Stacking has been a popular way to bring down tournaments, and some stacks are even cash game viable. We offer three free top stacks of the night and will provide stacks in a wide range of price tags. We do want to make it known that stacks in Colorado are often fairly obvious and popular stacks. We don't feel the need to break down Colorado stacks and will be more focused on other stacking options. Unless we are struggling to find three others, Colorado stacks will be a top choice but not broken down. We tend to look at park factors, Vegas numbers, starting pitcher and bullpen numbers, and various offensive stats. Feel free to shoot us questions on Twitter at @BrentHeiden1, @JGuilbault11, and @dfcafe.

Chicago Cubs (5.6) Vs. Kyle Freeland (L)

SP Splits (2017-2018)

wOBA Allowed

ISO Allowed

FB%

K%

BB%

Hard% Allowed

Vs. LHB

.317.15441.1%29.7%6%31.9%
Vs. RHB.342.16126.1%12.4%10%31.1%

Chicago will likely be a chalk stack tonight, mainly due to the fact Wrigley has some wind blowing out, and at times that can mean high scoring game here. However, if you want to avoid the chalk, fade it or use maybe a bat or two as one-offs. Kyle Freeland is a groundball pitcher, which could negate some of the potential flyballs carrying into the wind. Freeland has allowed a .328 wOBA and .212 ISO off right-handers this season, but has a 50% groundball rate and isn't allowing a ton of hard-contact. Pitching in Coors inflates numbers, but his starts have been worse off on the road so far this season, where he has allowed a .362 wOBA so far this season. Once again, small sample size, but something to note given last year he also struggled away from home, allowing a .363 wOBA on the road, and a .321 wOBA in Coors. Freeland throws mainly fastballs, sliders, and sinkers. He will drop in a curveball every now and then, but for the most part this is it.

The theme of this stacking articles is who can hit the slider well it seems, and we start with the Cubs. This is a team full of guys that hit the fastball well, but diving into sinkers and sliders there are a few that standout. Dating back to 2016, Kris Bryant has a .343 wOBA and .203 ISO off sliders. He also has a .418 wOBA and .198 ISO off sinkers. Willson Contreras is one of my favorite bats from this Cubs stack, with a .382 wOBA and .203 ISO against sliders. The rest have some respectable xwOBAs but nothing that pops off the chart. There are guys that just straight mash lefties, like Albert Almora who should be leading off, he has a .399 wOBA and .185 ISO off lefties dating back to last season. Javier Baez is another with a .259 ISO and .352 wOBA dating back to last season. Despite being a lefty, Anthony Rizzo is only $3,600 on DraftKings, and has a .214 ISO off southpaws dating back to last season, with an 80% contact rate.

Cincinnati Reds (4.6) Vs. Jhoulys Chacin (R)

SP Splits (2017-2018)

wOBA Allowed

ISO Allowed

FB%

K%

BB%

Hard% Allowed

Vs. LHB

.348.18233.9%14.2%12.2%33.9%
Vs. RHB.270.10529.8%23.4%7.1%26.7%

This game is a great spot to target offense, and Milwaukee should be the more popular side, although Joey Votto might draw the highest single player ownership. To quickly touch on Milwaukee, the right-handed bats are in an excellent spot tonight. Brandon Finnegan allows a decent amount of home runs, and a .349 wOBA to right-handed bats dating back to last season. He also has allowed a .496 wOBA to lefties. Guys like Lorenzo Cain, Ryan Braun, Jesus Aguilar, Hernan Perez, and Domingo Santana standout as the right-handed bats worth noting. You can use Travis Shaw and Christian Yelich in a contrarian sense.

As far as the Reds go against Jhoulys Chacin, I am intrigued and also somewhat nervous stacking against Chacin can let me down again. His numbers against lefties are still very concerning, allowing a .409 wOBA and .208 ISO this season. Hard-contact is at 40% and he only has a 5.3% strikeout rate. Chacin relies on the slider, throwing it 40% this season, which has just a .237 wOBA. If it is off, he throws his sinker mostly, which has a 54% hard-contact rate, .245 ISO, and .400 wOBA off of this season. Joey Votto is going to be the guy everyone looks at tonight. He is heating up, and now has a .383 wOBA off right-handers. Would you look at that? Guys like Scooter Gennett, Jesse Winker, and Scott Schebler are all lefty bats that standout. Dating back to last season, Gennett, Votto, and Schebler have over a .200 ISO against right-handers. Winker is just below, with a .191 ISO and .402 wOBA.

Boston Red Sox (5.6) Vs. Jason Hammel (R)

SP Splits (2017-2018)

wOBA Allowed

ISO Allowed

FB%

K%

BB%

Hard% Allowed

Vs. LHB

.326.16045.3%18.1%6.7%31.1%
Vs. RHB.316.13834.8%16.8%5.4%32.3%

Jason Hammel isn't someone I tend to pick on, mainly due to the blowup factor not really being there, but I like the Sox offense tonight. Hammel has a .246 wOBA allowed against right-handers this season, but a xwOBA of .314. His xSLG - SLG difference is -0.108 against right-handed handers as well. Hammel has given up more damage to lefties, and while he hasn't shown it early, he does have a -0.276 xSLG-SLG difference, and a .393 xwOBA to lefties despite the .260 wOBA allowed. Hammel is a low strikeout arm with a 5.00 xFIP this season, and is simply outperforming. Hammel throws his sinker and slider about 60% of the time, and both have an xwOBA over .350 this season.

Boston's offense has regressed as expected, and could be without Mookie Betts tonight, who is day-to-day with a hamstring injury. If he cracks the lineup, he has a .395 wOBA and .229 ISO off sinkers dating back to 2016. He also has a .172 ISO off sliders. Most of these Boston bats have exceptional numbers off sinkers, as Rafael Devers is the only one under a .330 wOBA in the projected lineup tonight, but he still has the lefty advantage against Hammel, and it is a small sample size. Digging into more of the slider numbers, Andre Benintendi stands out with a .361 wOBA and .224 ISO, and also has a 37% hard-contact. Hanley Ramirez and J.D. Martinez both have ISOs over .200 against the pitch, and the same goes for Jackie Bradley Jr. We saw Eduardo Nunez leadoff on Sunday with Betts out, and that could be the case again. Nunez is a solid contact bat for a cheap price tag. If Mitch Moreland cracks the lineup, you can consider him as well. He has a .365 wOBA off right-handers this season, with a .256 ISO. He was one of the larger wOBA-xwOBA difference hitters last season, and still is in 2018. He has an xwOBA of .485, with a 40.6% hard-contact rate, and average distance of 330 feet.



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