MLB DFS Picks: Stack Slants for DraftKings + FanDuel

Monday brings us a two-game playoff slate loaded with talented MLB DFS picks. The Yankees and Rays are playing their game in San Diego, while the A’s and Astros are in Los Angeles for their half of the ALDS. With four quality pitchers going and October weather, we have some predictably low run totals, and scoring could be at a premium once again. The top stacks tool looks interesting. The Rays are the lowest-owned team and have the lowest probability of success, while the A’s and Astros are drawing around level ownership with their standing on the board. The featured team below is in the strongest position for success and provides a reasonable ownership advantage on our short slate.

MLB DFS Stack Slants | DraftKings + FanDuel | Oct. 05

New York Yankees – 8-1-2-3-5 – Frazier – LeMahieu – Judge – Stanton – Torres

The Yankees rank second on the board and aren’t drawing nearly the popularity they warrant for the upside. While there’s no denying the talent of Rays starter Blake Snell, the Yankees have gotten to plenty of pitchers of all levels of quality. As we covered when discussing Aaron Hicks last night in Quick Hits, Snell put up a 3.06 xFIP and a 3.24 ERA in his 50.0 innings in 2020. The southpaw struck out an impressive 31% of hitters, improving on his career mark of 28.3% and doing an excellent job inducing swinging strikes at a 15.0% rate. Still, the upside in the Yankees lineup is firm, and when it’s not as popular as it should be, I’m a buyer.

The Yankees’ lineup isn’t going to be untouched. There are several players trending north of 20% ownership in the heart of the order, but on a two-game slate that’s the best we can hope for with options like these. There are several ownership values late in the lineup as well. We should have room to mix and match our way to unique lineup constructions tonight.

The Yankees leadoff hitter is justifiably one of the more popular options on the team. D.J. LeMahieu slots into either second or third base on DraftKings, second base on FanDuel and costs $5,200 and $4,000, respectively. LeMahieu is the catalyst of the Yankees mighty offense. He has the best pure hit tool in baseball and a bit of pop on his own as well. In 216 plate appearances in 2020, LeMahieu posted a .364/.421/.590 slash with a .226 ISO and a WRC+ 77% above average. This is an excellent option for MLB DFS.

Aaron Judge follows LeMahieu with one of baseball’s best power strokes as well as a discerning eye, as evidenced by his career .366 on-base percentage. In an injured riddled 2020, Judge saw just 114 plate appearances but hit nine home runs and had a .257/.336/.554 slash with a .297 ISO and a WRC+ 40% above average. For his career, Judge strikes out slightly less against lefties and walks significantly more at 21%. He’s hit 27 home runs in 466 plate appearances in the split and has a .278 ISO and a WRC+ 59% above average.

The power only begins with Judge. Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit round out the three-punch right-handed combo in the middle of this lineup. This is a tall order for any lefty pitcher and not just because the average height of the trio is about 6-foot-5. Stanton missed the bulk of 2020 after missing most of 2019. On a per-plate-appearance rate he has the best salary on the planet. When he’s in the lineup, the slugger remains a threat to go deep at any time. In his 94 plate appearances, Stanton hit four home runs and put up a .250/.387/.500 slash with a .250 ISO and a WRC+ 43% above average. Stanton has absolutely brutalized lefties over his career, putting up a .294/.392/.630 slash with a monstrous .336 ISO and a WRC+ 70% above average across 1,161 plate appearances in the split.

Voit is another right-handed masher. In his 234 plate appearances in 2020, the first baseman hit 22 home runs to lead all of baseball. He costs $5,000 on DraftKings and $4,000 on FanDuel, where he’s drawing very little ownership and a lot of my attention. On DraftKings he’s over 20% owned but very much in play as both a one-off first baseman and a major part of Yankees stacks.

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Gleyber Torres might not yet be considered on the elite level of those three teammates, but he absolutely should and will be. Torres struggled a bit in 2020, putting up just a .243/.356/.368 slash with three home runs in his 160 plate appearances. The shortstop smashed his way to 38 home runs over 604 plate appearances in 2019. This is an elite bat, and he’s come down in both price and popularity. Torres is my favorite shortstop option on the board.

Hicks is an under-appreciated outfielder who I covered in Quick Hits last night. Click the link for a full take. To summarize, Hicks has a terrific ability to see pitches and get on base, even when he’s struggling to make contact. When he is connecting, he adds some power upside to the equation. He’s a strong option on both sides of the plate at just $3,700 on DraftKings and $3,100 on FanDuel.

Gio Urshela slots in at third base and is drawing just 10% ownership on DraftKings, less on the blue site. Urshela is a bit overrated despite his performance since joining the Yankees, but his upside is stronger than the price and popularity, putting him in play. Over 174 plate appearances in 2020, Urshela hit .298/.368/.490 with a .192 ISO while striking out just 14.4% of the time and walking 10.3%, adding six home runs. He’s a fine option, though I would take LeMahieu at third base every time if I needed positive fantasy points to rescue me from a pack of hungry wolves.

The end of the lineup has one play I like quite a bit and one play that I’m not very interested in at the ownership projection. Kyle Higashioka is in the lineup because he is Gerrit Cole‘s personal caddy of a catcher, not for his bat. Yes, we did see Higashioka hit three home runs in a game earlier this season, and he’s certainly not inept at the plate. In his 48 plate appearances, the backup catcher hit four home runs and had a .250/.250/.521 slash with a WRC+ 2% above average. For his career, Higashioka has 204 plate appearances with a .186/.221/.381 slash, a .196 ISO and a WRC+ 45% below average. This is not a good hitter. The catcher will be over 30% owned on DraftKings, and there are better options at the position. I’ll have some in Yankees stacks, but I won’t approach that level of exposure.

Clint Frazier is a good hitter. He’s drawing under 7% ownership on both sites and costs just $4,500 on DraftKings and $3,400 on FanDuel. Frazier hit eight home runs in 160 plate appearances in 2020. For his career of fill-in appearances, the still-top prospect has now made 589 plate appearances, essentially a full season of action. In that span, Frazier has hit 24 home runs and put up a .218 ISO and a WRC+ 14% above average. The outfielder would be an emerging star on most teams. With the Yankees he can only crack the lineup when there are injuries or, this year, in splits when Brett Gardner needs a break against a southpaw. Frazier has tuned up lefty pitching for a .244 career ISO and a WRC+ 15% above average with seven home runs in his 149 plate appearances in the split. This is a fantastic option across MLB DFS tonight.

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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.