3 FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks for Wednesday 6/26/24

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

Minnesota Twins

Implied Total: 4.65 | Opposing Pitcher: Ryne Nelson

The Minnesota Twins' offense has been hot this June and will now have arguably the best matchup of any team on tonight's slate. They're scheduled to face off against the Arizona Diamondbacks and third-year right-hander Ryne Nelson in tonight's tilt. Nelson has thrown to a poor 5.18 ERA across 13 games and has the third-worst Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA) among qualified pitchers over the last month.

Nelson is striking batters out just 15.1% of the time this season -- the next-closest pitcher on tonight's slate has a 19.2% K rate on the year. While he's walking only 6.3% of the hitters he's facing, he has an inflated 1.51 WHIP because he's allowing a ton of contact. He does a decent job of forcing grounders but still has a 3.2% home run rate allowed.

The Twins should get to tee off on him tonight. Carlos Correa ($3,600) is projected for a team-high 14.7 FanDuel points here and has a 1.004 OPS over the last two weeks. He and Royce Lewis ($4,500) have been crushing homers lately and should lead the way for the Twins again tonight.

The rest of the Twins' lineup comes at more reasonable salaries for tonight's contests. Max Kepler ($2,900) is back from the injured list and is projected for 13.3 FanDuel points, making him the second-best value play on the slate tonight, according to numberFire's model.

Each of Carlos Santana, Willi Castro, Ryan Jeffers, Trevor Larnach, and Byron Buxton are projected for between 11.8 and 12.7 FanDuel points, illustrating how favorable tonight's setup is for the Twins. And fortunately, each of those batters is salaried between $2,800 and $3,100, making them a pretty easy team to line up stacks for.

If you were to choose just one or two from that grouping, consider Buxton and Santana. Buxton's +430 odds to hit a home run trail only Lewis' +320 odds in the game, and the veteran has the fifth-best wRC+ on the team over the last month.

Santana's 188 wRC+ in that time ranks second on the team -- behind Lewis, of course -- as the veteran has been on a tear since the calendar flipped to June. He's batting .357 with a 1.044 OPS over the last two weeks and has been hitting fifth or sixth in the lineup recently, putting him in prime position for your stacks today.

Boston Red Sox

Implied Total: 5.20 | Opposing Pitcher: Yariel Rodriguez

If the Twins don't have the softest matchup on the slate, it's probably because the Boston Red Sox do. They'll square off against the Toronto Blue Jays and struggling starter Yariel Rodriguez in tonight's game. Their implied total of 5.20 runs is the highest on the slate.

Rodriguez had a promising start to his debut MLB season, but the wheels have fallen off for him as the season progresses. He missed all of May and most of June with a back injury, and he coughed up 4 earned runs in 1.1 innings of action against the Cleveland Guardians in his return, bringing his season ERA up to 5.94, the highest among starting pitchers on tonight's slate.

Rafael Devers ($3,800) carries a team-high projection of 14 FanDuel points, the eighth-highest among tonight's batters. The star third baseman has homered in back-to-back games, bringing his season total up to 16, putting him on a decent pace to rival his career-best 38 home runs from 2021.

Jarren Duran ($4,000) has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball this month and is projected for a solid 13.7 FanDuel points tonight. Boston's leadoff hitter does have a lofty salary but is tied for the ninth-most runs scored this season (55) and has scored the fourth-most (24) over the last month.

Behind them, any of Boston's platoon bats are worth considering here. Wilyer Abreu ($3,200) has been a bit slow since coming back from the injured list last week, but he still has a solid .853 OPS against righties on the year. David Hamilton ($3,100) is a menace on the basepaths, has a .854 OPS over the last month, and is projected for a solid 11.8 FanDuel points today.

And of course, we can't forget about Tyler O'Neill ($3,400), who hit another home run last night and has a .908 OPS on the season. His +390 odds to hit a home run are the third-shortest in this game, trailing only Devers' and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s chances.

Chicago Cubs

Implied Total: 3.85 | Opposing Pitcher: Hayden Birdsong

The Chicago Cubs don't have a high implied total for tonight's game, but they will be squaring off against a rookie in his MLB debut, as the San Francisco Giants have called up Hayden Birdsong.

Birdsong has an impressive, if short, minors resume. The 22-year-old has a strong 2.51 ERA on the year with an impressive 11.8 K/9 rate and 1.17 WHIP to boot. But just 2 of his 13 starts this year came at the Triple-A level, and now he's being asked to take another leap up into the Majors.

Three of the Cubs' top plays tonight also happen to rank among the top values on the slate, according to numberFire's model, making them an appealing stack. Cody Bellinger ($3,200) is projected for a team-best 14.4 FanDuel points and is the third-best value on the slate, while teammate Michael Busch has a low $2,600 salary despite a 13.3-point projection, making him the top value play tonight.

Nico Hoerner ($2,900) is the ninth-best value and is projected for 12 FanDuel points. He's been having a tough season, but over the last week has hit for a .273 average with 4 walks and 3 stolen bases. His 12-point projection is the third-highest among eligible shortstops tonight.

Only Bellinger (+560) has shorter odds to hit a home run than Christopher Morel (+600) and Seiya Suzuki (+600) on the Cubs tonight. Morel ($3,400) and Suzuki ($3,300) are projected for 12.1 and 11.4 FanDuel points, respectively, and are set up for a decent bounce-back spot against the rookie tonight.

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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.