +215 odds. (Ohtani isn't on the main slate.)

The rest of the Yankees have fared a little better this season -- as a team they have the seventh-best weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against right-handers. Juan Soto ($4,300) has been killing it since joining up with New York and is forecasted for another solid outing here at a projection of 13.2 FanDuel points.

Anthony Volpe ($3,100) has moved up to the leadoff spot after his hot start to the season and fits well with any stacks including Soto and/or Judge. Giancarlo Stanton ($3,000) is tied for the team lead in homers with five heading into today's game and is projected for 9.4 FanDuel points.

The top of New York's lineup is the more appealing half for DFS stacks and should be the priority in you FanDuel lineups, but it's worth pointing out their lower-salaried options, as well.

Neither Gleyber Torres ($2,700) nor Anthony Rizzo ($2,700) has had an especially encouraging start to the season, but both players have solid track records of production -- Rizzo secured his second home run of the season last night. Likewise, Oswaldo Cabrera ($3,000) had a fantastic start to the season but has gone cold since. He has a .522 OPS in his last 10 games, but we've seen him produce exciting fantasy numbers already this season.

Chicago Cubs

Implied Total: 4.00 | Opposing Pitcher: Spencer Arrighetti

The Houston Astros' pitchers are still pretty banged up. Even with Justin Verlander returning to the fold, the team is still down both Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier while Lance McCullers continues his slow rehab process on the 60-day IL. That means Spencer Arrighetti will be making another start despite the rocky beginning to his career.

To his credit, Arrighetti has yet to allow a home run in his MLB career. Unfortunately, that's about where the glass stops looking half full. Over seven innings, he has surrendered 11 hits while walking five batters for a 2.29 WHIP. He has struck out 8 batters in that time (21.1% K rate).

We're running it back with the Chicago Cubs in DFS lineups today. Last night it was Mike Tauchman who popped off -- the journeyman veteran found a home with Chicago last year and notched two homers for four RBI against the Astros last night. He has a $2,500 salary on tonight's slate and is projected for another 9.2 FanDuel points.

Cody Bellinger ($2,900) joined in on the fun last night, as well, notching his fifth home run of the season. The star unfortunately left part way through the game after crashing into the outfield wall but will hopefully be available for tonight's tilt.

Ian Happ ($3,000) returned to Chicago's lineup yesterday and is the top value play on today's slate, according to our projections. He's projected for a team-high 14.7 FanDuel points. He and Nico Hoerner ($2,800) are easy to pair together, and they hit at the top of Chicago's order.

Michael Busch ($3,300) did not join in on the fun last night but is still in line for a solid outing today. He's projected for 10.5 FanDuel points and is rocking a .949 OPS despite his three strikeouts last night. And Christopher Morel ($3,000) projects well, too, as his projection of 12.8 FanDuel points ranks second-highest on the Cubs today.

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.