**Please note that there are legit weather concerns in Washington, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati today. While they may try to squeeze those games in on getaway day, I would rather ignore them over worrying about it during NFL opening day.**
Top Stacking Options
Rays if pitching deGrom
Won’t go into too much detail since it’s more about NFL today, but with rain concerns for MLB, and deGrom taking the mound, the choices may be a little limited for stacking. The Rays check in with a 10-game home winning streak, and will look to sweep the O’s after outscoring them 24-7 (hopefully the same score of the Bears win over the Packers tonight) over the first two games of this series. The O’s are starting Rodgers for the third time this year, and possibly last time, but it’s more about the Rays value bats. Tommy Pham will likely be the highest cost Rays option and has three triples and a homer over his last five games, while also batting .381 over his last ten. Ji-Man Choi and Jakob Bauers are your cheap 1B options, with Choi being the hotter, and more expensive bat, but Bauers has reached base four times, and has three runs in this first two games of this series. Kevin Kiermaier is cheap on FD, and may have to wait for lineups to come out to find that fourth player to use in a Rays stack.
KC/MIN if taking deGrom or Clevinger
With deGrom and Clevinger well above the field in regards to pitching, I think finding the cheap bats is the right move over finding the cheap pitcher that could take a perfect game into the 9th (I did have Lopez in the playbook fyi). I think this game goes back to it’s Friday night type of game which means we’ll see some runs. Kennedy is making his first start for KC since 7/10, and was 1-8, with a 5.13 before his injury. On the other side, De Jong is making his first start since being traded to the Twins, and had a 6.35 era last season in the majors. Eddie Rosario will be your high priced option from this game, and is 8-19, with a homer off of Kennedy, while a large number of other Twins have also taken him deep. After Rosario, you pretty much have no other top priced bat, and will likely come down to your personal preference plays. Have to keep in mind that today is a NFL day, and those playing MLB will be very smart players, so trying to be different today is key for gpp’s.
Indians with Rowdy Tellez from Toronto before his price jump
Why Rowdy Tellez ? He’s the first player in roughly 100 years to have six doubles as his first six hits, and then added a homer last night. Expect his price to jump up tomorrow, but if not wanting to ride his bat, Yonder Alonso is roughly the same as him on DK. Cleveland is rolling, and facing Pannone today, who followed up his one hitter over seven innings debut by allowing seven runs in his second start, but of which were vs the O’s. I do think the Indians could start their “B” team today, so this is more about the opposing pitcher and spot for Cleveland over their bats. Having said that, you can’t go wrong paying up for Lindor and Ramirez, but it’s best to really look for value bats in good spots today.
Possible Lower-Owned Stack
Angels
While I don’t mind the big bounceback spot for the Cards, I’d rather ride the hot bats in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani . Trout went 5-5 with two homers last night, and as mentioned in the playbook yesterday, Shields wasn’t going to pitch around him. I can’t say the same for Lopez though, which I why the Angels aren’t in the top part of this piece. Ohtani is 7-12, with a triple, three homers, and nine rbi’s over his last three games. Both face Lopez, who is winless at home since 6/26. Could add in Andrelton Simmons , and a Kole Calhoun to complete the four pack. I don’t mind the White Sox as a full game stack play, as Heaney is 1-6, with a 5.02 era on the road this year.
Bonus Stack: Coors on DK
FanDuel tried to “even the playing field” by removing the game at Coors in their main slate today, but could target it on DK. Plenty of routes to take on both sides of this game, and after two low scoring contests, I think we see some runs today. Justin Turner is 12-24, with a homer off the lefty Anderson, while Charlie Blackmon is 9-18 in the L/L matchup vs Hill if looking to go with the Rockies more. Plenty of other top priced bats to take from this game, but if not taking deGrom, you’ll have the salary for them. If looking for some cheaper options from this game, David Freese from the Dodgers, and Drew Butera as the punt catcher from the Rockies would be my preferred plays.