MLB DFS Picks: Stack Slants for DraftKings + FanDuel

With an early start and a very short four-game MLB DFS slate we’re going with a single stack pick here. Last night’s Quick Hits stacks were the Twins and the Rays, both of whom are among the top three teams on the stacks board on both sites. They are both also drawing heavy ownership in initial projections, though it might be worth keeping an eye on the Twins with the odd-duck lineup they’re rolling out.

On the lower-owned side of things, we have a couple of good options to work with, in addition to having low-owned individuals scattered throughout the chalkier lineups. Of the top low-owned teams only one really stands out as a significant ownership advantage when compared with their probability of being the top team on the scoreboard tonight, though it’s a team with high pricing and the toughest matchup on the board. A safer pick than the one we’re about to dive into could be the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays are drawing less ownership than their chances of success, and they are in a slightly better matchup against Blake Snell and the Rays bullpen.

MLB DFS Stack Slants | DraftKings + FanDuel | Sept. 26

New York Yankees – 1-2-3-5-7 – LeMahieu – Judge – Hicks – Voit – Torres

The Yankees are the contrarian pick of the day. The matchup against likely 2020 Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber is a monumentally challenging one. The right-handed hurler put up an absolutely dominant year, he was the first pitcher since 2006 to win the pitching triple crown with eight wins, 122 strikeouts and a 1.63 ERA. In his 77.1 innings, Bieber has a 2.04 xFIP and a ludicrous 41.4% strikeout rate. The pitcher is an absolute beast, and he’s in peak form.

Still, the Yankees were fifth in baseball with a .209 ISO and a WRC+ 23% above average against right-handed pitching this season. Their 21.5% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate belies their reputation as a free-swinging disaster of a lineup. When we can buy this much quality with a lot of leverage against a heavily owned pitcher at what are somewhat discounted prices, it must be considered. The team ranks fourth among the eight teams on the stacks board, and they’re drawing around a quarter of the ownership their probability of success warrants.

The Yankees likely lineup should be familiar to anyone who has played MLB DFS this season. With second baseman D.J. LeMahieu leading off at $5,200 on DraftKings and $3,900 on FanDuel, the Bombers start things off with one of the best hitters in baseball. In his 216 plate appearances in 2020, LeMahieu won a batting title going .364/.421/.590 with a .226 ISO and a WRC+ 77% above average. He hits for plenty of pop on his own, putting up 10 home runs this season, and he’s even better setting the table for hitters behind him, making him an ideal part of this stack at less than 7% ownership.

Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks are both trending for under six percent ownership on the slate and they should be hitting second and third. Judge is one of the top power options in the sport, he’s the highest-priced Yankees player at $5,400 on DraftKings and $4,000 on FanDuel. Judge hit nine home runs in just 114 plate appearances this season and holds a .297 ISO with a WRC+ 40% above average. In 766 plate appearances against righties since the start of 2018, Judge has a .248 ISO and a WRC+ 34% above average with 44 home runs.

Hicks is one of the more discerning hitters in the lineup, his ability to work a count and get on base despite a low batting average keeps him afloat for the major league club. His added power puts him in play for MLB DFS purposes. All in, the outfielder put up a WRC+ 24% above average in 2020, and he costs just $3,600. Hicks makes things in this stack work with his price and lack of popularity.

Giancarlo Stanton is drawing essentially no ownership, which seems disrespectful of the massive power potential in his bat. Stanton saw just 94 plate appearances in 2020 while managing another litany of lingering injuries. He hit four home runs in that small sample. Stanton makes plenty of sense as a cheap power bat that can differentiate lineups in stacks or even as a one-off.

Related MLB DFS Content

Luke Voit led the league in home runs this season with 22. That’s a sentence I never thought I would read or write. The first baseman is drawing under 3% ownership at a reduced $4,900 price tag. With DraftKings pitching coming in at an extreme discount today, it should be no problem to get to the slugger in stacks.

Gio Urshela has been productive since joining the Yankees and had a good year in 2020. The third baseman had a .214 ISO and a WRC+ 37% above average in his 463 plate appearances against right-handed pitching since the start of last season. He’s a pay-up-to-be-extremely-contrarian option on tonight’s slate.

Gleyber Torres is possibly the best overall player on this team. He costs $4,600 on DraftKings and a mere $3,300 on FanDuel. The shortstop made 160 plate appearances this season and hit just three home runs with a .125 ISO. Torres had a WRC+ 3% above average with a .243/.356/.368 slash on the season. In his 917 plate appearances against righties since the start of 2018, Torres has a .205 ISO and 44 home runs. That’s the player I’m buying at under 2% ownership here.

Kyle Higashioka will serve as the Yankees catcher and personal caddy to Gerrit Cole tonight. He’s not without his upside; we saw him break a slate just a few weeks ago with a three-home-run game. Still, that was an extreme outlier for the backup catcher. He’s a mix-and-match option in stacks at $3,300, though he’s one of the more popular Yankees players on DraftKings.

Brett Gardner is likely to hit ninth tonight. The left-handed left fielder is the longest-tenured Yankees player and has managed to bring his game somewhat into form over the last two weeks of the season. Gardner finished 2020 with a .223/.354/.392 slash and a WRC+ 10% above average. He makes for a fine wraparound option where no one is getting to him.

Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more great Awesemo content.

Looking for more MLB DFS picks content? We’ve got loads of articles, data, cheatsheets and more on the Awesemo MLB home page, just click HERE.

Author

Terry McBride

Terry used to do other things, now he writes words on the internet. He hopes his more than 20 years’ experience in season-long and daily fantasy sports and his custom models for MLB, NBA, and NFL don't steer you too wrong when he writes columns and makes picks on Awesemo.com. A lifetime of experience keeping odd hours make Terry ideal to cover KBO baseball overnight until the world returns to normal. Most of those late night hours have been spent on the couch watching sports, T.V., and movies; just try to shut him up about any of the above. You can find his pop-culture ramblings and more on Sideaction.