MLB DFS Pitcher & Team Stacks Guide for Wednesday, May 21

MLB DFS Pitcher & Team Stacks Guide for Wednesday, May 21

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 seven-game main slate, sorted by projected fantasy points.

Visit RotoWire's MLB Daily Lineups to find out where the hitters slot in!

*Possible postponement/delay in the Braves at Nationals game. Proceed accordingly!

We have two pitchers in the $10k range in Garrett Crochet and Jacob deGrom, both of whom figure to be quite popular on the medium-sized slate. Crochet is my preference to spend up on as his numbers have been better, and the Mets have just a .306 wOBA across the last 14 days.

From there, you can see that we've also starred AJ Smith-Shawver, Tylor Megill and Trevor Williams in our optimizer. Williams gets a $1,400 discount compared to his FanDuel salary and his 3.76 FIP (5.91 ERA) shows that he's due for some positive regression. Meanwhile, Smith-Shawver gets a matchup against a Nationals team that only has two batters with an OPS over .700 in their projected lineup. I think spending up on deGrom is also fine tonight.

Here's how each pitcher ranks in key categories (stats are from 2025 season only):

PitcherFantasy PointsFIPK%Opponent K%
Garrett Crochet11110
Jacob deGrom2534
AJ Smith-Shawver3347
Kevin Gausman47514
Tylor Megill52

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 seven-game main slate, sorted by projected fantasy points.

Visit RotoWire's MLB Daily Lineups to find out where the hitters slot in!

*Possible postponement/delay in the Braves at Nationals game. Proceed accordingly!

We have two pitchers in the $10k range in Garrett Crochet and Jacob deGrom, both of whom figure to be quite popular on the medium-sized slate. Crochet is my preference to spend up on as his numbers have been better, and the Mets have just a .306 wOBA across the last 14 days.

From there, you can see that we've also starred AJ Smith-Shawver, Tylor Megill and Trevor Williams in our optimizer. Williams gets a $1,400 discount compared to his FanDuel salary and his 3.76 FIP (5.91 ERA) shows that he's due for some positive regression. Meanwhile, Smith-Shawver gets a matchup against a Nationals team that only has two batters with an OPS over .700 in their projected lineup. I think spending up on deGrom is also fine tonight.

Here's how each pitcher ranks in key categories (stats are from 2025 season only):

PitcherFantasy PointsFIPK%Opponent K%
Garrett Crochet11110
Jacob deGrom2534
AJ Smith-Shawver3347
Kevin Gausman47514
Tylor Megill5223
Corbin Burnes61168
JP Sears79101
Taijuan Walker8482
Trevor Williams96116
Dustin May1010713
Ryan Yarbrough111295
Jack Kochanowicz12141212
Randy Vasquez13131311
Carson Palmquist148149

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:

TeamImplied RunsBABIPStack Popularity
Phillies7.61High
Athletics6.78High
Dodgers5.63Medium
Blue Jays5.37Medium
Braves5.26High
Red Sox4.82Low
Diamondbacks4.311High
Angels4.314Medium
Yankees4.14Medium
Rockies3.912Medium
Rangers3.813Medium
Nationals3.79Low
Mets3.610Low
Padres3.55Low

My primary team stack targets

Angels vs. LHP Sears (3.92 FIP vs. 3.31 ERA). Key pieces: Logan O'Hoppe, Yoan Moncada, Zach Neto, Jorge Soler, Taylor Ward

Athletics vs. RHP Kochanowicz (5.26 FIP, 1.47 WHIP). Key pieces: Nick Kurtz, Luis Urias, Lawrence Butler, Tyler Soderstrom, Brent Rooker

Blue Jays vs. RHP Vasquez (5.12 FIP, 1.49 WHIP). Key pieces: Alejandro Kirk, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger, Bo Bichette, Anthony Santander

Diamondbacks vs. RHP May (4.43 ERA). Key pieces: Pavin Smith, Lourdes Gurriel, Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Josh Naylor

Key Matchups and Batter vs. Pitcher Insights for DFS Success

Notable hitter matchups against the opposing starter today:

For up-to-the-minute updates on injuries, lineups, roster changes and more, head to RotoWire's Fantasy Baseball News & Latest MLB Updates or follow @RotoWireMLB on X.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryan Pohle
Ryan Pohle is a DFS Product Specialist at RotoWire and has written for the site since 2020.
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