Stacking in Small Slates
Stacking is obviously one of the most common (as well as rewarding) strategies in daily fantasy for MLB. The idea is simple — pick the team you feel is going to produce a strong offensive game and fit multiple bats from the same offense into your lineup.
The trick to stacking is picking the team, of course.
When stacking in a 12-game slate (for example) there’s a lot to digest. Multiple teams likely have fantastic matchups, while there may also be a few under-the-radar teams you like for value purposes. Making decisions in that situation can leave you vulnerable, even if you have the right idea.
Let’s be honest – breaking down the data for 24 teams can be a lot of work. And then coming out of your research and having your strategy succeed with so many options to choose from is highly difficult.
A small slate simplifies all this.
Let’s use a four-game slate for example. Doing your research on eight total teams is going to involve significantly less work/time, and more importantly, leave you with far more clear-cut answers.
The fun part about small slates is that it leaves you options. Say the Cubs have the highest-projected run total of the eight teams in the slate by a wide margin. There’s two ways you can go here. If your research agrees with the projection, then go for it. Know that Cubs stacks will be even more common than if you were in a large slate because there aren’t any other elite options. This makes it even more important to differentiate yourself, but you still can.
With so few players in the field compared to a larger slate, identifying low-owned individuals that have a big game can help reward you even if your team isn’t that strong. Find a couple players you feel have the potential to go off for big games, but will be far lower owned than Cubs’ bats, and add them to your stack.
A prime example from my own experience came on June 16th of 2015. I played an afternoon small slate which included a Rockies vs. Astros game that was wildly popular when it came to ownership numbers. I knew it would be, but I couldn’t stay away. It turned out to be an 8-5 Astros win, so I was right in some senses, but I made some embarrassing picks and didn’t get nearly as many points out of that game as most of my competition did.
Enter Brock Holt. I liked his matchup at Fenway against the Braves that day and he happened to be hitting lead-off for the Red Sox, so I rolled with him. Turns out Holt was not only low owned, but also became the first Sox player since 1996 to hit for the cycle.
That worked out nicely for me, but the point you need to know is this — my 134 fantasy points wouldn’t have fared too well in the large night slate. However, Holt’s heroics were easily enough to vault me over many other HOU/COL stacks and into a very nice position.
The other small slate stacking strategy is going against the grain. Since you know so many people will be on the Cubs as the only elite option, just fade them. Could it blow up in your face? Sure, there’s a reason everyone’s on them. But if they have a bad game at the plate, you’re already ahead of the curve without even building your team yet.
Once you stack another team that you like, you’ll have plenty of salary left since you’ve faded presumably the most expensive offense. Since the alternative team you’ve chosen to stack figures to have low ownership, you don’t have to worry much about the projected ownership of where you spend the rest of your salary. Pitching, elite bats, it’s really up to you.
Of course, you could also combine those ideas and stack some Cubs players with the team you project to have low ownership. If you’re right and both succeed, you’ve kept yourself in the running by stacking the Cubs like everyone else, but should now have a leg up on them by nailing your other stack.
There’s no “right way” to stack in small slates (or any slates for that matter), but as long as you’re finding ways to differentiate yourself one way or another, you’re putting yourself in a position to succeed.