Today’s stacks article is going to be broken into three sections according to the slates FanDuel is offering: a seven-game early only slate, a five-game afternoon only slate, and a four-game evening slate. Note that DraftKings has the early only and afternoon only slate combined into a 12-game slate and is also offering the four-game evening slate.
Early Only
The Chalk
The Angels and the Red Sox are the two teams playing on this slate with implied run totals over five per Vegas. The Angels will face Detroit and left-hander Matt Boyd in Detroit, and the Sox will host Toronto with right-hander Aarón Sánchez on the hill. The weather is considerably more hitter-friendly in Detroit where game time temps will be in the 90’s, while it will be in the low 60’s in Boston.
Dating back to last season, Los Angeles has three hitters who have been at least 40 percent better than league average against left-handed pitching: Mike Trout , Justin Upton and Zack Cozart . Trout is obviously chalk, Upton is DTD with a forearm contusion but probably plays today, and Cozart is heating up a bit with seven hits in his last four games. Build your LA stack around those three. Ian Kinsler , Andrelton Simmons and Jefry Marte are all about average against lefties and could fill out that stack.
Mookie Betts is likely out of the lineup for Boston today, so build your Boston stack around J.D. Martínez , Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland . Benintendi and Moreland will have the platoon advantage against Sanchez, and Martinez has no issue without it with a 159 wRC+ vs. RHP since the beginning of last season. If Jackie Bradley Jr. gets a start, he has decent numbers in his career against Sanchez.
Not the Chalk
St. Louis has the fourth highest implied total of the early slate, but it’s considerably lower than that of the Angels and Red Sox and even the Nats who have the third highest implied total. St. Louis will face lefty Brent Suter in Milwaukee. Lefties are a good matchup for them as their lefties that hit righties well are struggling this season, but their right-handed hitters are having fine seasons. Jose Martinez , Tommy Pham and Marcell Ozuna are the team’s best hitters and who you should build that stack around. Jedd Gyorko also has a 175 wRC+ vs. LHP dating back to last season. The Cards are also getting a positive park shift on the road.
Afternoon-Only
The Chalk
Cleveland is easily the chalk here with the highest implied total of the slate and the second highest implied total of the day against the White Sox with Dylan Covey on the mound. Covey has actually been half decent in two starts this season with a 3.46 ERA after being an abomination last year. However, his soft contact rate generated is under 20 percent, so his numbers are going to get worse unless he corrects that issue.
The Indians rank seventh in wRC+ vs. RHP this season, and they have five guys with wRC+ marks vs. RHP ranging from 114 to 156 since the start of last season. José Ramírez is their best hitter against lefties, followed by lefties Michael Brantley and Yonder Alonso , with Edwin Encarnación and Francisco Lindor holding their own against same-handed pitching.
Not the Chalk
There are actually a few good options for contrarian stacks on this slate, but we’ll start with Cleveland’s opponent, the White Sox, in a game that represents an opportunity for a game stack. Cleveland will start Adam Plutko who has a 5.17 xFIP in two starts this season with a soft contact rate generated of only 13.5 percent. Cleveland also has the sixth worst bullpen ERA this season and is currently without Andrew Miller . José Abreu and Yoan Moncada are Chicago’s best hitters against righties, and Yolmer Sánchez is also above average against them. Second baseman José Rondon also has three homers in his last five.
Another game stack option on this slate is Cincinnati at Arizona as Arizona has the second highest implied total of the slate against Homer Bailey , and the Reds are a contrarian option we like. They’ll be facing Matt Koch who has the highest hard contact rate allowed of any probable starter today. Cincy has three lefties with wRC+ marks north of 135 against right-handed pitching, Joey Votto , Scooter Gennett and Jesse Winker . Right-hander Eugenio Suárez is above average against same-handed pitching, and lefty Scott Schebler is right at average with the platoon advantage.
Evening Slate
The Chalk
We’ve got a Coors game tonight, and the two teams playing there, Colorado and San Francisco, are the only two teams on that slate with an implied total over five runs. Right-hander Chad Bettis will start for the Rockies, and left-hander Andrew Suarez will start for the Giants.
Suarez has really struggled with right-handed hitting this season, so Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story are in a great spot tonight. Chris Iannetta is also worth a look if he gets a start. And the lack of the platoon advantage is not a problem for Charlie Blackmon with his 130 wRC+ vs. LHP dating back to last season.
For the Giants, Brandon Belt is the best option with a 150 wRC+ with the platoon advantage, and Buster Posey and Andrew McCutchen are above average against same-handed pitching. Left-hander Brandon Crawford is also a good option as he has been hot this month. He has hits in all but two games in May and has a 1.161 OPS for the month.
Not the Chalk
Minnesota has the fourth highest implied total of the slate, but since it’s only a four-game slate, they’re certainly not the chalk (especially with a Coors game on the slate). They’ll face Kansas City with right-hander Jakob Junis on the mound. Junis has struggled to generate soft contact with a 16 percent soft contact rate generated, and he leans a little on the fly ball side of the spectrum. He has typical splits, though the gap in his performance between lefties and righties isn’t huge.
Eddie Rosario is Minnesota’s best hitter against righties and has multi-hit games in three of his last four. In addition to Rosario the Twins have five hitters with an ISO of .196 or better against right-handed pitching since the start of last season: Logan Morrison , Miguel Sano , Max Kepler , Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar . With Junis not generating much soft contact and being a fly ball pitcher, Minnesota has the chance to go yard a few times tonight.