$500K Mid-Summer Classic Strategy: Stacking Pt. 2
Part two of the Mid-Summer Classic preview over the MLB All-Star break focuses on one of the more controversial aspects of DraftKings daily fantasy baseball; stacking. Stacking, for better or worse, is a substantial factor in choosing your batters over at DK. Today we’ll break down the cheapest 15 team stacks for Friday night’s games.
Join the DraftKings $500,000 MidSummer Classic with a $125,000 first place prize here
Team by Team Cost Analysis
For generalization, I combined each team’s most recent lineup with some other platoon/injury factors to get each team’s total salaries for their top eight batters. It’s not exact but the numbers for a total team stack should fall somewhere in these ranges. I also didn’t account for the inability to use 2 players at the same position here.
Check out Part One of the Stacking Strategy Article here
LEGEND
- Est. Stack $$$ – Total sum of 8 most likely hitters to be in each team’s lineup
- Opp Pitcher – Opponent Pitcher and throwing hand
- Cap Space – Salary Cap space left over for 2 pitchers with that team’s stack (DK’s cap is $50,000)
- Avg $/SP Left – Average money you can spend on each of your two pitchers with a given team stack
| Team | Est. Stack $$ | Opp. Pitcher | Cap Space | Avg $/SP Left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giants | $28,400 | Kennedy-RHP | $21,600 | $10,800 |
| Marlins | $28,600 | Lohse-RHP | $21,400 | $10,700 |
| Astros | $28,800 | Saunders-LHP | $21,200 | $10,600 |
| Phillies | $29,500 | Hefner-RHP | $20,500 | $10,250 |
| Mariners | $29,500 | Norris-RHP | $20,500 | $10,250 |
| Mets | $29,900 | Kendrick-RHP | $20,100 | $10,050 |
| Twins | $30,500 | Kazmir-LHP | $19,500 | $9,750 |
| Royals | $30,700 | Sanchez-RHP | $19,300 | $9,650 |
| White Sox | $31,500 | Hudson-RHP | $18,500 | $9,250 |
| Brewers | $31,500 | Turner-RHP | $18,500 | $9,250 |
| Athletics | $31,500 | Weaver-RHP | $18,500 | $9,250 |
| Diamondbacks | $32,000 | Gaudin-RHP | $18,000 | $9,000 |
| Dodgers | $32,100 | Strasburg-RHP | $17,900 | $8,950 |
| Padres | $32,400 | Westbrook-RHP | $17,600 | $8,800 |
| Cardinals | $32,700 | Marquis-RHP | $17,300 | $8,650 |
| Red Sox | $33,400 | Pettitte-LHP | $16,600 | $8,300 |
| Cubs | $33,400 | De La Rosa-LHP | $16,600 | $8,300 |
| Yankees | $33,700 | Doubront-LHP | $16,300 | $8,150 |
| Nationals | $33,700 | Nolasco-RHP | $16,300 | $8,150 |
| Rays | $34,000 | Rogers-RHP | $16,000 | $8,000 |
| Angels | $34,300 | TBA – Oakland-NA | $15,700 | $7,850 |
| Pirates | $34,700 | Leake-RHP | $15,300 | $7,650 |
| Indians | $35,000 | Pelfrey-RHP | $15,000 | $7,500 |
| Reds | $35,100 | Liriano-LHP | $14,900 | $7,450 |
| Blue Jays | $35,100 | Price-LHP | $14,900 | $7,450 |
| Braves | $35,200 | TBA – White Sox-NA | $14,800 | $7,400 |
| Rangers | $35,500 | Chen-LHP | $14,500 | $7,250 |
| Tigers | $36,000 | Santana-RHP | $14,000 | $7,000 |
| Orioles | $36,800 | Holland-LHP | $13,200 | $6,600 |
| Rockies | $39,800 | Samardzija-RHP | $10,200 | $5,100 |
Cheap Team Stacks Between $30K and $33K
16) St. Louis Cardinals – $32700 – The Cardinals at under $33K leaves you plenty of pitching options including a combo of Anibal/Price/Samardzija with one of the middle tier guys plus getting to stack a team that has been one of MLB’s most potent offenses this season. Facing Jason Marquis, who tends to be hurt by the long ball, the Cards have to be one of the most popular stack plays on Friday night. Marquis has been better this season but I’m not sure that he can contain some of the top tier bats in the STL lineup.
17) San Diego Padres – $32400 – With some players having over 50 entries, there is bound to be a Padres stack against the lackluster Jake Westbrook but I don’t think that it’s a stack that can reward you with too much value. They’ve struggled mightily against right handed pitching of late, including being no-hit at home by Tim Lincecum.
18) LA Dodgers – $32100 – The Dodgers entered the break as one of baseball’s hottest teams but the matchup against Strasburg leaves you seriously concerned about their value on Friday night. I couldn’t be convinced to stack LAD on Friday but given how badly the Marlins knocked Strassy around last week, I wouldn’t be surprised if this contrarian play was relatively popular.
19) Arizona Diamondbacks – $32000 – The Dbacks stack against Gaudin might be one of the most intriguing ones coming back from the break. You can pair the highest priced SP (Strasburg) with a middle guy or grab two of the above average pitchers to create your Dbacks stack and they have some of the best stacking potential because of their boom or bust style of play.
20) Oakland Athletics – $31500 – I can’t justify this against Weaver at home other than trying to play the devil’s advocate role. Oakland has had some decent success against stud pitchers this year and have the HR Derby Champ Yoenis Cespedes…
21) Milwaukee Brewers – $31500 – If you read my pitching preview you know that I have a huge range of ceiling/floor for Jacob Turner. I either see Turner tossing a gem against the K-happy Brew Crew or the MIL bats absolutely mashing Turner into a pulp and posting one of the highest stack scores of the night. Unfortunately, the Brewers are so inconsistent that it’s damn near impossible to predict which team will show up.
22) Chicago White Sox – $31500 – A team that hit the break red hot and vastly improving against righties might be a sound stacking option against Huddy who has looked nothing like his old self this season. He pitches to contact and that could benefit all or nothing guys like Adam Dunn as well as some of the younger CHW hitters like Conor Gillaspie.
23) Kansas City Royals – $30700 – KC looks to me like a team only worth stacking if you have a large number of entries and can afford to be contrarian.
24) Minnesota Twins – $30500 – The Twins against facing Kazmir, who struggles on the road, is another team I’d target even with a small number of entries. They hit for some power and while Mauer may struggle a bit, the remainder of the Twins lineup hits lefties well and they can put some crooked numbers on the board. I love this stack at this price you can get any 2 pitchers.
Cheapest Stacks: Under $30K
25) New York Mets – $29,900 – Kendrick has been better of late and the Mets certainly don’t inspire much offensive confidence so despite the really low salary range I wouldn’t rank them too highly on the overall stack list.
26) Seattle Mariners – $29500 – At 29.5K you can own a team that went into the All-Star break red hot and facing Bud freaking Norris. That’s a steal. They hit a ton of HRs and for stacking that is the key to putting up a monster total. I absolutely love the Mariners stack in this tournament but am guessing I won’t be alone in that regard.
27) Philadelphia Phillies – $29500 – This is another one I like but don’t love. The Phillies have some guys who can drive the ball into the stands but I don’t know if I can trust any of their right handed bats against Hefner who has been extremely tough on righties. If I were stacking the Phils, it would likely be a semi-stack with Utley, Brown, Revere and Rollins.
28) Houston Astros – $28800 – And finally we’re at my favorite stack of the night. This entire game could stacked with any 2 pitchers you wanted. I picture this one being extremely high scoring and with guys like JD Martinez, Carlos Corporan, Chris Carter and Jose Altuve could be paired with Brad Miller, Raul Ibanez, Kendrys Morales and Kyle Seager to form a pretty good Seattle/Houston stack.
29) Miami Marlins – $28600 – I like the Marlins upside and HR potential in a hitters park but I wouldn’t go out of my way to fit this stack in my lineups. It’s another one of those “if you have enough entries why not” stacks.
30) San Francisco Giants – $28400 – Considering how hot this team was going into the break, I’d imagine that a Giants team stack will be fairly popular on Friday night. Facing a righty they lose a decent amount of value but with Sandoval and Pence recovering from recent cold streaks, the G-men of the west coast could be poised for another one of those wild 2nd halves of the season where they do nothing but win games.
Alright Grinders, good luck on Friday night! Hopefully an RG member can take this down