3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Friday 4/19/24

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3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Friday 4/19/24

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

Atlanta Braves

Implied Total: 5.41 | Opposing Pitcher: Andrew Heaney

With potential weather concerns and low temps in the Coors game, the Atlanta Braves are shaping up to be my favorite team to stack on the main slate. Andrew Heaney is slated to take the mound for the Texas Rangers, setting the Braves up for an explosive outing at home.

While Heaney has yet to pitch more than five innings in his each of his first three starts, he's given up a combined eight earned runs with only three total strikeouts in his last two starts. Despite allowing just a 35.9% hard-hit rate and 2.6% barrel rate to begin the season, Heaney is recording just a 16.9% strikeout rate and a 48.7% flyball rate.

Since the start of the 2023 season, the Braves boast the best wOBA (.365), ISO (.223), and wRC+ (128) against southpaws. Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley ($3,600), and Matt Olson ($3,900) are the primary targets in the early part of Atlanta's loaded lineup.

Even though Olson is a lefty facing Heaney, he leads the Braves with the 10th-best average exit velocity in baseball at 94.3 MPH. Meanwhile, Acuna hit his first homer of the season in his last appearance, and he's tallied multiple hits in five of his last eight games.

Other right-handed bats to deploy from the Braves are Marcell Ozuna ($4,000), Adam Duvall ($2,900), and Orlando Arcia ($3,000). Ozuna is amid a 16-game hit streak while Duvall or Arcia could move up the order with Ozzie Albies sidelined due to a toe ailment.

Duvall interestingly owns the shortest odds to hit a home run (+300) in Friday's contest between the Rangers and Braves.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Implied Total: 4.84 | Opposing Pitcher: Sean Manaea

What a shocker! The Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to be popular teams to stack all season because of their lethal lineups from top to bottom. After two fantastic starts to begin the 2024 campaign, Sean Manaea imploded with nine hits and six earned runs allowed in his last start against the Kansas City Royals.

The concerning metrics for Manaea through three starts is the fact he's in the 10th percentile in barrel rate allowed (13.2%), 34th percentile in walk rate (10.8%), and 25th percentile in xERA (5.11).

Next up for Manaea is the Dodgers, who have added Shohei Ohtani ($4,300) to a lineup that has registered the sixth-best wOBA (.337), third-best ISO (.197), and sixth-best wRC+ (113) versus left-handed pitching since the start of the 2023 season. Ohtani has the shortest odds to hit a home run (+320) on the Dodgers for Friday's showdown.

Mookie Betts ($4,500), Freddie Freeman ($3,500), and Will Smith ($3,300) are the other top-of-the-order options to insert in your Los Angeles stacks. In 32 career plate appearances versus Manaea, 7 of Betts' 10 hits have been of the extra-base variety -- including three homers -- with just three strikeouts.

Teoscar Hernandez ($3,500) shouldn't be ignored against a left-handed pitcher while using Miguel Rojas ($2,300), Enrique Hernandez ($2,400), and Andy Pages ($2,200) in wraparound stacks can be a differentiator on Friday. Behind Ohtani and Betts, Teoscar is tied for the third-most barrels (5) on the Dodgers.

Baltimore Orioles

Implied Total: 4.75 | Opposing Pitcher: Alec Marsh

I was torn between listing the Cleveland Guardians or Baltimore Orioles here, but the salaries for Baltimore give them the edge over Cleveland. Outside of Gunnar Henderson ($3,800) and Colton Cowser ($3,400), all of the bats on the Orioles are sitting at a salary of $3,200 or lower on FanDuel.

Henderson leads the entire league in average exit velocity (96.9 MPH) among players with 50-plus batted-ball events. The young shortstop for Baltimore is tied for the shortest odds to hit a home run (+420) in the Orioles-Royals showdown.

Aside from Henderson and Cowser, the Orioles have plenty of left-handed bats who can do damage versus Alec Marsh.

Cedric Mullins ($3,100), Anthony Santander ($3,000), Adley Rutschman ($3,000), and Ryan O'Hearn ($2,900) are all worth deploying on Friday's main slate with Marsh making his second start of the season versus Baltimore. Of the bunch, Mullins has one home run and 22-plus FanDuel points in three of his last four games.

While Marsh notched five Ks and permitted only one earned run in his first start against the Orioles, I expect things to play out differently this time around. Marsh is only in the 11th percentile in whiff rate (18.0%) and 13th percentile in strikeout rate (14.7%), so Baltimore shouldn't have issues putting the ball in play.

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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.