Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 08/19/2017
*Mike Barner*
Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks – Saturday, August 19
Saturday could be a day of offensive explosions as there are only a few stud starting pitchers taking mound. Put your favorite daily fantasy baseball stacks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.
**STARTING PITCHERS**
Chris Sale vs. New York Yankees
Park – Fenway Park
Sale continues to dominate baseball as he enters Saturday 14-4 with a 2.51 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and a staggering 241 strikeouts in 168.1 innings. The strikeouts are already the second highest total of his career. The Yankees just can’t hit Sale as he has a 1.18 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and an 11.3 K/9 against them in his career. The Yankees struggle against left handed pitchers in general as they entered Friday hitting only .235 against them this season. Sale should put up some crazy numbers again in this contest.
Jason Vargas vs. Cleveland Indians
Park – Kauffman Stadium
Vargas has put together a surprisingly solid season for the Royals as he is 14-6 with a 3.45 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 102 strikeouts in 135.2 innings. While he doesn’t provide a ton of strikeouts, Vargas has allowed three runs or less in four of his last five starts. The Indians have not been able to solve Vargas this year as he is 2-0 with a 0.87 ERA and 1.21 WHIP against them in three starts. Since there aren’t many seemingly sure things outside of Sale Saturday, Vargas is a cheaper option who could pay off for your lineup.
**OFFENSIVE STACKS**
Washington Nationals vs. Travis Wood (San Diego Padres)
Park – Petco Park
Wood began the season with the Royals and spent the majority of his time there pitching out of the bullpen. He has become exclusively a starting pitcher for the Padres as he has made four starts in all four of his appearances with his new team. It has not been a successful transition though as he has a 5.57 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. Home runs have been a problem since his trade as he has allowed five over 21 innings with the Padres compared to only four in 41.2 innings with the Royals. The Nationals crush left handed pitching as they entered Friday with a .288 batting averaging against southpaws, which is the best in the majors. Take advantage of this opportunity.
Players to consider stacking: Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick
Chicago Cubs vs. Nick Tepesch (Toronto Blue Jays)
Park – Wrigley Field
Tepesch has only made two starts for the Blue Jays, allowing five runs over 4.1 innings to the Yankees and only one run in six innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. He hasn’t provided much in the way of strikeouts as he only has four in 10.1 innings. His career stats are nothing to write home about either as he has a 5.23 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 235 innings. The Cubs have been scoring in bunches lately as they have produced at least seven runs in six of their last eight games. Make sure to pack your lineup with the defending champs.
Players to consider stacking: Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez