Stacks for Sunday, July 2
Royals
They Royals face off against Hector Santiago today. He is only priced higher than his opponent, Travis Wood today, and Wood is on a roughly 65-pitch count limit. Hector had a short start last time due to rain, but still took the loss to give him six straight losses. His only non-decision in his last seven games was vs the Royals, who he has actually pitched well against this year, going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two starts.
Starting with his May 19th start vs the Royals, Santiago is 0-5 with a 9.51 ERA. He also is not great in lefty/lefty matchups this season, as they are hitting .463 vs Santiago, and has allowed a slugging percentage of .878 (36 Total Bases / 41 ABs) vs left-handed batters this season (Rank: 178th of 178 qualified SPs in MLB; League Avg: .447). Eric Hosmer is the best lefty vs Hector today, as he is batting .406 with two homers in 32 lifetime AB’s vs him.
The Royals and Twins split a doubleheader yesterday, and may see some usual starters taking a seat today. If players listed below are not playing, feel free to use any combo of Royals as Santiago should get lit up today.
Top Suggested Stack: Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas, Jorge Soler or Brandon Moss or Alex Gordon from the OF. Drew Butera if catching.
Cubs
I’m sticking with the Cubs again today in the series finale vs a Reds team they should be beating. They face Tim Adleman on a nice 85 degree Sunday afternoon in a hitter’s park. The Cubs should have a better lineup with Ben Zobrist back today, which could move Rizzo back to leading off. Adleman faced the Cubs back in April, and pitched well, including seven strikeouts. He hasn’t looked great though over his last ten starts, allowing at least three runs in six of them. Adleman has also walked 13 while allowing 7 long balls over his last four starts. The Cubs have scored three or more runs in 8.3% of their innings played against division opponents this season (Rank: 3rd of 30 in MLB; League).
The Cubs should be pumped for having Ben back, as well as back to Rizzo leading off. With the Rays vs Orioles once again being a top target, the Cubs may go unnoticed today.
Top Stack Suggestions: Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, Willson Contreras or Javier Baez.
Marlins
Miami has lost four in a row, and have a great chance to end that streak today vs a struggling Junior Guerra. He allowed three earned runs in three straight games before being rocked for eight earned runs in his last start. He allowed four long balls that game, and at least one in seven of his eight starts. His command has been the issue, as Guerra had a 16:19 K-to-walk ratio for the month of June.
The Marlins have drawn only 109 walks in 1,828 PAs (6.0%) versus starting pitchers this season (Rank: 30th of 30 in MLB; League Avg: 8.2%), but Marlins hitters have homered 35 times with the pitcher behind in the count this season (Rank: 5th of 30 in MLB). Miami has only scored nine runs during their four game slide, but think they double that mark today.
Power Stack: Giancarlos Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich, Justin Bour
Lefty Stack: Dee Gordon, Justin Bour, Christian Yelich, Derek Dietrich or J.T. Riddle