This article is part of our DFS MLB series.
Top DFS Pitching and Team Stacking Strategies for DraftKings
In this article, I'm going to take a deeper dive into pitching and team stacking options. Let's take a look at our optimizer's rankings of the pitchers for the DraftKings 10-game main slate, sorted by projected fantasy points.
Visit RotoWire's MLB Daily Lineups to find out where the hitters slot in!
Potential rain delay in Royals at Cardinals and Diamondbacks at Braves. Proceed accordingly!
Tonight's 10-game slate only features three starters priced $9k or higher, with the two highest priced options both being pitchers we've highlighted in Chris Sale and Nick Pivetta. The latter has the matchup advantage against the Giants, who haven't scored five runs in a game since May 16. Sale can't be ignored with his high strikeout rate, and since holding Arizona to one run in April, has put up 22+ DK points in 5-of-6 starts.
We also went ahead and starred Shane Baz and Cade Povich in our optimizer. Povich's $1,900 discount compared to his FanDuel salary makes him intriguing as a value option, while Baz gets a Rangers offense that is bottom five in runs scored and have a sub .300 OBP. We can safely stay away from the White Sox, who are going the opener/bulk relief route, and we're projecting Jeffrey Springs to go for the Athletics although they've yet to officially announce a starter. Note that Luis L. Ortiz also ranks well in the metrics below.
Here's how each pitcher ranks in key
Top DFS Pitching and Team Stacking Strategies for DraftKings
In this article, I'm going to take a deeper dive into pitching and team stacking options. Let's take a look at our optimizer's rankings of the pitchers for the DraftKings 10-game main slate, sorted by projected fantasy points.
Visit RotoWire's MLB Daily Lineups to find out where the hitters slot in!
Potential rain delay in Royals at Cardinals and Diamondbacks at Braves. Proceed accordingly!
Tonight's 10-game slate only features three starters priced $9k or higher, with the two highest priced options both being pitchers we've highlighted in Chris Sale and Nick Pivetta. The latter has the matchup advantage against the Giants, who haven't scored five runs in a game since May 16. Sale can't be ignored with his high strikeout rate, and since holding Arizona to one run in April, has put up 22+ DK points in 5-of-6 starts.
We also went ahead and starred Shane Baz and Cade Povich in our optimizer. Povich's $1,900 discount compared to his FanDuel salary makes him intriguing as a value option, while Baz gets a Rangers offense that is bottom five in runs scored and have a sub .300 OBP. We can safely stay away from the White Sox, who are going the opener/bulk relief route, and we're projecting Jeffrey Springs to go for the Athletics although they've yet to officially announce a starter. Note that Luis L. Ortiz also ranks well in the metrics below.
Here's how each pitcher ranks in key categories (pitchers with less than 10 IP not included):
| Pitcher | Fantasy Points | FIP | K% | Opponent K% |
| Chris Sale | 1 | 2 | 2 | 17 |
| Nick Pivetta | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Shane Baz | 3 | 15 | 12 | 5 |
| Noah Cameron | 4 | 6 | 15 | 16 |
| Clarke Schmidt | 5 | 9 | 7 | 11 |
| Zebby Matthews | 6 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
| Sawyer Gipson-Long | 7 | N/A | N/A | 4 |
| Jose Berrios | 8 | 12 | 10 | 14 |
| Cade Povich | 9 | 13 | 8 | 3 |
| Merrill Kelly | 10 | 5 | 9 | 9 |
| Luis L. Ortiz | 11 | 8 | 5 | 8 |
| Kyle Harrison | 12 | 7 | 4 | 19 |
| Tony Gonsolin | 13 | 17 | 6 | 15 |
| Jeffrey Springs | 14 | 14 | 13 | 10 |
| Mick Abel | 15 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
| Emerson Hancock | 16 | 16 | 16 | 1 |
| Griffin Canning | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Miles Mikolas | 18 | 4 | 17 | 18 |
| Kumar Rocker | 19 | 11 | 14 | 7 |
| Jared Shuster/Mike Vasil | 20 | N/A | N/A | 2 |
Analyzing Team Stack Rankings for Maximum DFS Impact
Here is how each team ranks in implied runs, BABIP (batting average on balls in play) and how popular we expect each team stack to be in GPPs:
| Team | Implied Runs | BABIP | Stack Popularity |
| Twins | 6.6 | 10 | High |
| Yankees | 6.0 | 6 | Medium |
| Dodgers | 6.0 | 3 | High |
| Tigers | 5.3 | 2 | High |
| Phillies | 4.8 | 4 | High |
| Rays | 4.8 | 7 | Low |
| Braves | 4.8 | 8 | Medium |
| Cardinals | 4.7 | 1 | Low |
| Blue Jays | 4.6 | 12 | Medium |
| Mets | 4.5 | 15 | High |
| Mariners | 4.5 | 17 | Medium |
| Orioles | 4.5 | 11 | Medium |
| Royals | 4.2 | 9 | Medium |
| Rangers | 4.0 | 20 | Low |
| Athletics | 3.8 | 5 | High |
| Padres | 3.7 | 13 | Medium |
| Giants | 3.6 | 16 | Low |
| Guardians | 3.4 | 18 | Medium |
| White Sox | 3.1 | 19 | Low |
| Diamondbacks | 3.1 | 14 | Low |
My primary team stack targets
Twins vs. LHP Springs (5.02 FIP, 1.5 HR/9). Key pieces: Ryan Jeffers, Ty France, Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton
Mariners vs. LHP Povich (5.29 ERA, 1.6 HR/9). Key pieces: Dylan Moore, Randy Arozarena, Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, J.P. Crawford
Tigers vs. LHP Shuster (6.14 ERA, 1.77 WHIP). Key pieces: Jake Rogers, Spencer Torkelson, Gleyber Torres, Andy Ibanez, Riley Greene
Mets vs. RHP Gonsolin (6.01 FIP, 2.3 HR/9). Key pieces: Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, Tyrone Taylor
Key Matchups and Batter vs. Pitcher Insights for DFS Success
Notable hitter matchups against the opposing starter today:
- Bryson Stott: 3-for-5, 1 HR; .600 BA, 1.800 OPS
- Paul Goldschmidt: 7-for-10, 2 2B; .700 BA, 1.650 OPS
- Willy Adames: 5-for-11, 1 HR; .455 BA, 1.629 OPS
- Steven Kwan: 6-for-10, 1 2B; .600 BA, 1.336 OPS
- Teoscar Hernandez: 4-for-10, 1 HR; .400 BA, 1.200 OPS
- Dominic Smith: 5-for-13, 1 HR; .385 BA, 1.236 OPS
- Jonathan India: 8-for-25, 3 HR; .320 BA, 1.113 OPS
- Jose Ramirez: 4-for-11, 1 HR; .364 BA, 1.091 OPS
- Juan Soto: 5-for-14, 2 XBH; .357 BA, .929 OPS
- Austin Riley: 4-for-12, 1 HR; .333 BA, 1.083 OPS
- Nick Castellanos: 8-for-21, 1 HR; .381 BA, .952 OPS
- Ronald Acuna: 4-for-10; .400 BA, .800 OPS
- Randal Grichuk: 6-for-25, 2 HR; .240 BA, .816 OPS
