3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Friday 3/29/24

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3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Friday 3/29/24

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

Houston Astros

Implied Total: 4.67 | Opposing Pitcher: Carlos Rodon

The Houston Astros began Opening Day against the New York Yankees by jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings. That was before the Astros failed to generate another run for the rest of the game, which allowed the Yankees to produce five unanswered runs to secure a victory.

After doing damage to Nestor Cortes early in Thursday's contest, Houston will face another lefty with Carlos Rodon drawing the start for New York on Friday. Rodon pitched to a 6.85 ERA -- along with a 4.87 skill-interactive earned run average (SIERA) -- and a 1.45 WHIP while seeing his strikeout rate drop from 33.4% in 2022 to 22.4% in 2023 in his first year with the Yankees.

While an injury kept him sidelined for a decent portion of last season, Rodon registered a 4.19 ERA and gave up four homers in 19.1 innings pitched during Spring Training.

During the 2023 campaign, the Astros excelled when facing left-handed pitchers, posting a league-low 18.2% strikeout rate, the fourth-best ISO (.200), the third-best wOBA (.347), and the third-best wRC+ (122). The primary culprits in Houston's lineup are undoubtedly Jose Altuve ($4,000), Yordan Alvarez ($4,200), Kyle Tucker ($3,700), and Alex Bregman ($3,300).

Don't ignore the rest of the lineup that features Jose Abreu ($2,700) and Chas McCormick ($3,000). Even Jake Meyers ($2,400) hit a homer out of the nine-hole on Opening Day versus Cortes.

With early-season games in baseball being affected by weather, stacking a game that will take place in a dome -- or warm-weather environment with the roof open -- like this one isn't a terrible strategy. This matchup is tied for the highest projected total (9) on the main slate with the over sitting at -118 odds.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Implied Total: 5.25 | Opposing Pitcher: Cal Quantrill

Another game that is set to take place indoors or in a warm-weather environment is the matchup between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Following a lopsided 16-1 win over the Rockies on Opening Day, the Diamondbacks will square off against Cal Quantrill on Friday.

Quantrill is a pitcher that doesn't generate many swings and misses, indicated by his career-worst marks in swinging strike rate (7.9%) and strikeout rate (13.1%) in 2023 with the Cleveland Guardians. The veteran hurler also tallied career-worst metrics in barrel rate (8.4%) and hard-hit rate (39.2%) last season as he struggles to get pitches by batters.

Things weren't much better for Quantrill in Spring Training where he posted a 5.28 ERA and only five strikeouts while allowing six HRs in 15.1 innings pitched.

The Diamondbacks were a middle-of-the-pack team in the power department against righties in 2023 with the 16th-best ISO (.164), but they did have the fifth-lowest strikeout rate (20.7%) and the 13th-best wOBA (.320). Besides having a lineup that could hit for more power this season, Arizona also has a ton of speed that can generate fantasy points after swiping the third-most bags (128) versus right-handers a season ago.

Corbin Carroll ($3,900), Ketel Marte ($3,600), Lourdes Gurriel ($2,900), and Christian Walker ($3,500) are the main players to focus on at the top of the order. Gurriel recorded three hits, a homer, and five RBIs on Opening Day, and his salary is still under $3,000.

With the Diamondbacks set to face a righty on the mound, Joc Pederson ($2,700) and Alek Thomas ($2,600) are also worth mentioning.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Implied Total: 5.27 | Opposing Pitcher: Zack Thompson

The Los Angeles Dodgers could legitimately be listed as a top stack on each slate they are featured on. While the Dodgers should be popular on nearly every slate, we'll have to try to get somewhat different by using wraparound stacks where we insert some of the bottom-of-the order players into our lineups.

On Friday, the Dodgers unsurprisingly possess the highest implied total (5.27) on the main slate with Zack Thompson getting the nod for the St. Louis Cardinals. Thompson enjoyed a solid 3.98 SIERA and 25.1% strikeout rate with 66.1 innings pitched in 2023.

It remains to be seen if Thompson can sustain those numbers as he also tallied a 1.42 WHIP and 43.6% hard-hit rate while being in the 17th percentile in average exit velocity (90.3).

The bad news for Thompson is he'll have to begin his season against a lineup that is loaded with Mookie Betts ($4,500), Shohei Ohtani ($4,400), Freddie Freeman ($4,000), and Will Smith ($3,400). Betts, Ohtani, and Freeman were all 19th or better in ISO against left-handed pitching in 2023.

Betts has begun the season red-hot with two HRs, eight RBIs, and five runs while he produced a .450 wOBA, .373 ISO, and 189 wRC+ against left-handed pitchers last year.

Once again, to try to separate from everyone else who is stacking the Dodgers, we can benefit from using players in the latter part of the batting order. Chris Taylor($2,600) -- who was 20th in ISO against lefties last season -- and Enrique Hernandez ($2,300) are both potentially going to be in the lineup on Friday versus a southpaw.

Baseball is back! To celebrate, all FanDuel customers get a 50% Profit Boost to use on any MLB wager taking place on March 29th. See the promotions page for more information.

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.