MLB Stacking To Win It: 8-23-17

Stacking has become a prime way to take down big tournaments, as well as giving your cash game team a solid floor. We focus on opposing pitcher stats, Vegas, weather, park factors, team stats, salaries, and player stats when deciding the top three stacks of the night. I know. Shocker we look at those things. If there is a Coors game on the slate, we will mostly divert our attention elsewhere, as Coors games are the obvious stacks of the night. It doesn't need much breaking down. Be sure to check out or revamped Stack Generator and Stack features inside our Lineup Optimizer and Tools.

R.A. Dickey has been running good, he has not allowed over four runs in a start since back in June, and is pitching deep into games. He continues to give up plenty of baserunners, yet the blowups haven't been there for opposing offenses. Dickey has a 4.94 xFIP against lefties this season, allowing a .312 wOBA. Against right-handers, he is allowing a .354 wOBA with a 4.81 xFIP. Over 131 at-bats against this roster, Dickey has given up a .267 average, and owns just an 11.1% strikeout rate. He also has a FIP over four and a half. Targeting a knuckleball pitcher with a stack is always risky, and you have failed more often than not if you have stacked against Dickey this season. Seattle's lineup has endless possibilities, and we have to watch for Nelson Cruz given the Mariners lose the DH in Atlanta. Seattle is a high risk - high reward stack if you are looking to take risks with multiple lineups.

Remember when Jordan Zimmermann went into Yankee Stadium a few starts ago and shut them out through seven innings. Yeah, that was fun. Well since then, he has allowed 17 earned runs in three starts. I will go back to the well with this Yankees offense, who are struggling at the moment, but have loads of upside. Zimmermann has below a 40% groundball rate against both sides, and has allowed a .381 wOBA to lefties. Guys like Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, and Didi Gregorius all have over a .200 ISO against right-handed pitching this season. Against right-handers, Zimmermann has allowed a .351 wOBA. Gary Sanchez has kept his bat going, but Aaron Judge is in the midst of a big second half slump. One through five is still the stack you want here.

The Cubs are back again in the stacking article, going up against Asher Wojciechowski. Jesus, I am not typing that out again. Asher has allowed a .342 wOBA to right-handers, and a .373 wOBA to lefties in a small sample size this season. He is mainly a fastball hitter, throwing it 62% of the time. Asher was pummeled by the Cubs, allowing seven earned over 3.2 innings, and two long balls. The Cubs have one of the highest implied run totals on the slate, and offer up plenty of stacking options one through eight in the lineup. The more contrarian approach would be stacking the Reds in this game, but the problem is Mike Montgomery rolls a ton of groundballs. He only allows an 18% flyball rate to right-handed bats. It might be troublesome to do so, but if you are building multiple lineups, I am not against it.

Houston will likely rival a lot of the ownership for Chicago and New York tonight, hopefully spreading things out a bit. Edwin Jackson is someone I like to target heavily, well whenever he has pitched in the majors. He has allowed a .368 wOBA to right-handers this season, with a 15.1% strikeout rate. Against lefties, he has allowed a .335 wOBA, and a .250 ISO to both sides. This lineup is loaded with upside top to bottom, but the front six is where the action is. Alex Bregman has been red hot, and moved up in the order recently, adding to guys like George Springer and Jose Altuve. Houston is a pricey bunch, but there are mid-range pitching options to help fit these guys in. Houston has averaged 5.6 runs per game this season, which is first in the majors.