I’m all for subtlety, but sometimes a job calls for a blunt instrument. Wednesday’s MLB DFS slate is one of those times. You can mess around with stacking the Phillies or Rangers if you want to, but I think you will be hard-pressed to compete with some of the best offenses in baseball in some really great situations. If you are going to stack, you may as well spend some money, even if it means missing out on an expensive starting pitcher. Go big or go home, as I always say (I never say that).
Here are my stacks for Wednesday, July 19, listed in order of preference:
Los Angeles Dodgers @ Chicago White Sox (Carlos Rodon, L)
Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernández, Corey Seager, Austin Barnes, Logan Forsythe
The Dodgers rank third with an .818 OPS against lefties this season, thanks in part to Justin Turner’s league-leading 1.365 OPS against lefties. Remember when he used to be the oddball who was much better against righties than lefties? I guess that was just small-sample noise.
Arizona Diamondbacks @ Cincinnati Reds (Tim Adleman, R)
Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb, J.D. Martinez, Brandon Drury, David Peralta, Chris Herrmann, A.J. Pollock
Like most of these stacks, the Diamondbacks have a lot of firepower at the top of the lineup, but I especially like that you can get some values like Drury, Peralta and Hermann on FanDuel. The Diamondbacks are fourth in OPS against righties this season, and Tim Adleman has allowed at least three earned runs in five consecutive starts.
Washington Nationals @ Los Angeles Angels (Alex Meyer, R)
Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Daniel Murphy, Wilmer Difo, Brian Goodwin, Ryan Zimmerman
Nationals hitters have 16 home runs versus RHP over the past 7 days. Anthony Rendon is slugging 1.533 versus RHP over the past 7 days. You can stack the heart of the Nationals order pretty easily, though I would probably include Wilmer Difo in any stack just to save some money.
Colorado Rockies vs. San Diego Padres (Clayton Richard, L)
Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, Mark Reynolds, Gerardo Parra, Ian Desmond, DJ LeMahieu
Clayton Richard has allowed an .880 slugging percentage on non-fastballs over the last 30 days. If he can’t get the Rockies out with his offspeed pitches, how is he going to get them out at all? Nobody has been able to get Gerardo Parra out lately. He is 7-for-11 over his last three games and he is batting .516 over the last 30 days. The Rockies have a .796 OPS against lefties and a league-leading .842 OPS at home.
Others Receiving Votes:
Texas Rangers @ Baltimore Orioles (Kevin Gausman, R)
Elvis Andrus, Shin-Soo Choo, Nomar Mazara, Adrian Beltre, Rougned Odor
Minnesota Twins vs. New York Yankees (Jordan Montgomery, L)
Miguel Sano, Eduardo Escobar, Brian Dozier, Robbie Grossman, Chris Gimenez